Moose Club #1006 – Redding, California

Yesterday I drove the motorhome 168 miles from Rogue River, Oregon  over the Siskiyou Mountains to Redding, California. The entire drive was on Interstate Highway 5 which meant lots of 18 wheelers.

Because of an early winter-type storm in the area, we saw lots of unusual and pretty cloud formations along the way…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Mount Shasta was more cloud-covered than Mary or myself had ever seen it in the many times we have driven by…

Lake Shasta remains really low in comparison to past years…

We parked behind what WAS Moose Lodge 1006…

And the usual dinette window photo…

I say WAS…because they are closed. I found several volunteer members cleaning out the building which was recently sold to avoid bankruptcy. It’s a situation we see all to frequently as we travel these United States. Many fraternal organizations (American Legion, Eagles, Elks, Moose and VFW) seem to be fighting the same battle…insufficient membership activity to meet the financial obligations to run the club. This club told us they will be downsizing to a smaller building rather than closing their doors like many others have been forced to do. This club has been in existence 102 years and in this building since the early 1950’s. They also told us their new site will have RV parking.

It’s truly a sad statement about today’s United States involvement in organizations that do so much good for so many people.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

With regards to my upcoming cataract surgery..my pre-op exam and consultation is set for September 29 at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto, California…surgery is scheduled for October 9th.

Yesterday was a cloudy/sunny day with rain at night and 74 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy/sunny and 74 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Oregon. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 500 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2014

Bemidji, Minnesota

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 75 miles from Grand Rapids to Bemidji, Minnesota.

We continued traveling along U.S.Highway 2 West.

The day started with a misting rain…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Labor Day Weekend Sunday Morning traffic was light…

Arriving at Bemidji, we stopped at Paul Bunyan Park along the shore of Lake Bemidji. Since we are tourists, we just had to take photos with Paul and Babe…

Just before arriving in Bemidji, we crossed a small creek with a sign that indicated it was the Mississippi River. Then I remembered it starts up here in Northern Minnesota. Here is the Mississippi River as it flows in to Lake Bemidji, about 50 miles south of its origination point…

You can read about lake Bemidji and the Mississippi River by clicking this Wikipedia link… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Bemidji

The Mississippi River flows into Lake Bemidji beneath this bridge…

A 180 degree panoramic photo of Lake Bemidji…

Nearby there’s a tourist information center with reclaimed marshlands…

We walked around downtown Bemidji scouting both the Elks and American Legion…neither of which had a parking lot and were closed. The museum was also closed. We doubled-back about three miles and parked at a very Friendly Eagles Airee #351 where they provided both an electrical hookup and a free Wi-Fi signal…

Here’s the usual dinette photo…

At the Eagles we participated in a spaghetti dinner benefit for a young man with heavy-duty medical problems. Thank you Eagles Airee for allowing us a very pleasant visit!

First it’s too hot and then it’s too cold. Yesterday morning was in the low 50’s. Cold enough that with a brisk wind, I had to wear my sweats and down vest while walking around Bemidji! Today is forecast to be 72 degrees. At 5:30 AM this morning it was 55 degrees with 71% humidity. I’ll be so glad to leave the high humidity behind me!

As a side note…Bemidji is the birthplace of Jane Russell. If you have forgotten who she was…here’s a Wikipedia link to refresh your memory… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Russell

We’ll continue our westward travel later this morning.

Enjoying friendly Eagles Airees is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Minnesota. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

ESCANABA, MICHIGAN MEANDERING.

Touring the town where I had my first date, my first kiss, and attended both grammar and Jr. High Schools was a nostalgic trek for me. The people who live in this house were not at home to speak to. My sister and I and three brothers all slept in one big bedroom upstairs in this two bedroom one bath house. A porch once ran the width of the front. I amazed myself at how many memories came floating back just seeing the place. If you’ve never done a trip like this, I’d recommend it.

Two houses away still lived Mrs. Clifford Jensen. Her husband Clifford and his sister Julie were very young,  Bob and Nancy, both deceased, were close to my age.  She kind of filled me in on changes in the neighborhood over the years. Too many friends gone.

From that house I attended St. Patricks Catholic Church, a beautiful old cathedral style church of which there are many in Escanaba. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get inside, it was boarded up, trees are growing out of the bell tower and it had been hit by lightening  a week ago. The building is for sale.  I sang in the choir here, two masses most Sundays.  I talked to the nuns about joining the convent and when  my father fund out he whisked us out of Escanaba to nearby Danforth  to get me away from that Parrish with these words:  “No daughter of mine is going to make a decision like that at age 11.”

When we returned to Escanaba, we lived in this duplex which also had a front porch shared by both parties. Mrs. Niderost, our landlady lived in the right half. This house had a full basement.  Here I got my first kiss at age 13 from a boy named Bob Morin. (I still attended St. Patricks Church, but the subject of  a novitiate never came up again.) This house is only half a block from Lake Michigan and a neighbor facing the water would let us swim off his dock and taught me to water ski.

On my one and only date, we went to a Sunday matinée at this now closed theater in town. .

After the “show”, no one said movie, we went to Saykillys Sweet Shop for a tin roof sundae. My visit to Sakilly’s saddened me. The counter was removed three years ago. The booths you can barely discern at the left side of the room, long gone. The juke box, gone, but the only constant in life is change, so I shouldn’t have been surprised.  Sakillys still makes home made candy and a sells gifts,  much expanded from those many years ago.  I moved to California in 1954, shortly after my first date, and I thought the world would end.

Mrs. Sakilly weighing candy. She is long gone, as is her sister, Angela Kabasic. Angela and Pete owned and ran Kabasics store where we shopped for penny candy and groceries as kids. In those days we had credit at the store. Mom would send us for a pound of sugar or something and we’d say “put it on the bill.” No question. Everyone knew who you were.

The store is much expanded, modernized, and still run by a family member, George Kabasic.  It at one time had a counter running the full width of the store. You walked up to the counter and Pete would go get what was on your list one item at a time. Talk about sloooow! It amazes me how they could wrest a living from the place. Kabasic was a butcher and he had good meat and they still have fresh meat in a case at the back of the store which is now twice as long as it once was. Necco wafers, bird bubblers, walnettos, candy cigarettes. dots…a nickel went a long way.

Downtown, the Ludington Hotel was considered the “Ritz”. It had bellmen. They were dressed in red uniforms similar to the little guy  who “called for Philip Morris” in the cigarette ads.  I remember wishing I could go into the hotel just to see what a hotel was like, it was so beautiful. It is on the State Historical Register, but it has lost its luster. Now, renting apartments and only a few rooms are rented out as a hotel, with a downsized dining room and bar. It was closed so I never did get my peek except through the door and a window.

Another place that fascinated me was Just Ask…

Gust Asp. Gus and I think his wife’s name was Dena, no longer own the business. I knew it was a cigar shop, or men’s shop. I never went inside. This time I did. It is a liquor store, fast food sandwiches, meat, cigs and all sorts of “stuff”. I shopped my babysitting dollars at Kresges  and Woolworths.  Woolworths had neumatic tubes that took your money to the cash handlers visible  upstairs. Then the neumatic tube delivered your receipt and change to the clerk downstairs bagging your purchase. Both stores were gone and the signage covered over.  (I made Jim take me back right after the sun set to capture this picture of the sign flashing its dual message.)

We went looking for the schools I attended. Escanaba Jr. High, expanded on the back side was still there. Escanaba High School the one we knew, no longer exists. My sister graduated from it. My Grammar School, likewise, completely gone.

A jut of land on Little Bay de Noc uses a crib light to warn boats and ships away from danger. It took over for the Sand Point Light House in 1939.

The Sand Point Lighthouse has been refurbished and is now a museum with fully furnished living quarters. The most fascinating thing about it is the light keeper, Mr. John Terry, died the day before he was supposed to go to work in 1868. His wife, Mary Terry took over and lit the light until 1886 when she died in a mysterious fire. This complex included the lighthouse, a rescue boathouse on rails that could be pulled to the nearby water for rescue operations; a coast guard memorial, and a wonderfully done museum and archives in a separate building, all for the family price of $5. I got a line on people I knew, (one of the docents was my older sisters age) and a newspaper picture of Pete Dube, an olympic skating trainer. He died in 1963. My dad took us out to Little Bay de Noc to see Pete Dube Skate across the bay and back when he was in his seventies.

We stopped for a beer at the Eagles Club. A brewpub on the street was closed.

There are many historical buildings in this town and the Elks Club is one of them, imprinted on the building, 1925. It has a 6 lane bowling alley upstairs according to some folks at the Eagles Club. (The Elks Club wasn’t open.) We are on picture rationing, so I’ll be doing a part two on Escanaba, tomorrow.

OAKLAND, NEW JERSEY

Oakland, New Jersey Elks Club is located just a mile from our good friends, Jim and Ginnie Palumbo. The grounds at the club are elegant, with a gazebo, tennis and basketball areas, a huge barbeque and picnic area and then…the Ramapo river flows at its feet.

Among the landscaping plants was the biggest hosta I’ve ever seen in North America, about four feet across. Beautiful.

I spent the afternoon reading at the riverside and watching the geese swim back and forth under a nearby walking bridge.

The bridge may have been meant for people, but this deer took advantage of it as well.

When Jimmie got off work, they came and got us, and the four of us went for dinner at one of their favorite Italian restaurants.

The zuppza de peche loaded with calamari, scallops, huge delicious mussels, and shrimp with angel hair pasta, excellent.  It came with soup or salad, and wonderful french bread and extra sauce. The guys had meatballs with their pasta. It doesn’t get much better than that.

We sat by the river and visited with Ginnie and Jim until it got dark.  Beautiful  swans swam by, gobbling something they liked.

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A couple of fishermen took advantage of the dusk and put their poles in  from a small boat. Earlier in the day, a kayak went by and a heron landed on the bank, but I didn’t have my camera ready at that moment. Next time.

Galveston, Texas – Day 1

Yesterday we drove the motorhome the about 55 miles from Freeport to Galveston, Texas.

Recently we have been slowly moving north and as we follow the Texas Gulf of Mexico Coast…east. The reason is because on February 6th, we have reservations to enter Sam Houston Jones State Park at Lake Charles, Louisiana for a one-week stay while we enjoy Mardi Gras!

As shown in this Google Earth image below, we ran directly along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico for 40 miles. V marks our current location at VFW Post #8248. Galveston is on an island of 56.000+ population with even more people in the city getting ready for Mardi Gras. Real estate becomes very expensive so there are only two clubs…the Elks with no parking lot and the American Legion with a very small parking lot…so we had to move off-island to find a place to park…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

We are parked at another very friendly VFW Post, #8248 about 12 miles from downtown Galveston. We expect to depart here on Friday…

As always, I like to show the view from the dinette window…

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Texas. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…(look closely on the Texas coast…)

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

ELKS,PIGS AND WINS

Soggy, soggy, was our day. A bit of clearing in late afternoon sent us out to the Elks Club where a convocation of WINS was meeting. Jim left the WINS, which stands for Wandering Individuals Network, in 2007. Whenever he hears a group of WINS are meeting, he likes to reconnect with a group he really loved. There were ten rigs present at this venue, with more coming. And, likely we will run into them again as we head up the coast starting today. Margaret Murray, left, is a fellow blogger at http://www.mwmnewadventures.com/

Many women are afraid to travel alone and Margaret gives you an idea of what it is like. Check out her great blog.

I’m a new ELK member and was delighted to have a chance visit at the Harlingen Lodge. In their foyer, they have “Lucky” who collects money for Special Needs Children. In our Lodge #1587, Sonora, CA., each individual is given a purple pig to fill.

Every table in the lodge also has a red pig. Jim and I put our change in, but we saw no money in any of them. We enjoyed a couple of drinks with our friends, (you have instant hugging friends  with the WINS).

Then we headed back down 77 Sunshine Strip to pick up my bike at the bike shop. Don’t you just love the name of the street?

Birds gathered to enjoy the clearing weather, or maybe they are getting ready for National Bird Day, that’s today. I hope I can get a few nice bird pictures while we visit South Padre Island.