Speaking Of Corn

Reed helped my dad plant his last row of corn for the season. Reed was very excited to hold the bag for dad. We didn't want him touching it because it was treated. I plowed the row and dad's plan was to drop 2 seeds in together at a time. The seed was getting sticky from the humidity and dad was having trouble only getting 2, sometimes he would drop 3 and even 4 at a time. Reed was cracking me up pointing out each time he dropped more than 2 "GG, you dropped 4 that time. That's too many!" So then dad sent Reed in to pick up the extra ones. It was a great lesson in math and I was impressed with how quickly Reed would point out how many dad dropped.

This is his corn after a few days, it came up quick and he is ready to eat it!

Children Of The Corn

This is one of my dad's corn fields. He was very proud of it and wanted me to take some pictures. Which was actually not the easiest thing to do because it was about 7 feet tall and I couldn't really get above it. I told him I would do my best.

So while I was at it I thought I would do a little lesson on how corn grows...are you excited?

This is the tassel at the top of the stalk. It holds all the pollen.

This is a silk. You may be more familiar with this part, it's what you have to clean off the ear before you eat it. There is one silk per kernel of corn.

The pollen from the tassel will fall from above and land on the silks. If every silk becomes pollinated, you will have a perfect ear of corn. Well, then you have to keep the worms, deer, squirrels, raccoons, birds and the neighbor's cows all from steeling it and eating it but that has nothing to do with tassels or silks. Some of that has more to do with lawyers and line fences but that's a whole different story.

4th of July Fireworks

This is my first time trying to photograph fireworks. I realize that a tripod is kind of a necessity to get great shots but I don't have one so handheld it was. I also wanted to try to do a little Photoshop work but since it is already July 13th I can tell that's not going to happen so here they are straight out of the camera.

Maybe one day soon we will be moved into the new house, which I realize I have not really talked about on here much, and I will have time to put my life back in order and do some better blogging. Until then, you will be stuck with straight out of the camera photographs and very little detail of events. I apologize but my main concern is getting a bed in my bedroom and finding all of our missing belongings among the boxes.

Happy 3rd Birthday Reed

Thanks to all of you who helped celebrate this special day!

Reed had a wonderful time filled with tools, tractors and swimming. What could be better?

Hay In The Hay

My mom has a movie she bought a while ago called "Hey, That's My Hay!" Reed loves it because it's all about making hay but he calls it "Hey In The Hey". The kids were lucky enough to get to see my dad make some hay this summer. Millie and Jacob have seen him do it before but this was Reed's first time and he was VERY excited. Every morning for about 2 weeks he would wake up and ask "is this the day we put the hook on on and make hay?"

Here is a little hay making lesson for those of you who know nothing about it.

First you have to cut the hay with the discbine. That's basically a mower with disc blades that cut the hay at the ground then it runs through rollers to crush the stems to help it dry faster. You have to have all the moisture out before you bale or the hay will get hot and catch fire - that's never good. Many a barn have burned down because of this.

After it's cut the hay sits for a day and you pray for no rain. Remember the barn burning to the ground issue? We don't want that.

The next day you run the tedder over the hay. This basically fluffs it all up and lets air get under it to...you guessed it...help it dry even more. These come in different styles but the way ours works is two large spinning discs have large prongs attached to them and they spin, grab and launch the hay around.

Then you let the hay sit and dry some more and again pray for no rain.

The next day you rake it (provided it's good and dry) and put it in rows to prepare it for baling.

Then you get to bale it. I had to leave before the baling actually started so all I got was this photo of the tractor and baler ready to go. And in case the only hay you city folk are use to seeing are large round bales, they come in different shapes and sizes. Our baler is a square baler and after the bales are dropped in the field a team of young and old strapping men (or women) walk behind and pick the bales up and pitch them on a wagon where someone else stacks it and then takes it to the barn where more men unload it and restack it. As you can see, making hay is a very long and involved process. It is very labor intensive and very dependent on the weather. Since you can only make hay after a long dry spell it is usually very hot, dry and dusty while you are working. My grandpa always said "you have to make hay when the sun shines" and he sure made a lot of hay in his day so he knew what he was talking about.

Hello Rocky Top!

We made it back to Tennessee today, 1 day earlier than planned. Pretty good considering the break down that cost us about a half a day of driving. I am sitting here, nice and clean from my 127 minute shower, listening to the 4th load of laundry in the washing machine. My guess is there is still at least 2 if not 3 more loads to do. We actually did some laundry while we were traveling but I wanted to wash everything that had been in the trailer even if it was "clean". I had no idea how much we had! I had 2 loads alone just in bedsheets and towels. I filled the dishwasher and washed even more sink fulls by hand to re-clean all the dishes we took with us. I feel that we are almost entirely decontaminated from this trip!

Looking back at this trip, we learned some things for sure! The most important being that traveling by RV is in no way cheaper than flying (first class), renting cars (limos) and eating all of your meals in a (5 star) restaurant. Maybe I should have researched this a little more before I agreed to it. I actually spent less money the 3 months I lived in England and traveled around Europe, no joke. But I guess this trip did cover 5 people but it still helps to put it in perspective. I did love the quality time with the family and the fact that the kids and Rick had a good time is all that matters. I was very glad my mom agreed to go with us, she was a huge help! I knew going in that I was doing this trip for Rick and the kids more than myself. My first choice of vacation will always involve the beach, no schedule and no worries which is why I have never referred to what we just experienced as a vacation. We will just call it a family adventure.

I would not trade this adventure for anything though. We all had a good time and got to experience and see so many things that we will never forget. The kids may only remember it through photos and my stories but that will have to do. I can't wait to plan our adventure for next year, maybe Yellowstone, but I know 1 thing, we will be flying!

Roadside Rescue - By Paula

Apparently I have to put "By Paula" on my posts now that I noticed a homeless mountain man hacked my blog a few days ago. There is a warrant out for his arrest.

It seems that Rick has filled you all in a little on his extended stay in Vail. Mom and the kids and I were not in Vail though. When the truck jerked to a sudden stop while climbing a mountain just east of Vail, I was more than a little nervous/scared/panicked/mad. Traffic was flying by and there was not a full shoulder that Rick could pull off on due to a concrete barrier so we were still in the driving lane a little bit. After we sat there for about 2 minutes I decided that I had to get the kids out of the truck because sitting in it was not safe. As far as break downs go, this was not too bad of a situation. I noticed a bike trail off the side of the road and down a very steep hill, but if we walked along the interstate about 300 feet the bike trail climbed up and we could get over to it. Considering we were going to be on the other side of the concrete barriers for the walk, I used my savvy Department of Transportation instincts and decided we were better off across the barrier than sitting in the truck hanging out in traffic. So we climbed out of the truck, climbed over the barrier and starting walking along the top of a very steep drop off. Millie was very scared but she slowly made her way along the barrier with my mom as I carried Reed until we could hop over to the bike trail. I have never been so relived in my life. I was so scared for those kids but we got them to safety.

Meanwhile, a lady named Vikki Jones from Denver was on her way home from Grand Junction after visiting her grand kids for the weekend. Both of her granddaughters had just had a dance recital (ages 3 and 5) and being the sweet grandma that she is, she wanted to make the several hour drive and see them. She was on her way back to Denver when she saw our motley crew hiking along the side of I-70. She pulled off to talk to Rick and he motioned her up the road to where we were. After rearranging some things in her van, there was room for mom, the kids (sharing a seat with no car seats!) and myself. Knowing the tow truck was not going to be able to take us all along when he picked up the truck, we took our chances with Vikki. What can you do, right? She had told Rick she was going to take us to Vail to the Holiday Inn Express. We asked "Haven't we already passed Vail?" She told us no and that what we saw was West Vail and just ahead was Vail. I wasn't convinced but I assumed she knew what she was talking about. After driving a few miles she realized that we were, in fact, past Vail. She then told us she would take us ahead about 20 miles. There was a town called Silverthorne that had hotels, shopping, groceries and all the necessities we needed. My mom could not hear this exchange between Vikki and I and I am pretty sure she was convinced that after passing about 4 exits that we were being kidnapped.

Mom's spirits brightened 100% when Vikki dropped us off right in front of an outlet mall. My mom had bought a new pair of shoes within 30 minutes of our roadside rescue. Granted we had no clothes with us and mom only had a very flimsy pair of shoes. Remember that when we started walking to the bike trail for safety, we had no idea at that point we would begin hitchhiking so we had no clothes or anything with us. I did happen to grab my camera bag just because it was on the floor at my feet in the truck. That turned out to be a good thing because it had my wallet in it so at least we had money. What I didn't have, if you recall, is a phone. I am sure it still resides with the prairie dogs somewhere between Silverton and Durango where it fell off the train. My mom did have her phone but it is a prepaid phone and has very few minutes on it. I felt that we had time warped to the stone age!

Turns out I should have called Rick when I found out we were going to Silverthorne instead of Vail because the tow truck wanted to take him to Silverthorne but he told them to take him to Vail because that's where we were going. Whoops.

So we were at an outlet mall with no clothes, no place to sleep and no idea where Rick is. Rick is in Vail with a broken truck and no idea where we are. At least he had the trailer, clothes and food...oh and his bike. We finally made contact and let him know that we had found a Comfort Suites. Can I just tell you one thing about the bathroom, it was fabulous! You have already learned of my bathroom issues and even when I stayed in a Ritz Carlton in Naples, FL my heart rate spiked just walking bare foot on the bathroom floor. So apparently trailer living has somewhat cured me, at least temporarily, of my hotel bathroom issues because I had no worries about this one at all! I think the Lord knew I needed a break...from the trailer, not Rick...

My mom and I figure out what we need from the store to get by and so she walks to the only store close by; a Walgreens. Now, Walgreens isn't known for it clothing department so when mom went to get us a pack of underwear, she got the only size they had which was apparently made to go over about 13 pair of depends all at once. We laughed about it and figured they would do while we washed ours in the sink. I would not normally tell the world about our big underwear if it weren't for Reed. See, the other thing we didn't have with us was Reed's potty seat for the toilet and my boy likes to get comfy when nature calls a number 2. I kept asking if he needed to potty and he said no. Well apparently when he thought he was tooting, it has a little more punch to it. He was holding it in, until then, because he didn't want to poo without his seat. This could not have been worse timing for him to have his first accident in over a year! We had no other clothes. This is where our big underwear comes in to play. Yep, we had to put him in something while I washed his underwear in the sink. He, of course, thought this was hilarious, as did we. I am so glad I had my camera. These photos will be brought back to life many times I have a feeling.

The next day Rick picked us up at about 3pm and we were able to hit the road. All of us together, heading the same direction in all of our own clothes. Life is good and the Lord certainly has us in his hands through this trouble. We are now in Missouri and plan to get back a day early and drive all the way home tomorrow. That is provided the trailer stays in one piece because I think we have lost of piece of it in about every state.

Arches National Park

This will have to be a quick post, I didn't even take time to Photoshop my pictures. That would be due to the little hiccup we had yesterday with the truck that it seems Rick has already mentioned. But I need to catch this adventure up if I want to try to remember the details. I am getting old and it doesn't take long to forget things!

We left Moab, Utah (and Vince and Holly) around 7am Sunday morning so we could get to Arches National Park before it got too hot. We were only a few miles from it so we were in good shape. Based on Vince's recommendation we decided to take the hike to Delicate Arch, one of Utah's most recognizable landmarks.

Vince and the park claim that it is only a 1.5 mile hike to the arch but I have to believe it is further. I think what made it so difficult was the large amount of uphill climbing on the way there, the fact that the arch is NEVER in view until you turn the last corner and you are there and that there are no signs telling you how close you are. I was convinced that every time I crested a huge rock hill that I would see it. But it seemed I only kept seeing another larger rock hill we had to climb.

The kids at a smaller arch along the way.

Almost there, it's just around that corner.

Made it!

The altitude of Moab and the park took its toll on my mom and she decided to sit this one out and wait for us not too far into the hike. I think she made a good decision.

The kids did great and they spent a lot of time showing off their Spider-man crawling abilities.

What in the Vail!

SURPRISE PAULA!! Didn't know I could blog did you!

After finishing our tour of Arches National Park this morning, we began our journey homeward to Knoxville, TN. Our route took us through beautiful Vail, Colorado (consequently another choice mountain biking location).

Everyone may find this blog somewhat different than the other posts to this blog. If you want to have a chance to talk in our family (and stop all the abuse I take), there is are three easy steps to make that happen:
1. Wait until you are in another great mountain biking location
2. Trash water pump in your truck (and hopefully nothing else)
3. Send your family and mother-in-law off with the 1st stranger that stops by offering to take them

It seems the millionth "Eddie" comment has pushed me over the edge. I am in Vail, Colorado while the rest of our little road trip crew is about 35 miles away in Silverthorne (does it really get any better than an RV bachelor pad?)

In case anyone has wondered, the mountains of Vail still look good from the parking lot of a service/repair station.

So here I sit in beautiful Vail, Colorado (that there's my tenament on wheels in the bottom right corner of the above photo) "sneaking" onto our family's blog so I can finally sneak in a few words.

I cannot get my truck in for repair until 8:30 mountain time tomorrow. I am not really sure what to hope for when I talk with them in the morning; a quick repair or a somewhat longer job. I want to get rolling home, but the mountain biker in me says a repair long enough to hit the trails tomorrow may not be so bad after all. (In case anyone is interested, I have confirmed that when there isn't snow on the ground in Vail you can take a ski lift to the top of the mountain and hurtle yourself down the side at break-neck speed!)

I want to thank everyone (Paula, Bette, Millie, and Reed) for being such troopers on this trip. Everyone has been great and the majority of this trip has been focused on what else can be done during and around the time I have been mountain biking with Vince (and sometimes Mrs. Crash - Holly for those that don't already know). If it helps make it any better to take, I have had an awesome time!

I especially want to thank Paula. I know what a phobia you have of bathrooms and I think I have pushed the limits with the RV bathroom/shower. Your sacrifice during this trip has not gone unnoticed and is greatly appreciated. Thank you and I love you.

Eastbound I-70 or launching down the Vail slopes; only time will tell what tomorrow brings.

Porcupine Rim Trail - Moab Utah

The most I was involved in this adventure was taking these 3 nuts to the top, leaving them and then driving a hour back down in the comfort of Rick's truck. So glad I could be of service. This is what I was thinking as I drove away...

Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead? - Thanks again Clark Griswold

I found this info about the trail online...

The Porcupine Rim Trail is 15.6 miles, requiring expert technical skills, this ride is for advanced bikers who are in good shape. The ride begins with a 3 mile climb up rocky ledges on a wide-track trail. This is a moderately strenuous climb, gaining 1000 feet to an altitude of 6,800 feet. The real ride begins at the Rim. This is primo downhill advanced technical stuff, dropping off a gazillion small rocky ledges, with the last 3 miles a hairy single-track on the edge of deadly cliffs. From the Rim, you'll drop 2,700 vertical feet to the Colorado River over 11 unforgettable miles.


As I read the directions to get there, it says you have to pass through Jackass Canyon. I think that about sums it up, don't you? And yes, I have life insurance on Rick, this ain't my first rodeo folks.

Thanks for the photos Vince!