Las Vegas Christmas

Tuesday: (12/23) We left Bakersfield at 1030 after a nice breakfast of Helen's left overs. I had checked the weather earlier and confirmed the winds shouldn't be too bad. We're to meet brother Ernie this evening. He's driving in from LA with a load. The weather was good all the way, no real winds at all and clear skies most of the way. We arrived at about 4pm. We did see some snow on the side of the road near Tehachapi and on the road summits nearer Las Vegas. We checked with security at the Rio Casino, our usual hangout, and they no longer allow RV's overnight. We had heard they now prohibited RV's but that doesn't always mean it will be so. The security guard confirmed that the reason was one idiot RVer that dumped his holding tanks and the casino was fined $400,000 plus the cleanup costs so now RVs are not welcome at any of Harrah's casinos here. We went over to The Orleans Casino and they welcomed us. Ernie came over and we went over to the Black Bear Diner for too much diner. We then visited the casino.

The oversize parking area is a mix of trucks and RV's. Most of the trucks are together further out. We parked next to two small Toyota class C RVs. A while later, there arose such a clatter, I stuck my head out to see what was the mater. It wasn't Santa. Beyond the two small RV's, a refrigerated bobtail truck was parked. The driver was probably enjoying the casino. The refrigeration unit on his truck would start and stop automatically. When it ran it was noisier than a locomotive with a thrown rod. We can sleep through anything so ignored it. When we woke up, both small RV's had moved across the lot.

Wednesday: (12/24) Lou fixed pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Brother Ernie came over for breakfast. After breakfast we went out looking at the possible RV parks for our stay but, being very thrifty, decided our location at the Orleans Casino was as good as anyplace. We stopped at a thrift store on Boulder Hwy and made our way to the Pet Kingdom pet store on Tropicana near Eastern.

It's a great store with many exotic pets. There are three house cats as well that make themselves quite at home. Two of them were comfy in separate Bunnie corrals and a third was perched above the cash register. One of the cats for sale and himself comfortable in his hammock.

We were a bit hungry so we went next door to a King Ranch Market (2475 E Tropicanna) very much like the Ranch Market in Bakersfield. A Mexican market with a really good taqueria. Lou and I had chile relleno and Dawn had a Central American tamale. Everything was excellent. We did a little grocery shopping and refilled our drinking water bottles as well. We then headed on home and invited Ernie over. We'll probably relax here and in the casino this evening.

Thursday: (12/25) Christmas. We went over to the Wild Wild West Casino where Ernie is staying. We enjoyed breakfast and then borrowed a shower in his room. After breakfast we went over to the Mandalay Bay Casino to the Shark Reef Aquarium. Next stop after a walk of Ernie's dogs was a visit to the Flamingo Casino to see the flamingos. Ernie wanted to get some pictures. I didn't bring my camera . To see Ernie's pictures go to these links: Sharks and Flamingos. And then it was time for an early dinner at The Orleans buffet. The buffet was excellent and only $16, about half of most of the buffets on the strip. The crowd wasn't bad when we dined but when we left the line was out the door. Something about a big meal causes us to seek rest so we relaxed the rest of the evening.

Friday: (12/26) The wind really blew last night and we had a good rain. It also got down to 29 degrees. In the morning the sky was clear and the wind still gusty so the ground dried out. Lou and Dawn are off thrifting. Lou has a map of Las Vegas with markers for each shop. Somehow she finds them all and even her way back to our home base here? Ernie and I are are each updating our blogs and publishing pictures. Lou and Dawn had a salad at Jerry's Nugget Casino, in North Las Vegas where all the thrift stores they're visiting are. Ernie and I got together in the afternoon for lunch at Slots of Fun for hot dogs.

Later met the girls and went to see the Fremont Street Experience downtown Las Vegas. They have a huge tv screen under the roof over the street for three blocks. It was quite interesting but quite cold as well and the wind was blowing we watched three of the shows that differ each hour and visited the casinos in between. After our first show we stopped in the Vegas Club's Great Momments Cafe and had their $2.99 ½ a sandwitch and a cup of soup. It was excellent. The sandwiches were made with a really good bread and the Manhattan chowder was the best we've ever had. Ernie had a grilled cheese sandwich. After the third show we headed just North of town to Jerry's Nugget Casino for desert. They have the absolute best deserts in town. It's a real good thing we don't live here!

Saturday: (12/27) Ernie came over to the RV for breakfast this morning. Then he returned to his base to handle normal chores while we went off to play. We went over to the thrift store and picked up Lou's chest of drawers. She had measured the rear of the wagon to be sure it would fit. it does but just barely. The chest is exactly sized to fit a wall in her craft room and she's been looking for a chest for quite a while. The store is close to down town so we headed on downtown again and visited the casinos. Then we stopped at the Main Street Antique Mall, quite an interesting place to look around.

Then we were getting hungry so we called Ernie and met at the Hofbräuhaus Restaurant at Paradise and Harmon. We have to stop by whenever were here. Above, a performer plays his huge horn.

Then we headed out to the Silverton Casino, actually the Bass Pro Outdoor World store there. I found some good hiking boots. It took a combination of three pairs of boots to make a pair that fit both feet. They were all the same size but each different enough for my feet to feel the difference. Dawn found a good sausage making book as well.

Sunday: (12/28) Breakfast with Ernie at the Wild Wild West casino again. We also borrowed few more showers before we said goodbye to Ernie and the doggies. He's headed off toward Utah with his load today.

An interesting note, we learned from our neighbor here at The Orleans that there is a sanitary dump at the Wild Wild West. Hadn't thought of that. It costs $7 but may be worth a visit if we're ever in need.

We headed out to the outlet mall South of town at Spring Valley Road and Las Vegas Blvd. Lou and Dawn wanted to visit a particular shop where they've found clothes they like before. The didn't find much, but I did. I found some of the western short sleeved shirts I were for a good price. Dawn did get some turtle neck shirts as well.

We then stopped by a market and got more soy milk, this time the light version to try out. We also got some salad mix and drinking water refills. We returned to the RV and enjoyed a nice chef's salad for lunch.

After lunch it was nap time. I did take a moment to install the new paper towel holders I picked up over at Pismo Beach. They really work so much nicer than the ones. The new holders have a rod clear through the towel roll and don't fall off when using a towel like the previous holders that just tried to grip the ends. I also caught up on the blog. Later we decided to take the shuttle downtown. Actually we tried to take it to Sam's Town casino, another of the Coast Casino's but they don't go there dirrectly and then it only runs every 2 hours so we just looked around the strip for a while until it was time for dinner and then had dinner at the Gold Coast Casino. While Lou and Dawn gambled, I walked across the street to the Rio and saw one of their Show In The Sky performances. They've changed entirely but are still good. A final shuttle ride home to The Orleans and we called it a night

Monday: (12/29) Another sunny clear day, though still very cool when the sun is gone.

Lou fixed corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast.

We went out shopping today to the Mall on Maryland Ave. Dawn had to check at the bookstore and both Lou and Dawn at the Bon Worth clothing shop. We managed to fill the day with our mostly looking. We shared a combo of vegetables, cashew chicken and orange chicken for our lunch and enjoyed our afternoon tea.

Still in the eat at home mode, Lou fixed chicken baked potatoes and baked pumpkin for dinner with raw mixed vegetables.

About 7:30 we headed over to Sam's Town casino and watched the light show and looked around. They've remodeled some since our visit last year.

Tuesday: (12/30) Another nice day. When that sun is out it's great weather. Today, the reality of living in an RV has raised it's head. It's time to dump the tanks. So today is a take care of business day. Holding tanks dumped, laundry cleaned, and grocery shopping. We'll be here through new years eve but then move to the Valley Of Fire on New Years day.

Wednesday: (12/31) Today was another shopping day. We had a list.

Our first stop was the International market at Tropicanna and Decauter. We got all sorts of stuff to try out. Much more thanwe shoud have. We're in for some new culinary delights.

Next stop, Trader Joe's again. We've been trying various soy milk products and found the organic unsweetened soy milk from the shelf not the dairy case is the closest to a milk taste. It doesn't need refrigeration until opened either so is ideal for use in the boondocks.

Next stop Long's drugs for disposable washclothes (big wet-ones). Good for spit bathing.

Next Costco for blue towels. Blue towels hold together in use and we use them for everything. Saves on laundry costs. They are half the cost of most other sources at Costco.

And finally, a stop at Smith's market for some last essentials. Here we found something we've been looking for at all markets for months, canned grapefruit. They had both regular and pink.

The weather is quite nice this evening for the fireworks. We're enjoying the view from the parking lot here overlooking the downtown fireworks. Last year we were here and rode the bus to the strip. They set off synchronized fireworks from several casino rooftops. We hadn't heard of it before but evidently they caught the Monte Carlo hotel roof on fire so this year all the fireworks was on the ground and unsynchronized, behind the casinos. Cute idea. No one had a good view, not even the TV cameras. All probably because one fire watcher enjoyed his beer instead of watching for embers. I doubt they will be doing it this way next year. We enjoyed the evening at the RV with a little visit to the casino.

Bakersfield

Sunday: (12/21) Visiting with Helen here in Bakersfield.

Monday: (12/22) We went over to the Ranch market for breakfast. We shared a couple of breakfast burritos. Helen had a quesadillo Lou and Dawn continued on to visit all the local thrift stores. Helen and I headed home. I then took the RV out to Camping World to fill the LPG tank. The needle on the LPG gauge was totally gone. It took 16 gallons, the most I've ever added. I visited the RV sales floor on my way into the store. I needed some new bungee cords for the towbar cables. The did have a very nice new 37' diesel class A for $109k. That's cheap and the floor plan was pretty good too. Fun looking. On the way back to Helen's, I also filled up the gas tanks. Much cheaper than the last fillup this past summer. Then it was about $4.79/gal requiring three passes of the credit card to complete the fillup. This time, the 56 gallons cost barely more than $100, a single pass of the credit card. The second pass was only for $2. I like the difference. It's a little painful to realize that the first leg of our trip with these low gas prices everywhere was using the expensive summer priced gas. We always fill up on our return home so that we have plenty of gas in case of one of the pesky unscheduled earthquake emergencies that happen around home. If we didn't, we could be the cause of a serious quake. Bad things only happen when you are unprepared. Something like always wear you best underwear or you'll have an accident.

Dinner was Helen's spaghetti and some of her son's sauce.

Pismo Bound

Wednesday: (12/17) I stopped off at work for a pancake breakfast at 7am. That meant getting up about 5am. Too much like the old days! Not too many changes there at work. Excellent pancakes, sausage and eggs. It almost seemed like old home week. All the recent retirees were there. It was nice to catch up on what's happened this past year.

I met up with Lou and Dawn at a nearby park, hooked up the toad and we were off about 11am. They can get bored as I catch up on all the news so they did their own thing for breakfast. We stopped in King City to do a little shopping. We needed to replace our drinking water bottles. I also needed a nap and Lou needed one as well so I couldn't talk her into driving while I slept.

We made another stop in Paso Robles for Lou and Dawn to check a thrift store then we were off again toward Pismo Beech. It was getting dark as we selected our campsite. I took a short walk and met a nice cat. The cat and I enjoyed a short hike toward the beech looking at the sunset.

We went out to Country Kitchen Restaurant in Arroyo Grande. Unfortunately, our favorite fish and chips restaurant is closed through Christmas.


Thursday: (12/18) Wow, quite a difference today. Last night it was cool/cold and hazy and overcast. This morning, it's clear and 52 degrees now at 10 am. Looks like a great day. Google says it's 41 degrees at home in Palo Alto and having showers today. 30 minutes ago it was only 34 degrees. The weather in Pismo is usually good and I hope good weather follows us on this trip. However, we saw a report this morning about 4 inches of snow last night in Las Vegas, our destination? Above left our campsite. On the right one of the many flooded areas. You would have to be careful where you pitched a tent.


We took a walk on the beach this morning. Above left some of the birds playing at the surfs edge. Right, the boardwalk back to camp. Our RV at the end. The weather is quite nice. Later we visited several thrift stores in Grover Beech.
Lunch at the Girls Restaurant in Arroyo Grande. Lou and Dawn shared a cob salad and I had chicken fried steak and eggs.
Lou and I looked at the Miners hardware store while Dawn looked at a book store. I found the light fixtures I've been looking for but not finding. They are for our side yard lights. I wanted motion controlled lights that had a standard lamp base with a jar lens. They had scads of them. It's one of the best hardware stores we've toured, and we tour them all.
We went up to San Luis Obispo for the Thursday night Farmers Market. We picked up some grapes and avocados.
Back at the RV, we had left overs for dinner.



Friday: (12/19) We returned to San Luis Obispo and visited three thrift stores there as well as the shopping center. Lou and Dawn found a deal on pants. I got a few things at the market.

We also stopped by the Madonna Inn and looked around.

Saturday: (12/20) Another great day. Lou fixed baked potatoes with blue cheese and bacon for breakfast. We then went over to Arroyo Grande and looked through the shops there. Many are closed now that were there last year. An all too common sign of the times. We nibbled our way stopping at the Eclair Bakery. We shared a slice of chocolate pecan pie and a chocolate eclair. and then stopped at Doc Burnstein's Ice Cream Lab and shared a scoop of peppermint ice cream. We also stopped by a pet store that was having a kitten adoption show. Lots of cut kittens.

After all this excitement, we went back to camp and had lunch. A bunch of left overs featuring chicken as the main course.

Next stop was Solvang. We drove the 65 miles down and looked around the village. It seemed like a good place to get a real feel of Christmas. Always on the lookout, I found the paper towel holders I knew existed but hadn't been able to find until now, not for lack of looking. Dawn examined a couple of book shops.

We topped off the visit with a stop in Buellton at Pea Soup Anderson's for pea soup, of course. We got back to camp camp a little after 8 pm.

Sunday: (12/21) Lou fixed breakfast burritos for breakfast. We went over to look at the butterflies again and I snapped a few pics. The Lou and Dawn were off in the car to Nipomo, about 12 miles South of camp, to a flea market. I took care of the RV, dumping the tanks and then headed down to meet them. We hooked up nearby an were on the road to Bakersfield via Highway 166.

At the summit above Maricopa there was still some snow on the side of the road. It must have We continued on to Helen's place in Bakersfield. We went over to Carrow's resataurant for a bite of lunch.

Winter Trip Prep

Monday: (12/15) Pretty good rain last night and this morning. There was even some snow and hail in the San Francisco Bay Area last night. I guess winter has begun. I played wit hthe computer trying to restore the programs I really need on the new hard drive. Probably about have done now. Unfortunately, it was probably the easy half. Dawn finished her packing and then Lou did hers. Tomorrow I'll catch up. Dawn was in the baking mood as well and backed cookies. Hopefully some survive for the trip.

I upgraded the blog to WordPress 2.7 a few days ago. The new blog is also using the domain http://travelbydesine.com (tbd) rather than http://donwood.org  (dw). Both actually get you to the same blog but now it's actually hosted on the tbd site rather than the dw site. I kind of like the new look but it may change as I polish the theme or find a better theme. There were a few problems with photo links so if you see a bad one on older posts, let me know.

Tuesday: (12/16) Dawn went down to San Jose for a class. Lou brought home some baked pork buns from the Hong Kong bakery for breakfast. It's my turn to get packed today. I also filled the water.  All ready to leave early tomorrow. Lou and I went over to the Sizzler Restaurant for lunch. We shared a steak and lobster special. We haven't been to a Sizzler in 10-15 years. Lunch was good and enough for the two of us. I haven't had lobster for twice that and now that I have, it will likely be another 30 years before I need it again.

Lou baked some chicken and cooked some Brussels sprouts and baked potatoes for dinner. Those pressure cooked Brussels sprouts are sure good. Who would have thought?

We're down to the wire now. Lou's doing the final refrigerator transfer. It seems like we always depart on garbage day. It's unintentional but handy to be rid of the stuff rather than have it ferment while we're gone. I've got all my junk laoded except for this laptop. Everthing is battened down and we're ready, or as ready as we ever are. Once we break free of the magnet of home, all becomes much easier. It's just the getting away that is always hard.

Vacationing

Monday: (12/08) Well, another week at home, but, looks like the last one for a while? Lou and Dawn are off on a little trip of their own to Fresno so I'm on vacation at home. About 10 days and the "hard" work of living on the road begins again.

I try to keep my political ramblings off this blog. I also have my personal blog and today I observed a stroke of efficiency worthy of note. UPS is just great. My comment got too big for this blog so I moved it over to my blog. Don't explore my blog too much though unless you think left of center or are considering it.

Tuesday: (12/09) Up early and headed over to the Kaiser hospital to get the stitches out of my finger. It's doing fine. I then treated myself to breakfast at the Country Inn in Cupertino on the way home. An Italian and artichoke omemette souffle.  I spent the rest of the day going through some of the junk in my study. I contacted the Computer History Museum in Mountain View asking if they still wanted my old computers. They do. The computers were fairly easy to find, the stuff that goes with them wasn't as easy to find.

Wednesday: (12/10) A little more junk review in the study. I also installed some new memory modules in my 4 year old laptop doubling it to 2GB. I also checked into replacing the hard drive which has run out of room. In order to do that, I started backing up the hard drive. About 42GB of the 75GB needed to be backed up to n external hard drive. Nothing really significant accomplished to day but everything takes time.

Thursday: (12/11) I was up early. I went over to Central Computer in Sunnyvale to get a replacement hard drive for my laptop. They opened at 9am and I was out in 10 minutes. No Christmas rush that early. I had an appointment at 10am so I had time to stop in downtown Mountain View for breakfast of a baked pork bun and an egg tart from the Hong Kong Bakery.


At 10am I went over to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. I had some old computers they were interested in having. The Commodore Business Machines B128-80 above was Commodores attempt at getting the office machine market. It came out about the time of the IBM PC and they abandoned it.


The SFD1001 was a 1MB floppy drive for the B128-80.


I also delivered my first computer, an Ohio Scientific C4P. Both computer were quite useful in their day but they'll never be put to any real use again. The best use, since they are both in excellent condition, is as museum specimens.

Next stop, the muffler shop. The toad's muffler is damaged and need repair. While I waited for the shops evaluation, I walked down to the San Antonio shopping center and browsed the Sears and Walmart's. When I got home, I battened down things in the RV getting ready to head down to San Jose tomorrow morning.

Friday: (12/12) Up far too early to drive the RV down to San Jose for an 0800 pre-trip check / oil and lube at Leale's RV. It's also getting the Dometic refrigerator recall fix.

I arrived at the shop at 7am to avoid any traffic problems. They open at at 8m but accepted it a little earlier. Leale's is pretty close to downtown San Jose so I walked down to Dawn's apartment. On the way I stopped for breakfast at La Victoria Taqueria for a breakfast burrito.

At Dawn's, I installed a new router in Dawn's computer network so she has a cable for her laptop to be able to print. That went well.

Then, while I was there I used the toilet. That didn't go well. It was stopped up. It may be because of the intermittent use but it changed my day anyway. Her apartment is part of our house there and the only thing stopped up was the toilet so I walked over to Walgreen's and got a plunger. I couldn't free it up so I will have to return later to remove the toilet to see what the problem is. It has to be a good blockage in the two feet before it joins the main drain. Nothing else is affected. Sounds like a fun weekend. My relaxing morning sure changed.

I walked back to Leale's at noon to get the RV. All ready to go. I stopped for a nearby Chinese Buffet lunch and headed home.

Just after I got home, the shop called to say the toad (our 92 Volvo) was ready with it's new muffler. I walked down to pick it up. Sounds much better. It really shouldn't have needed it. Must have been poorly installed two years ago but it was broken. It looks like it's installed properly this time.

Lou called about 1pm and said she was leaving Fresno. They arrived home about 10pm. There are a lot of thrift and antique stores along the way.


Good news, the doctor called this evening and my biopsy was clear. Also, the finger is looking better.

Saturday: (12/13) We're getting our first real cold snap starting today. We may even freeze up with the arctic air coming in. Nice time to head South next Wednesday. I fixed fried eggs and home fries for breakfast and then started dinner. Italian sausage, potatoes and some of Dawn;s homemade sauerkraut.

First thing, I dropped off some old computer monitors and printers at the recycle store. Little by little, my study is re-appearing as this junk is disposed of. Then, I went back down to San Jose to clear Dawn's drain. When I got there, it was working fine? Since I was there I cleaned the bathroom anyway. My brain doesn't work like it used to. As I was leaving I finally decided to look at the cleanout in the front yard, it was overflowing into the flower bed. Problem found. I spoke with the tenant and asked him to call the city to cleanout their line to the street. All the drain pipe is new except the line from the edge of the sidewalk out into the street. The roots clog it up occasionally. Seems like we had to have the City clean it every year but it's now been many years since it clogged. What I really can't understand though is why the tenant never called. I had heard them using the sink and they must have needed the toilet sometime in the last two days? Tenants?  I'm glad this happened now rather than next week or later after we had gotten on the road.

The dinner started this morning was very good.

Sunday: 12/14) I fixed a nice breakfast of some leftover home fried potatoes from yesterday morning and some left over potatoes and sausage for the sauerkraut dinner last night. Quite nice.

More fun today. I went back down to San Jose. The City had cleaned the drain so I cleaned up the mess. This is too much like a bad day at the RV dump station?

When I got back home I went through my tool bags making sure I had everything and placed them in the RV. Then I tinkered at the computer. Lots more to do to re-install all (or at least some) the software on the new hard drive.

Dawn's been packing today and Lou's working with dolls and sewing and helping Dawn. Later Lou got into a baking mood and backed an apricot pie and made some tarts as well. Excellent pie. She used some frozen apricots from our tree as well as some dried apricots. The dried fruit really amplifies the flavor.

A Warning And Not Much Else

Monday: (12/01) Not much happening. I'm relaxing Lou's cleaning. Sounds like I'm being lazy, great!

Tuesday: (12/02) My recently typical relaxing morning. Lou recently busy morning. I dabbled with the computer, she was busy cleaning up after the doggie visit.

We both stepped out about 1:30 and caught a bus toward San Jose. We hopped on and off vising various stores and thrift shops along El Camino Real. We walked through the new village along the Alameda near downtown San Jose and then walked along Race street. Several years ago I had eaten at a good Cuban restaurant there and thought that might be good for our diner. We arrived about 4:30 but they didn't open until 5pm so we continued on to a big sporting goods store, Mel Cotton's on San Carlos. We brosed through it in no time and returned for an excellent dinner at the Habana Cuba restaurant. We then caught a bus to the Valley Fair shopping center, looked around a while then caught a bus to downtown San Jose.

We walked over to San Jose State to meet Dawn at a showing of the documentary film "The Warning" shown by its writer/producer/director Joseph P. Sottile. Per the announcement: "The film is based on extensive interviews with five authors who have warned of authoritarian trends in America: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Crimes Against Nature, Naomi Wolf, The End of America, Chris Hedges, American Fascists, Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine, and Joe Conason, It Can Happen Here." Hopefully more people see it and heed the warning. Dawn went and since we were nearby, we met her there not knowing what it was. I'm glad we met her.

We all then caught the bus back home to Palo Alto.

Wednesday: (12/03) Lou headed off to volunteer at the Stanford University rummage sale. She prepared the childrens section for the Saturday Sale. Me, I played with the computer all day. the most exciting thing today was watching the garbage pickup. I like to watch big machines. Exciting!

Thursday: (12/04) Lou took Dawn to a doctors appointment. They did their thrift shopping before getting home. Me, the usual, at the keyboard.

Friday: (12/05) The day began much like normally, each doing the usual. Lou doll making and spring cleaning, Dawn job search and me not much. A little after noon, we all headed out. We dropped Dawn off at the trolley station in Mountain View. She attended an Anthropology club meeting.
I had a doctors appointment for a biopsy. It didn't take long at all. We then had lunch at the Home Town Buffet then went home. I then relaxed the rest of the day.

Lou has been busy working on her dolls sewing micro clothes and making micro shoes. Dawn started making entries to her own blog, dawnwood.info. Her writing talents far exceed mine. She has posted many of her short stories as well, some works in progress.

Saturday: (12/06) Lou, Dawn and our neighbor Meilie are off to the Stanford rummage sale. Lou is working there today so I'll pickup the others when they're done looking. I enjoyed working at the computer doing a little programming all day. Not much change there. And of course, Lou worked with the dolls. She, unfortunately broke a doll's foot while dressing it. Back to the begining for that foot. Dawn continued the job search and writing.

It's more like winter now, cooler and occasional fog.

Sunday: (12/07) Lou and Dawn are off to Fresno for a few days to Lou's sister's place. I get to be on vacation again. I'll start preparing the RV to go. I've ignored it long enough. Looks like we may get out on the 17th toward Pismo beach then out to the desert through Bakersfield, Las Vegas and Quartzsite. We didn't get everything accomplished on this visit but we did get a lot done. Un-done things will be here when we return.

Since we'll be heading out, it's great that the fuel prices are MUCH lower. Less pump shock. I read a thought on Nick Russel's blog about the real reason for the drop in gas prices and it seems more realistic than a reported reduction in use of our cars. That reduction isn't always apparent. He suggests that the real reason for lower prices is less speculation in oil. No one has any money to speculate. Sounds logical.