Morels

It's Morel time here in northern Lower Michigan and the mushroom hunters are out scouring the woods for these delectable fungi. The serious hunters all have their own theory on the best places to look and guard their locations as if they were top government national security secrets. Teddy and our nephew, Freddy Lawrence found this fine bunch this morning in a secret location right here on the farm. There are hundreds of recipes for cooking morels but we like them just simply fried in butter and lightly salted, as an accompaniment to grilled New York Strip steaks.

Pie

The ruhbarb is up here on the farm and Teddy made this rhubarb/custard pie this morning. We enjoyed a piece tonight after dinner. This is the third one that she has made in the past week as she can't stand to see the rhubarb go to waste. I hope it goes on all summer. ;-)

Blossom time in Leelenau County

We took a Sunday drive yesterday afternoon, ending up in Suttons Bay. The cherry orchards here in Leelanau County are in full bloom. First the sweets bloom and then about 3 or 4 days later the sours come out. They last about a week while the honeybees go about their work pollinating them so that they can set fruit. In about two months they will be red with cherries. While in Suttons Bay we visited some gift shops and took advantage of one of the Ice Cream shops that are now open for the summer visitors. Teddy had a "Black Cherry" cone and I had a "Raspberry Truffle". Yummm!

2nd Year Fulltiming Anniversary

As of May 1 we have now completed our second year of RV Fulltiming.
Here is a map of our travels since May 1, 2005 with year one outlined in blue and year two in green.
Highlights of the year include trading in our older "Fifth Avenue" trailer for a brand new bigger, better and larger home on wheels, a 37 foot Cardinal fifth wheel with three slides. Sadly we lost our two feline travel companions, Minou and Simba both due to advancing age, however in November we adopted a kitten from the Lake Havasu Humane society. Nasdaq is a black & white "Tuxedo" cat. He has grown into a beautiful big guy and totally rules the trailer. His main interests are eating, sleeping and Ornothology.

Comfort Food follow-up

As promise here are some of the comfort foods that others have emailed me.

Rebecca in Michigan says, "My comfort food is "Sweedish Pancakes" Mom or Dad would make them for breakfast on Sunday mornings. It was the BEST way to wake up as a kid."
(She even included a picture of them.) Well, Rebecca, I must admit that "Sweedish Pancakes" are also a favorite of mine. Teddy just made a pan the other morning.

Laurie in Michigan says, "I'm very sorry, but your milktoast and poached eggs look and sound revolting. I almost got the heaves looking at the blog.......For me, I guess stuff like Kraft macaroni and cheese, sandwich spread at the deli with "mystery meat" leftovers, pizza rolls..... the more processed, the better!"
Sorry Laurie! And as for processed cheese...I don't think so! Give me an aged cheddar or some English Stilton.

Pat in Wisconsin says,"...ice cream is a good comfort food."
Agreed! How about a double dip of Leelanau black cherry ice cream on a waffle cone?

And finally Anonymous in Michigan says,"...I've had many a 'milk toast/poached egg'...'Must be our mothers knew each other, huh?"
Hmmmm, maybe!

So apparently it's just "different strokes for different folks."

North for the Summer

Just got an e-mail from our good friend Sallie Majerlie in Traverse City saying that she was concerned for our well being as hadn't seen a blog post since April 16th.
Oops...sorry Sallie but we have been off-line for the last few weeks as have been traveling north to our summer digs here in Michigan. Problem was further complicated by the fact that we only get dial-up internet out here in Cedar; my notebook doesn't have a built in modem and I somehow misplaced my external one...so had to buy a new dial modem which just arrived today by Fed-X. However, we are now firmly ensconced in our usual spot behind Deb's cottage near Sugarloaf and receiving visitors.
We left Lake Havasu on April 17 for an uneventful five-day trip to Appleton, WI. We overnighted along the way in Gallup, NM - Amarillo, TX - Miami, OK & Springfield, IL, arriving in Appleton on Saturday the 21st. On Sunday we visited with Mike & Toni and went out to dinner with them Sunday evening. We had an appointment at Appleton Camping to have a fireplace installed in the Cardinal so were there to greet them when they opened on Monday morning. After retrieving the Cardinal Monday afternoon we parked at the Snug-Inn for three days while making a round of Doctor appointments and visits with all of our Appleton friends & neighbors. We were able to see the Schemms from the old neighborhood, and our dear friend Marilyn Anderson. Had lunch Tuesday with Tony, Becky & Rose Welhouse. Tuesday evening Jen & Dick Orr hosted a special “Martini Group” dinner in our honor so we were able to see Tom & Carol Sykes, Greg & Sue Madson, Wes Evans, and Kate Ewing.
We finally left Appleton Thursday for the final leg of our journey to our summer home here in Cedar, MI (near Traverse City).
After traveling close to 2500 miles without incident, a low hanging branch over our driveway caught the refer vent cover and tore it off. Damage was mostly to my ego, I should have been watching more closely. Oh well, $15.85 for a new cover and all’s well. Needless to say, the branch now resides in the brush pile. My baby brother, Lyle has volunteered to climb up on my roof and install the new one as I don't climb so well anymore. One of the benefits of getting old is you can get other people to do jobs that you would normally have to do yourself. ;-)

Comfort Food

When I was a boy and became ill my mother would fix me milktoast and poached egg. I suppose that the theory was that it was bland and easy to digest. It consisted of warm milk poured over of two slices of buttered toast arranged on a plate each topped with a poached egg. It ultimately became, and still is, my comfort food for whenever I am not feeling well. I suppose it’s my version of chicken soup. I can still remember the little “oil slicks” floating on the milk from the butter.
At any rate, I have been under the weather for the past few days with a massive head cold consisting of a stuffed up head, lung congestion and a hacking chough and this morning, per my request, Teddy fixed me milktoast and egg shown here.
I already feel better.
It got me thinking, though, that many of us probably have some sort of security blanket and/or comfort food for when they are feeling blue or under the weather.
So my proposal is this: If any readers of this blog should feel inclined to send me their own version of a comfort food, etc. I will list them in a subsequent blog. If you wish to be anonymous please indicate so and I will not include your name otherwise I will give credit where credit is due using first names only.
I think it will be fun.
Hope to hear from you.
Send to: comfortfood@larryandteddy.com

MASA

Since we are full-time RVers we are faced with the question of what to do if one or both of us should become incapacitated through accident or illness. In view of this we recently opted to take out a lifetime membership in MASA's Air & Ground Ambulance Service.
Over the past 29 years Medical Air Services Association has been dedicated to providing life-saving emergency assistance from home, while traveling, on or off the job. The coverage is designed to protect members against catastrophic financial loss when emergencies arise.
The Platinum Membership offers the following 13 services: Emergency Air Transportation • Helicopter Transportation • Ground Ambulance Transportation • Organ Retrieval • Organ Recipient Transportation • Recuperation/Repatriation • Return Transportation • Escort Transportation • Non-Injury Transportation • Minor Children/Grandchildren Return • Mortal Remains • Vehicle Return • World Wide Coverage
Should either Teddy or I suffer a serious illness or injury requiring medical treatment not available locally, MASA will fly us to the nearest medical facility capable of providing the specialized treatment required, providing that it is more than 100 miles from the point of departure. Following hospitalization MASA will then return us to the airport nearest our permanent residence, either by air ambulance transport or commercial, depending upon our particular circumstances. Our permanent residence can be either Appleton or Traverse City or whatever we decide on at the time. In addition, if one of us were hospitalized away from home for more than seven days, MASA will fly a family member or friend, via round trip airfare, to visit us and will also provide a bonded driver to return our RV to our permanent residence and will pay for the gas and oil to do so. 
MASA provides this service to absolutely free, with no deductibles, no out-of-pocket expenses. Additionally, since we are Lifetime Platinum Members, helicopter services are also provided from the site of an accident or illness to the nearest medical facility capable of rendering treatment.
The average cost of a retail air ambulance transport is $6,000, but can be as high as $25,000 or even more. As a MASA member, this service is provided free of charge. MASA's aircraft are strategically placed throughout various regions in the western hemisphere. All MASA aircraft are medically equipped and depending upon the medical requirements of the individual member/patient, appropriate medial personnel may accompany the member on the flight free of charge. 
If one or both of us should die MASA will arrange and pay for the return of our remains to the airport nearest our permanent residence. MASA's services are provided in the continental United States of America, Alaska and Hawaii, as well as Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, the Bahamas and Bermuda.
It was expensive but in the long run we feel that it was worth it

Z-Coil

One of the other winter campers here at Havasu Falls was wearing Z-Coil shoes which peaked my natural curiosity. He claimed that they had helped his back pain tremendously. So a couple of weeks ago, Teddy and I drove up to Bullhead City to the nearest Z-Coil shoe store to try them out. I felt that they might make a difference in my knee and Achilles tendon pain. We tried them in the store and finally decided to purchase a pair for each of us. Teddy adapted to hers immediately and says that they make a world of difference on her daily five-mile walk. For me, however it took about a week to adapt to them. My Achilles tendon pain in my right ankle went away immediately but they caused some shin pain which went away after about a week. I was told to expect this, however.
I don’t know if it is my imagination or not but my knees seem better as well.
Only time will tell.

The Grand Canyon

On Thursday 3/27 Teddy & I with two other couples drove to the only spot in the Grand Canyon National Park where it is possible to drive a vehicle down to the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon. The track down to the Colorado starts from the end of a residential street at the northeast edge of the town of Peach Springs, AZ and is owned by the Hualapai (wall-uh-pie) Indian tribe. A permit is required and it cost us $12.50 for each person in the truck. for the first few miles, the road passes along a dry, dusty stream bed in a small canyon, past clumps of trees and bushes, and then crosses more open land with scattered cacti - close to the springs after which canyon and town are named. The canyon proper starts 6 miles from town - the road is a bumpy, unpaved track (Indian Reservation Route 6). The stone & gravel surface was fine for my truck although it got progressively worse near the bottom. As the canyon deepens, the types of cacti and other plants changed noticeably, especially now in early summer when they are in flower. The surrounding cliffs became steadily higher and more impressive, and several side canyons joined from both sides, including the ominous-sounding Hells Canyon. The last branch was Diamond Creek Canyon, which has water flowing through all year round. The road then crosses the creek about 6 times, and for a short distance ran in the streambed. The water was at most 4 inches deep, but might of course be much deeper at other times. There is a car park and camping area just before the first stream crossing. 1.5 miles after the creek is first encountered, the road emerges onto a wide, sandy beach beside the Colorado river,
a total journey time of almost 2 hours to traverse the 21 miles. The road is mostly used to take rafting parties in and out of the river.






On the way back we decided to take old route 66 instead of route 40. The section between Kingman and Oatman crosses a mountain range and is a narrow two track highway hacked out of the sides of cliffs with many hairpin switchbacks. I'm sure that it is the road where they filmed Desi & Lucy in the movie "The Long Long Trailer".

Farewell to Snowbirds

Last night was the parks annual "Farewell to Snowbirds" dinner with over 90 people attending.

After a delicious rib dinner we made 2 giant banana splits in 20 & 10-foot eave troughs. We filled the troughs with quartered bananas followed with Neapolitan ice cream.

We then added fresh strawberries, pineapple, chocolate & butterscotch syrup and topped them off with whipped cream.


Then paper bowls were provided for everyone to help themselves.







.

St. Patrick's Day

There's a man that every Irishman adores
who drove the snakes from Ireland's shores
His memory garners much acclaim
St. Patrick was the fellers name

He drove Ireland's snakes away
At least, that's what some folks say
And when he preached to his Irish flock
He wore a green shamrock on his frock

It states in every history archive
that he was born in the year three eighty five
And finally when his work was done
He died March seventeen four sixty one

So every year on March seventeen
We honor his memory with Irish cuisine
From this moment on, You are forewarned
By eating cabbage that's boiled...& beef that's corned.

And add to that a tater or two
Or maybe a bowl of Irish stew
Top it all off with a pint'o green beer
And you've honored St. Pat for another year.

So raise your cup and shout it right out
"erin go bragh" is what it’s about.
And ‘till next year when we next convene,
You’ll honor the man by wearin’ the green.

Last evening the park sponsored a Saint Patricks day corned beef & cabbage buffet dinner. We had corned beef & cabbage accompanied by boiled carrots & onions all paid for from our breakfast profits and park residents also bought various buffett dishes. Teddy bought a green cake decorated with white frosting topped with green shredded coconut.
I read the above poem to the assemblage. which I had written for the occasion.
After the 'eaten was done we were entertained with a parody of the "Family Fued" TV game show. Gail Bristow from Wetaskiwin, Alberta played the Richard Dawson part. There were two six person Irish "familys", an orange family and a green family, chosen from the park residents. I ended up on the green team.


Hands on your buzzers.











Orange team huddle.






My team won and was presented woth a huge mystery box present.
Which turned out to be a peck of Irish Potatoes.



It was a fun evening and everyone had a good time.

Lenny & Marian Styczynski from Green Bay, WI sure seemed to enjoy it.

1st Annual International Golfball Race

This afternoon we held the 1st Annual International Golfball Race. Each participant furnished his own golfball and paid a 25¢ entrance fee. The contestants lined up at one end of the park on an asphalt road that has a slight downhill slant to it. At the GO they were to roll their balls toward the other end, approximately 100 yards away. Only underhand throws were allowed.
We divided the entrants into six person heats and then had a roll-off of the highest heat finishers. Winner took all the money which amounted to almost ten dollars American. Canadians had to pay their entrance fee in American money. There they go!
Here they come!

Oatman

Today 5 of us (Dan & Pat Martenson from Escanaba,MI and Jan Morse from Bakersfield, CA and ourselves) went on a roadtrip to Oatman, AZ. Oatman, located on old Route 66, is/was an old fronter mining town turned into a tourist trap. One of the attractions are the "wild" burros that come into the town daily and beg for carrots from the tourists.

Here are Teddy and Jan in one of the souvenor shops.









The shops all sell bunches of carrots to feed the burros with.
Here Jan gives away her last carrot.












Pat appears to have lost her way.













This is the hotel where Carole Lombard and Clark Gable are purported to have stayed on their wedding night.



From Oatman we drove over to the AVI Casino in Laughlin, NV for dinner before returning to Lake Havasu.

Clocks & Stanford Fleming

Over one hundred years ago Sir Stanford Fleming proposed a system of imaginary lines that would divide the world into standardized time zones. It was adopted by most of the countries of the world and with some minor tinkering is essentially the system that we use today. The minor tinkering is what we were faced with last night when most of the nation, with some exceptions (Arizona being one), moved their clocks ahead exactly one hour. As fulltime RV travelers the different time zones across the nation often cause us some confusion as to what time it is where "so and so" lives. For instance it is now three hours ahead of us where Teddy's mom lives whereas yesterday it was just two hours.So in order to make life easier I purchased three inexpensive wall clocks from the local Ace Hardware and set them to the three areas that we are the most interested in. Now all it takes is a quick glance at the wall to decide if it's time to call Mom.

Wisconsin Mixer

Yesterday we attended the annual "Wisconsin Mixer" get togather for Wisconsin Snowbirds down here in Lake Havasu. It was held at the local Eagles Club. There were between 300 and 400 folks there. Hard to believe that there are that many Wisconsinites down here. Makes me wonder, "Who's minding the store". Had a big lunch and raffles with donated gifts from local merchants.

Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig.

Our four day weekend at the Fountain of Youth SPA has woefully come to an end.
After one more trip to the pools we hooked up and left for Lake Havasu at about noon.

Dan & Pat had followed us on the way down so I told Dan to take the lead and we followed them on the way back. ;-)

We arrived back here at Havasu Falls around 5 pm, just in time to go over to the clubhouse for Monday night "Pegs & Jokers".

Dates

Spent the morning bathing in the mineral pools.

Then in the afternoon we drove about 30 miles north of here to Thermal, CA to visit the Oasis Date Gardens where we were able to sample all of the many different varieties of dates and were treated with a free "Date Shake".
Then performing perfectly in our tourist roll we dutifully bought several pounds of dates from the gift shop. In Traverse City, Michigan they call the tourists "Fudgies" because they buy fudge at the local fudge shops so I suppose that we are "Dateies" here because we bought dates.









The date palms are very tall...















...with the dates growing in clusters near the top.





.

Lounging in the mineral spas

This morning went to the Rec hall for the park’s Saturday breakfast. $4.00 ea. for coffee, orange juice, pancakes, eggs fried or scrambled, and ham.


















Spent the rest of the day mostly lounging around the pool/spa area going in and out of the various hot mineral spas and napping.

I tried to be very careful to not spend too much time in one of the "Fountain of Youth" pools as I didn't want my age to regress to less than 62 for fear of losing my Social Security benefits.

Later in the afternoon Teddy took some long walks exploring the area.
After dinner we joined Pat & Dan at their trailer and played Whist.

Mud Pots

This morning Dan, Pat, Teddy & I explored the park and it is in truth, a small town with over 2000 winter residents. There is a small store, a health center, beauty shop, massage room, laundry, tennis, bocce & horseshoe courts, a café, library and game rooms. It is a very large park with 800 full hook-up sites and 200 dry campsites. We are told that there are over 2000 winter residents dwindling to about 200 in the summer. This is also a geothermal area and there are two artesian mineral water steam rooms, two whirlpool tubs, a hot mineral water spa, three therapeutic mineral water jet pools and two large swimming pools.
After spending some time in the spas we had lunch and spent the afternoon touring the area in our truck. We drove about 10 miles to the south end of the Sea to observe some of the bird life.




At this point my GPS was reading minus 240 feet.









... we continued on to an area where there are these geothermal mud pots.


From there we drove through “Slab City” an area where many people dry camp on an old abandoned military post.


Tomorrow morning there is a breakfast in the “Rec Hall”.

Fountain of Youth SPA

This morning we hooked up the Cardinal for a 4 day weekend at The Fountain of Youth SPA on the eastern shore of Southern California’s Salton Sea about 10 miles north of Niland, CA. I found it while surfing the net looking at RV parks, it looked inviting and to cinch the deal there was a web coupon for a free fourth night with a three day paid stay. Our friends, Dan & Pat Martenson from Escanaba, MI are accompanying us with their trailer.The road through the Orocopia Mountains NE of Mecca, CA twisted and turned through this awesome canyon called "The Box Canyon". As we approached Mecca the altimeter reading on our GPS began to drop and by the time we reached Mecca it was reading over 200 feet below sea level.Turning south at Mecca on hwy 111 we were now traversing an agricultural area of dates, artichokes and grapes Teddy snapped this picture of a vineyard through the truck window.We soon caught sight of the Salton Sea for the first time and although we had read that it was the largest lake in California, we were still surprised at it’s vastness. According to a brochure that we picked up, it has a surface area of about 360 square miles. The Sea is a major stop on the Pacific Flyway and supports one of the most diverse bird populations in the United States. More than 350 species frequent the Sea and up to four million birds may be found on the Sea at any one time. It also supports a productive sport fishery.
We finally arrived here at The Fountain of Youth SPA around 4:30 pm PDT and are now settled in for a four day stay. We will leave Monday for our return to Lake Havasu City. Till then we’ve got some exploring to do.

Exploring The Desert

John Antonetti, one of our friends here in the park, tows a Jeep here behind his MH from his home in Racine, WI. He uses it to go exploring in the desert and surrounding mountain foothills. This morning he took Teddy and I on a four-hour trip into the hills overlooking Lake Havasu City. Here you can see Lake Havasu in the background from one of our many stops in the high desert. We started at an elevation of about 550 feet in Lake Havasu to over 2500 feet in just a few miles. The track you see in the photo is the one that we had just traversed in the Jeep.
Here are Teddy and I by one of the giant saguaro cacti that abound in the area. Some are 20 to 30 feet high. It is said that it takes over 50 years to grow one of the arms that grow from the main cactus body. The holes that you see, particularly in the far one, are made by Cactus Wrens who hollow out nests in them. (CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR A LARGER VIEW)
It is amazing the amount of flora that is growing out there in the desert. From afar the hills look barren but when you get up close there are many different kinds of cacti and bushes. We had a rain recently and there were many small flowers and grasses pushing their way up through the rocky soil.







John also took us to an old abandoned mine and while John and I stayed with the Jeep...








...Teddy, of course had to explore the mine.

Thanks John, we had a real good time.

Visitors from Appleton

Yesterday afternoon we were just sitting around doing nothing, as we are often wont to do and there came a knock on the door. Suprise, suprise it was Bob and Barb Heim, old neighbors from the Appleton Christine Street neighborhood. They had been in California visiting their daughter, Lynn and had opted to drive to Lake Havasu and suprise us. It was great to catch up on all the neighborhood gossup. We went out to dinner last night and met them again at the i-hop for breakfast this morning before they continued on to Scottsdale to visit some of Barbs kinfolk.Bob & Barb at the I-Hop