micah’s thoughts from the road

The day of started of peaceful enough. I personally had not been nervous for the months leading up to this day…and honestly, I did not find myself nervous on this day, until about two hours beforehand. I wanted everything to go as perfectly as possible. E had been with the hair guy for over an hour and now the photographers were here, the caterer came, everyone was asking me questions, people needed stuff, more questions, more stuff, “Where’s Liz?”, “Where can I get more coffee filters?”, “Who’s going to video this thing?”, “Where’s my wallet?”…you get the picture.

I quickly found that I had run out of time and needed to get myeslf ready. I hadn’t showered, shaved, ,or gotten dressed and it was 2:45!
The photographers were to start taking pictures within the hour!

Well, like the superman that I am, I dashed into the room and emerged ready in time. Since my tux coat was white, I was really hoping that pigeon had stayed back at the restaurant.

We did all of the pictures and then prepared for the ceremony.
And then it happened…

The music started with ‘Moonglow - Theme from Picnic’ to which E’s mom and brothers walked the aisle to find their seats. Soon after came my procession music which, upon the first few notes, drew laughter from our guests - who doesn’t love the Pink Panther Theme?!?
I was proud to have my mother walk me down the aisle. (My mom’s poem) She
We were followed by the best man and maid of honor (my brother and E’s friend Courtney).

Next came the song ‘Theme from a Summerplace’…
E came down the aisle escorted by her father and I must say that she was beautiful. Now I was worried that I wouldn’t get my breath back in time to sing the song that I wrote for her. Hopefully, my voice would serve me in front of all of these people.
It was time. E read a poem to me; her voice cracking with emotion. Luckily, I happened to have some tissues in my pocket just for this. (Thank you Cathy!)
Next it was my turn, I sang the song (lyrics) with no sour notes! Whew!

But then I stumbled on the vows! We were to repeat after Cathy and I did so, but then started interrupting before she finished with each line. Those of you who know me, know that I do this in regular conversation as well! I will confess it was my nervousness that caused me to anticipate the words. Well, soon enough was the exchange of rings, the Kiss, and the pronouncement.

We had a few more photos and then it was time to party!

The reception that immediately followed seemed to be a hit. There was a lot of great food and drinks as well as some very touching toasts in our honor.

My brother, and best man, paid a wonderful tribute to me in his toast.
A funny side note to this is that he and I were not the closest of pals in our youth, but we are today. There are many stories…but ultimately they all have ended well. I am not ashamed, nor am I too manly, to say that I love my brother. I always have. (Here’s a poem I wrote about him a couple of years ago.)

And so it came to be that our travel trailer was not the only thing that was hitched on that day!

A funny side story is that I misplaced my wallet. After several hours of searching for it, my best man happened to find it wedged between the seat and passengers side door in the truck. WHEW!

Thought for the day:
OMG!

We had checked in to the Del Marcos and prepared for the arrival of our guests on Thursday. Our parents had never met in person before AND we had several friends scheduled to arrive - all within an hour of one another.
This would be an interesting time to be sure!

After everyone settled in, we took our parents to lunch at a nice little sidewalk mexican cafe called Mariposas on Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs.

The lunch went well until the check came. No, it was not the amount of the bill that cast the damper over the meal, it was a pigeon flying overhead.

Now, I have been dumped on many times before, but this was not a good time! In an act of sympathy, someone tried to convince me that this was a symbol of good luck. I suspect that this would be true for the pigeon.
This might have been his initation right to join some sort of pigeon gang - The Craps and the Blobs.
A sucessful fly by shitting of which I was the victim.
I quickly made my way to the restroom and “freshened up”.

That evening, we took a stroll down Palm Canyon Drive for the Thursday night Village Fest. It is sort of like a midway at a fair or carnival. There are street vendors, musicians, food, etc. It was a nice evening and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Friday
The next day, we simply hung out by the pool and visited with everyone. Aside from a few errands to be run, it was a day for visiting. One of the pooside topics of conversation happened to be my swimsuit. I happen to like less restrictive swimwear and I don’t give a damn what people think. Sure, I am no Adonis, but I don’t claim to be.

My mother quickly became the shuffleboard champion and took every willing opponent. I decided to take that crown after seeing so many fall. I stepped up to the plate with the intent of showing her a lesson in shuffleboard…but, like many others before me, I shuffled away in defeat.

E’s parents were enjoying the balmy Palm Springs weather which was in stark contrast to the still snowy Minnesota climate. Her brothers took a liking to the pool.
E also had family in from Arizona and Washington state.

Family and friends were here from all over the country and were enjoying our chosen destination! It had finally come together.

Thought for the day:
Blood is thicker than water…but this pool sure is nice!

Happy Travelers
our first morning in Palm Springs was quite nice. I awoke quite rested and ready to explore the city in the daylight. After a little breakfast, E and I went out and took a look about town. The weather was quite nice. The temps were already reaching into the 80’s and the sun was bright and clear.

We stopped by the hotel Del Marcos to get a look at it in person. We had seen it for months online in pictures, but never in person. upon arrival, we were greeted by Jack who manages the property. He showed us around a bit and let us know that we we welcome.

It would be another day before we were scheduled to check in and we still had one night in the Happy Traveler RV Park a few blocks away. We decided to simply hang out and start preparing for the weekend wedding.

Technical Difficulties…Please stand by
For several days prior to our arrival in Palm Springs, I had been having trouble with my laptop. I had gone so far as to even reinstall Windows. This meant that I also had to reinstall all of my other software as well. It was one thing after another. I finally got it up and running, but with some limitations. It is ironic that the laptop had worked fairly well for the last couple of years and only just now decided to give me so much trouble.

THis is why you have not seen many blog entries and NO webcasts. The laptop has taken hours of my time.
On another note, I have also been attempting to take an online training course for work that was due back on the 14th. Even though I can log in now, there is some sort of issue with the training website that will not allow me to access said training.

I know, everyone has said to not worry about work, but I have trouble relaxing. I really wish that I could put work aside and enjoy the days around my wedding and travels. I still find myself working on things late at night and when I first get up in the morning. Thinking about work…

It turns out that the training website has a known issue with “No ETA” for correction. THis means that I am supposed to keep trying to access it until it is fixed. I guess I will have to keep trying.

Metromint
We went grocery shopping at Ralphs for a few things (this is like a Kroger store) and I found some bottled water that was called metromint. I am not usually one to drink water, but I like mint, so I thought I would give this a try. I have to say that this could very well be my new Dr. Pepper! This stuff is really good and I hope to find it everywhere else we go.

If you are like me and know that you should drink more water, but don’t like it, then try this stuff!

Thought for the Day:
I need to create an application that works with windows to allow other applications to work without windows. I will call it “Curtains for Windows”.

Head West Young Man
It was early morning when we got up and prepared to leave the Grand Canyon Camper Village. We had talked it over and decided that we would try to make it all the way to Palm Springs and have as many days there as we could.

We made our way back south to our Route 66 and headed west toward California.
Of course there were a lot of exits along the way that we could not pass up. We stopped into various towns along the way and visited several Route 66 ‘places of interest’.

One of these stops was a small diner in Kingman, AZ named Mr. D’s (no relation to the Captain or Mr. Drummond on that old TV show). It was a renovated diner with the old malt shop feel to it. We arrived just before lunch…and just after a tour bus of 30 ‘elders’ had arrived.

Now, I am not saying anything bad about tour buses, or elders, or crowded diners - but the combination of these might draw a few words. The waitresses seemed about as surprised as I was that this entourage had just arrived.
It was too bad that the diner did not take reservations because I had a few.

We were quickly seated and then quickly ignored. Finally, an apologetic waitress came to our rescue and took our drink orders. As she went back to the kitchen, another apologetic waitress came by to take our drink order…then a third…and even a fourth!
We ordered a strawberry shake and a water. These were brought about twenty minutes later.

In the end, it all turned out well and I was quite impressed with how our waitress actually handled the whole thing. The food was not as great as it was pumped up to be, but hey, this was a “roadside diner”.

We left Kingman and were soon off route again. It is hard to keep up with the GPS when it can’t keep up with you!
We eventually took a stretch of 66 that took us through some quite mountainous terrain complete with one lane passes, switchbacks, and steep grades. A bit scary with two tons behind me, but we made it. We finally reached the sprawling metropolis of Oatman, AZ where we kept going. A few miles outside of Oatman, there were about a dozen burros staggard all over the two lane highway. They were positioned in such a way that it made it hard to pass through them. They just stood there and stared at the cars as if to say, “Yes, we are asses. What are you going to do about it?”

About an hour later, we crossed the very southern tip of Nevada and crossed into California.

No Fruits
We soon came upon the vehicle inspection checkpoint. It is here that an inspector assures that you are not bringing anything in to California that is not allowed such as geological, chemical, or biological items such as fruit. I surmise that the reason that they do not want fruits brought into California is because several live there already…but I digress. (Hey, everyone who knows me knows I am kidding - because I can!)

We kept heading west on 66 in a southern direction and finally came to a small town that actually had a gas pump! This was good because Elizabeth had let me let the tank get concerningly low again. I am not sure how I am supposed to get us around the country if she insists on letting me forget to get gas! I had to pay 4.30 a gallon! WoW! That is the most I have ever paid for a gallon of gas and I have to say it made my ass hurt just thinking about it!

Palm Springs
About dusk, we reached Northern Palm Springs. THe wind was very gusty and high. It blew the trailer everywhere but where I wanted it to be, but once again, we made it through. We finally settled into our RV camp about 9:00 pm and called it a day.

Thought for the day:
When the gas gauge is low - the gas gouge is high.

Flagstaff
We left Holbrook and the Petrified Forest on Sunday and made our way to Flagstaff where we did a little grocery shopping at the local Safeway (we used to have those in Texas) and we stopped at a carwash to wash the dust off of pixeldust. The carwash proved to be a challenge because the truck and trailer are quite long and the carwash did not have enough room for us to ‘pull through’ and exit. I found that I had to back out of the stall that I had pulled into. This was most fun…but I managed.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon later that afternoon. I was amazed at all of the Indian Gifts and trinket shops along the route. It’s interesting to see that some Indians still scalp the white man even after all of these years.

We made our way into the park and found our way to the campground only to find that it was full. The man in the booth said that there was a place just outside of the park that always had room. “Great”, I thought, “a place where nobody wants to stay.”
Actually, it turned out to be a decent place called Camper Village. Although we did not have any cell service or internet capability, it was actually nice and was just one mile from the GCNP.

Plumb Drained
We settled into a nice shady spot and set up camp. I spent the rest of the afternoon using my old dull hacksaw on the vent stack on the roof. WHY?, you ask. Because the kitchen sink has never drained right and, on this day, decided not to drain at all. I am quite certain that I looked most dashing in the trailer park with my dirty old t-shirt, on the roof of our travel trailer with a hacksaw in one hand and a water hose in the other. I could probably qualify as the Camper Village Idiot, but I didn’t care.

I felt that the problem had to be a clogged vent stack so I attempted to remove the darned thing and have a look. Since it was riveted on, I decided I would cut it off. LUCKY for me, I actually had a spare vent in my inventory! This brings up the interesting side note that I was once in Boy Scouts and learned to be prepared…although nothing could have prepared me for all of what was to happen next!

Upon the removal of the vent stack, I found several dirt dauber nests had clogged the pipe over the years. I removed those. Still no draining. I bought a hose and a power nozzle from the general store nearby and blasted the pipe out. The only thing was that it blasted back up at me and soaked me. So I said, $%##%^&%$! in no uncertain terms.

Two hours of nozzeling and $%##%^&*!!, and I still had a clogged drain. I had pipes undone, the toilet out, two sinks unseated, and still had a clog somwhere. I did happen to find that there was a TON of rusty material in one bit of the line, so I blasted and plunged and blasted and plunged (hmmm - think I could write a romance novel with that language?) Finally, the sink would drain, but still slow. Hey, better slow than not at all.
So I put everything back together and called it a day.

The Grand Canyon
The next day, Elizabeth and I went to the south rim and took our hike. I’d say we got in couple of miles and took several pictures and some video ( which I hope to post for you all soon). It truly and literally was breathtaking. I am not used to physical exertion of this magnitude! We had a great time though and I suspect that I would have walked another ten miles if time had permitted. Since we didn’t have two weeks for me to accomplish this, we decided to return to camp.

Back at camp, I had myself a nightcap and slept better than I have in weeks! I think I am learning to relax a little. In spite of plumbing issues which obviously had me drained. Yes, I was just PLUMB tired! I now understand why liquor stores are often found near trailer parks…they are a good place to get plumbing supplies for all your trailer needs.

Thought for the day:
I prefer the sky scrapers of the Grand Canyon much more than those found in the cities.