More photos of Memphis

A. Schwab Hardware, founded 1876

A. Schwab Hardware



typical grocery store in W. Memphis

another grocery store

Memphis!

We travelled from Wichita to Ft. Smith, Arkansas the first day and stayed the night at a rest stop on I-40...then on to Memphis the following day. We stayed at T.O. Fuller State Park in Memphis for 2 nights. The park itself was absolutely beautiful! Clean, quiet and pretty. Memphis on the other hand, was disappointing. We spent a whole day driving and walking around the city. We saw Graceland, but felt the $60.00 to 'tour it' could be better spent elsewhere, We walked up and down Beale Street, had lunch at Silky O'Sullivan's, saw the pyramid, Mud River Park and the Mississippi. Memphis is full of history and culture, but it is unfortunate they have let the city become a garbage dump. There is no pride whatsoever...it's a shame.

Tonight we are in Clarksville, TN, and will leave Oct. 13th.

I tried to upload pictures with this post unsuccessfully, so will try the pictures tomorrow morning. ....Oct. 12 a.m....yup..photo above is at our site in Memphis.

Me, in front of Graceland

Mississippi River

Beale Street, Memphis

Group photo

The picture was taken from a ladder truck, courtesy of the Wichita Fire Department. Not all of the 45 or so trucks were able to make it for the photo, as some trucks were in the shop and others were out on the Stearman airplane rides.
Note our truck, front row, 4th from the left.
People are starting to pull out of Wichita today, so we will say our goodbyes until next year to many of them. This is our second rally and we will be looking forward to next year. We had an amazing time here. Lots of visiting, laughing, and education. As for us, we pull out tomorrow and will make our way to South Carolina.

HDT Rally 2006

Here are only a few of over 40 HDT's




Walking around the campground, this week, you won't see your typical 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton truck parked next to an RV. What you will see is a campground filled with over 45 BIG trucks parked next to mostly either a Teton, Travel Supreme or Hitchiker 5th wheel. Some trucks have been painted to match the 5th wheel trailer; others personalized with graphics, lettering or license plates.
The beds of the trucks are where you usually see the biggest differences. Some have had their bed designed to carry a motorcyle, a scooter, or even a golf cart. Many have had boxes built to house their tools, barbecue grills, etc. It is fun to walk the campground and check them out....By the way, we are still the only gold truck amidst lots of white and red.

On the way to Wichita

"follow the yellow brick road"

Henry & the scarecrow

Me and the Tin Man


Dorothy's house


And of course, our 'home', truck and
the little blue jeep that pushes us down the highway
(click all images to enlarge)
We had a great trip to Wichita...stayed the first night at Wal Mart Parking Lot in Albuquerque; second night in Liberal, Kansas and drove the last 213 miles in to Wichita where we were greeted by 41 other big trucks and 5th wheels. There are some beautiful trucks here this year! We are seeing friends we haven't seen since Quartzsite last January, and meeting new people. It is going to be an awesome week!

Later, Sedona!

Crescent Moon Park and Cathedral Rock
(photos are by Al; our neighbor
at Crescent Moon - click to enlarge)

Last day of work today. Hurray!! If we never see another apple for the rest of our lives, it will be fine with us. From the picking, to the lifting, sorting, lifting, moving, lifting AND lifting again....we are sore and tired.
This afternoon we will pull in the slides, hitch up and position ourselves for driving out early tomorrow morning.
Later, Sedona!

Rolling outta here in 2 days, 19 hours, 38 minutes!

Volvo is repaired and shined up

Isn't she beautiful?

Jeep is ready to be towed, trailer
in the background cleaned and ready

We are ready to leave Sedona in the red dust behind us.
During our time here, we have seen all kinds of weird insects, such as the 'stick' bug? Who ever heard of such a bizarre creature? It truly looks like a stick! About 6 inches long (like a stick), but has very spindly legs (ew). We finally spotted a javelina the other day, unfortunately, he was laying dead alongside the highway.
The tarantula outside our trailer was something I don't care to see again. (luckily, Lupe' came along and stomped on it for me.) The scorpions I can do without, and the very large flying 'things' (yuk).....oh yes, and the skunks! No thanks!
We have loved seeing all the deer, elk and antelope we've spotted on our jeep rides. What gorgeous animals!
Then there are the birds. Quail are in abundance in this area and so fun to watch! We've spotted a few roadrunners, a red tailed hawk, northern cardinals, and last, but not least, all the hummingbirds.
Sedona is truly an incredible area with it's red rocks and awesome hiking trails. This has been our first workamping experience and we feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to be here.
But, as blessings are, we are also excited about moving on and seeing what other possibilities lie in store for us.

Apples, Apples and more Apples

As we have discovered, 'other duties as assigned', can mean absolutely anything. In our case, this week we have been assigned to 'do apples'.

Henry spent a couple days picking apples, while I was assigned to sorting and boxing. We both spent yesterday sorting and boxing, as the pickers were getting ahead of the sorters. What a circus!

We now have almost 200 cases of apples ready to be sold. Which, by the way, that is another of my 'duties'...to sell them to the local grocery stores. No problem, I've got 70 cases set up for delivery this Friday.

I guess the hard part about 'doing apples', is the standing all day on concrete in a 42 degree cooler, lifting boxes that weigh between 40-45 pounds; and in Henry's case with the picking, it would be the repetitive motion of picking with an apple bag hanging around your neck that will contain the 40 pounds of apples when full. It's been a tough week.

But, there is one major advantage! We only have 4 more days and we will be on our way, down the highway, and hopefully will never have to see another apple, ever again!

14 days, 12 hours, But who's counting?

We have been busy the past 3-4 weeks preparing for our departure from Sedona. Our Jeep needed a tow bar so we can tow it. (Eek. we are gonna be long going down the road.) Our truck needed a new spoiler, which ultimately meant new running lights as well. Remember this?

Our $600.00 'ouch'. (that darn log) Always have your partner watching. Never let others engage in a conversation with you, when you are hitching, unhitching, parking, etc...anyway, it's repaired and looks new again. My husband can fix anything!

There's been more that has been keeping us busy, but I can't recall it all right now. I've been working more days at the market....and now the apple orchard is ready to be harvested. Yesterday, the guys picked 76 cases of apples and that doesn't begin to put a dent in the trees that are ready to be picked. Henry and I are not the least bit disappointed that we will be gone before the majority of the 'apple picking, sorting, boxing and delivering' begins. It's a lot of hard work, and really requires about 10-20 more people, but the company won't hire temporary staff to help. Pay minimum wage to get the apples picked so you can sell them, or let them fall to the ground and rot? Seems like a no brainer to me, but am glad it's not my problem.

As we leave Sedona, our first stop is Wichita for the truck rally. We will spend a week there, then make our way through Ft. Smith, Arkansas, Memphis, and Nashville. We plan to spend some time at each place, as we want to take in the Grand Old Opry, maybe see Graceland in Memphis. The only deadline we have is South Carolina before Oct. 19th....and we are hoping our daughter will be able to get the time off work and meet us there. After spending a week in South Carolina, we will head north to Michigan to visit Henry's brother. Those are our plans at this point, but like Val says, "The beauty of fulltiming is 'you can always change your mind and choose an alternate destination.'

The Volvo is ready to roll. She's cleaned up, oiled, and whatever else Henry does to keep it looking good and running well. It's anxious to get on the road again, too!

Mingus Mountain Jeep Trail

19 miles of the roughest, bumpiest road! The trail winds up and around the entire mountain. The views are amazing from the top, so that helped I guess. Talk about 'shake, rattle and roll'!
And if that were not enough, we decided to revisit Smiley Rock. See that 'ROAD' in the picture below.

Needless to say, I was glad to be back on asphalt after today!

Sycamore Wilderness

Henry, 'on the edge'

It was so quiet....

At the end of the road

click images to enlarge

The little blue jeep can tackle all the difficult spots now! We drove deep into the Sycamore Wilderness. I think we saw only two people early on....from the top we could see Courthouse Butte, Cathedral, and miles and miles of pure beauty. It was amazingly quiet, but not eery...just beautiful.

We spent Friday rebuilding the transfer case (Henry did the work, I helped), yesterday the tow bar went on, and today the lights. (That mechanic stuff is actually pretty interesting).

Anyway, we are preparing for our departure from Sedona next month. On to Kansas, from there, South Carolina via Nashville (yea!)...then north to Ohio, and into Michigan. The time spent here has been fun, the country gorgeous, but we are both ready to move again. We love the traveling part!

Prickly Pear Cactus

The 'pears' of the cactus

the pulp of the 'pear' is made into
drinks and preserves
the 'pads' can be cooked and eaten


Sycamore Wilderness

Rainbow over Cathedral Rock

click on images to enlarge



Gorgeous rainbow over Cathedral.

Always Something!

I-17

click on images to enlarge

Last Sunday, the rains caused 3 landslides in Oak Creek Canyon which closed Hwy. 89A for two days. The fire we had in June left no vegetation on the mountain to prevent erosion, so....those landslides brought boulders, rocks, trees and about 4 feet of mud onto portions of the Hwy. I was on my way home that night and as soon as we hit the traffic at a standstill, we knew what had likely happened, so decided on a quick u-turn and headed north through Flagstaff.
Today, the authorities didn't want to be faced with another landslide, with traffic on the highway, so when the rains brought 1/4 inch, they evacuated and shut the highway down.....which in turn diverted traffic back up through the canyon and onto the Interstate.
We, of course, were right in the middle....again.
I've never seen so much water in such a short period of time! Traffic was down to one lane, as the other lane had about 2 feet of water on it.
Needless to say, we headed home. Maybe a movie and some popcorn tonight...from the comfort of our own living room.

Checkin' out the new lift on the Jeep

good articulation




Huge difference in the ride! Much smoother than before. Today we hit a couple forest roads out of Flagstaff, found some nice big mud puddles to splash through, and a few large rocks to drive on. It was great! No geocaching or hiking, but I always enjoy the drive and scenery.

Old Man Emu click here

Gettin' rid of the old

New shocks

Almost there

It was a dirty job...


After waiting almost 8 weeks for the lift kit to come in, it finally arrived, (minus one shackle...we had to wait another few days for it)...so Henry spent yesterday installing it. Took about 8 hours, but is finally done!
Our little blue jeep now has an Old Man Emu 3 1/2" lift, new shocks, new springs, new shackles, a sway bar disconnect and transfer case dropdown kit. We can order the 32" tires and new wheels now, and she will be ready for some serious 4 wheeling!

Rattlesnake...Arizona Blacktail

EEK!


click on picture for larger image

And...away he slithered, rattle and all


Our first rattlesnake spotting! This afternoon, in the barn, at 2:00 in the afternoon....there he was, coiled up perfectly in a small cool corner, just minding his own business. There were four of us....watching him and talking about him, just 8 feet away...he never even flinched. He also never took his eye off us. He knew we were there. After about 10 minutes, he uncoiled himself and slithered away to another cool spot. He was only about 4 feet long and about 8 years old. Greg told us you can determine the age of a rattler by the number of bells they have on their rattle. And Lupe' told us that if the rattler is 4 feet long, he can JUMP 8 feet, if he is 6 feet long, he can jump 12 feet! But not to worry, 'if you don't bother him, he won't bother you', he said.
Henry's plan for tomorrow was to install the lift kit on the jeep....guess where? In the barn! Not to worry, don't bother him, he won't bother you....ay yi yi!