ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We left Panguitch – Utah 2 days ago, we have started our month long trek down to Mission Texas for the winter where we will be working in the Activities Dept. at a 50+ RV Resort called Mission Bell Trade Winds. We will be meeting up with some new friends that we made along the way.

After about 3 months in Panguitch it was a bit of a job getting ready to leave, we had to check everything and make sure lids were screwed on tight –ask me how I know to do this now ---make sure that everything is packed away neat and tidy and nothing is left loose.

YES..a check list is necessary.

I was packing up the car and “Gympie” the local park cat wasn't being going to be left behind. He had made him self quiet at home during our stay, he knew where the treats were.. 

I will miss Gympie—even tho he liked to bite me

This is how many cats were in that park

 Our first port of call was to call into St George and have lunch with our friends that we met  in Panguitch – Peter and Erika. As usual Erika put on a simple but tasty lunch. Was good to see them again. Don't know how long it will until we get to see them again. Hopefully it wont be to long. Lovely couple. After a few hours enjoying  great company and a bit of catching up we left St George and heading of to Las Vegas where we had a booking at Nellis Air Force Base for 2 nights. 

Wow !!!  What a change the weather was in Vegas, nothing like we had been used to all Summer, it was a tad over 100 and it felt hotter.  We gave our air con its first real work out for the summer and some thing was wrong. It kept tripping out. Not to much of a problem, just had to keep resetting the breakers. Annoying if nothing else. This went on for hours, until finally Dann had had enough, went and checked the Power Cable from the power outlet to the RV and it was blackened on the end and extremely hot..The host there lent us a adapter that converted from 50 to 30 amp. Problem fixed. Time for a new Power cord !!

We never went sight seeing in Vegas as we really couldn't be bothered fighting all that traffic. AND no pictures this trip. Been there and done that.

We packed up again yesterday morning and continued down to Flagstaff Arizona. On the way out of Vegas we spied a Camping World and we considered going in and buying a new Power Cable but it was on the other side of the freeway and it was just to hard ..so we continued on..

A couple of hours down the road this little car with a teeny weeny little caravan (RV) flew past us, I couldn't stop laughing at it. That car was SMALL, so you can get a idea as to how small the tow behind was..so cute.

I think its a bed on wheels !!

When we are driving I always have my laptop in the truck with me  —ALWAYS--  We have this neat little gadget which converts 12 volts to 110 volts.  So I never go flat. I love that little thing. Danns son in law gave it to him and when I realized what it did, i took it under my wing and gave it a good home.

We have a MIFI Card, which lets me connect to the internet while traveling as well. As long as we have phone coverage which I must say isn't to bad. Only a few place I couldn't get a signal. About 2 hours out of Vegas I was itchin to get back into my Facebook and play my games, Very Important business I have to keep on top of.   After I set up my computer on my lap, I noticed that the little light on the MIFI was BLUE, its always Green. Very strange I remember thinking. I went to connect and up pops a msg telling me that if I continue on its going to cost a extra $20 . I packed the computer up and sat on my hands for the rest of the trip.

You get the Picture

The trip to Flagstaff took us about 4 1/2 hours, not to bad. We went from 100 plus degrees to about 65 in 5 hours. Back to using our heater again. Amazing temperature changes you experience while travelling around. Depends how high you climb. Vegas is about 2,030 feet above sea level, here in Flagstaff we are at around 7,000 feet above sea level, so you can see why its much cooler. I really like this Park---its called Woody Mountain Campground, its nestled in amongst beautiful tall cool pine trees that are like little sky scrapers. Below is a picture I took this morning as we were leaving for the day of our home amongst the pine trees.

I have to tell you a funny story about what happened to us last night. after unhooking and setting up, we had dinner and were settling in for the evening. All of a sudden there was a change in the  power to the RV. I thought there was no power to the Outlets and only had power to the lights. I don't know why I thought this, I suppose its because we haven't dried camped for a while and got to use to city power. Anyway..Dann says, I think we should have stoped and bought that new power cable, I think its finally died. You have to remember its Saturday Night too, and raining. Dann checked the circuit breakers and they all look good. Went out side to see if the power cable had come loose, all good.As its only 7.30pm, to early to go to bed, we decided to jump in the truck and head into town to see if we could find a Power cord. We finally find our way out of the park, so dark out in the bush. We head out onto the highway and I say to Dann, why is everyone's headlights so bloody bright, he says I think its because of the water on the road, its reflecting back, I say ohhhhhh ok.   We fly through a set of Traffic lights that are not working and its then  and only then that Dann says, The Bloody Powers out !!
We start to look around and then we see that there's no lights on any where. So you guessed it, we turned around and headed back home. All the time we are thinking that our power cord had finally died. Its hard to tell out in these bush type camp ground if the powers out because everyone's batteries kick in and take over, so nothing really changes.
Tomorrow we head out on  the road again to Albuquerque.
We decided to by pass Albuquerque, they we having the annual International Hot Air Balloon festival, don't get me wrong..I really did want to see them.  Camp host where were were told us we wouldn't find a RV site, its all been booked out for months.  Below is a couple of pictures I found on the internet of this event.I think you can see why we didn't go.

Maybe another time..so close to

We arrived in El Paso a few days ago. I was very disappointed with this place. I really don't think much has changed here since Marty Robbins rode in on his horse looking for Ferlina all them years ago. Will be glad to leave. BUT they do have a HUGE  PX Shopping facility on the US Army Base here. Biggest one I seen yet, and very nice to I might add. We leave here soon and are heading of to San Antonio Texas where we will be meeting up with some friends we met in South Dakota. Then after a few days we will be heading down to the bottom of Texas to Mission Bell RV Resort which will be our home for the next 6 months. So excited, after all this time of lazing around and playing games on Facebook i will finally have a purpose.  Work and FUN !!!

“GNOMESVILLE”

 

A party in Gnomesville

I need to explain why I am doing a blog on “Gnomesville” Back in Australia, (Western Australia) where I am from, there is a little town called Dardanup which  is South of Perth. Below is the story---

Gnomesville is a large collection of garden gnomes that have mysteriously been placed at at the roundabout that joins Wellington Mill Road and Ferguson Road in the Ferguson Valley of Western Australia. Nobody seems to know exactly how the quaint little hamlet of gnomes began and nobody is really sure who’s responsible for their existence.
One version goes that the roundabout was built when a group of year seven Dardanup Primary School students mentioned they thought the intersection was a traffic hazard during a mock council meeting. The council proper got wind of it, and soon the roundabout was under construction for real. Legend has it that a local Wellington Mills resident placed a single gnome at the site of the roundabout’s construction in good-humoured protest against what had become a controversial project in the town.
More gnomes soon came to join the silent protestor and soon the roundabout site had become a large gnome community complete with a sports ground that included two teams of football-playing gnomes, who switched to cricket with the change of season.
Gnomesville grew so quickly that the local Shire of Dardanup was forced to move the makeshift clay community from the middle of the roundabout to the nearby bush-land and verge as the gnomes were proving too much of a distraction for drivers approaching the roundabout. Strolling through the hamlet it’s impossible not to be impressed by the scale of the endeavour.There are over 2000 gnomes living here now.

Gnomesville

Loo Gnome

Better Gnomes and Garden

Gnome Wasn’t built In A Day

 

I HATE GNOMES !!!

Any way a cute story and a great tourist attraction to the area. I really don't care for gnomes that much, I think they are the stupidest looking garden ornaments ever created. They aren't even cute in the slightest. When ever my friend back in Australia (Shirley) and I chatted on the video cam via MSN Messenger she told me that she had sent me a parcel and had I received it yet ? Answer was always No..Here I was thinking she was sending me some Vegemite or Passion Fruit Pulp or some sort of Aussie food I was craving.  This continued for about 3 weeks. U got it yet ??? 

Finally yesterday we received the parcel, I ripped it open and nearly dropped the dam thing..Gee!!  Now that would have been terrible hey.  I was so anxious to see what she had sent me. ----------------------------Yes you guessed it.      A Bloody Garden Gnome. AND  She knows I hate them He is holding a little lantern  and Shirley said he is shining a light so he can find his way home..Mmmm Maybe I should just re-wrap him and show him the way home

Anyway…We name the UGLY little sucka “Huey” and he will now be our new travel companion. I am keeping him only because  my Cooda went to so much trouble to get him to me in one piece. Shame about that

Below is a picture of HUEY !!

Cheeky little shit..standing in the door way of our 5th wheel.

Made himself comfortable in Danns chair

“OUT OF MY SEWING ROOM”

 

A little Bored today, finding myself with not much to do so I thought, “self”..What can I blog about. So here goes……I have to warn you there are a lot of pictures in this blog. I decided not to post them all..only a few.

About 10 years ago I discovered Machine Embroidery. My first machine was a little Brother that embroidered a 4 x 4 area. My sister in-law Joyce and I went halvies. It was a exciting time as I have always loved to sew and this was a new path I could take with my sewing. When we got the machine I would have it for a few weeks and then Joyce would steal it and it would live with her for a few weeks. I missed  our little machine when it went to visit Joyce. This definitely wasn't working !!   So you guessed it..I went and bought another one, exactly the same. Now we had one each. I never thought I would have loved a hobby like I loved this one. BUT the machine was just the down payment, the expense  started to pile up with the purchase of Threads/Fabrics/Stabilizers, Never knew there was so many types of stabilizers. We had to have them all…(just in case) We spent so much money on threads it wasn't funny, also so many different shades of the same colour and we just had to have them all as well. NEEDLES for the machine, so many different ones as well, AND then there were the DESIGNS. The list goes on and on. I had a little shop of my own in my sewing room. Between Joyce and I, we had more Embroidery items than Jo-ann’s  and Spotlite combined. Jo-ann’s is in USA and Spotlite is in Australia.

I made this Rag Doll and her cloths and I embroidered her face.

The same with this doll. I think I have made about 50 of these dolls over the years.

A Winnie The Pooh Quilt I made for my Grandson

It wasn't to long before I realized that a 4 X 4 Embroidery area just wasn't cutting it for me any more. I wanted to be able to do BIG designs. Joyce and I started looking for MY new machine. She knew just where to go.  Straight to the Viking Husqvarna shop.This machine Did a whole 6” wide design. I was stoked.. This opened a whole new world for me.PLUS this one was a sewing machine as well.

A Nappy Cake I made for a friend

A Nappy Bag

The other side of the bag

A Merry Go Round Bag

 

I really got into cutting up kids old jeans and revamping them as skirts. These I have to say, were what I eventually loved to do. The front of the skirt.

Back

This was my personal favourite

Back

Close up of the flowers..all made with a Embroidery Machine and A little magic.

Well a few more years sailed by and I was happy with my Designer1 Embroidery/Sewing Machine. BUT  sadly they don't live forever. I have to admit I flogged that machine to death.

It finally died on me and I was in the market for a new one. Didn't take me to long to find my new baby.Let me introduce her to you. Her name is Topaz. She had a bigger embroidery area than my last machine which I thought was wonderful.She is also from the same bloodline as my previous machine.

Isn't she beautiful !!!

This is what she did for me. I made this for my girlfriends Xmas present.

I found some old wood, rubbed her down and crackled the paint to give it that old look.  The butterfly I found from one of my grandkids hair thingy's. Stole it and glued it on. Perfecto !!!

I made quiet a few of these little lace bags. So many sewing  hours went into this one.

I have one more picture I would really like to share with you all. Its my tablecloth. All the years I did Machine embroidery I only ever made my self one thing. The Table Cloth. I have to take a picture of it first. No sun today so it will be posted later. I have to mention, when we left Australia I gave all my sewing and machine embroidery collectables away to my good friend Gail Ford and her Mum. I taught Gail how to embroid while there and she went on to make some beautiful items as well. I only bought a few things back with me, they were things I cant live with out I just couldn't part with them. I hope I didn't bore you to much, BUT I am very proud of what I achieved on this journey of creativity.

Sun finally came out and I was able to take a few pictures of my Tablecloth.

A lot of hours went into this and I am proud to say    IT’S MINE