Pappa Seth's pizza

New years eve

Granddaughters toast the new years eve by drinking sparkling grape juice through a straw.

Cousins Swap gifts

I didn't realize what I was getting myself into when I agreed to come to this thing. 5 little girls and a toddler. I was the only source of male cooties for the first 30 minutes. Seth finally showed up. I have found a small space away from the main area of activity and I am doing this on Jenny's iPhone. The pic should be better.

Christmas Day

As expected, it started early. I heard a disturbance near the tree at around 2:15 so I came down stairs to check it out. It was Santa. He and I shot the breeze for a while. He was having an internal debate about the naughty or nice conundrum. I gave him a tequila shot and I went back to bed. The present opening was festive. PapPaw came over. Our Christmas meal was at Jim & Ann's house. It is now late afternoon and everyone in established in a reclined position.

Christmas Eve

This was our first time participating in the annual Pajama party held at my mother's (MeeMaw's) house. All Williams relatives within a 15 hour drive were in attendance. All were forced to wear pajamas. The origin of this dubious rule has been lost to the ravages of history. Our outfits provided the neighbourhood with a spectacular display of tacky as we played frisbee in the front yard during daylight. Here's the group, sans me, luckily for the reader, my PJ clad self is behind the camera. 

S.A. for Christmas

We got here yesterday and parked in Jenny's dads driveway. Nothing has broken on the MP so far. I'm sure that is just a bizarre coincidence and reality will return soon. Today I washed the thick layer of crud off of the Sabaru that had been deposited on it during the 2 days of rain that we encountered on the drive. We had "nacho" night at Seth & Courtney's house and had a fun visit with our Granddaughters. I talked everyone into a pic.

Abilene State Park day II.

We drove into Abilene this morning. We were in dire need of a Wal Mart and I wanted to see our old house. Both goals were successful. My memory of 1983 is kinda hazy but I could use my imagination and I sorta remembered our house. The trees I planted were huge so the front yard didn't look the same. We also drove to the front gate of my last AFB-DYESS. Not really fond memories but things are so different I couldn't really mentally regress. When we got back to the park I got Jenny to play disk golf. I spotted her 1 stroke/hole so she wasn't horribly crushed by my skills. Hopefully we can do this some more. I did a long bike ride around Lake Abilene after our golf outing and we have just finished eating grilled vegetables while watching MSNBC on our satellite. Sweet.

Abilene State Park

We made it to Abilene in spite of Jenny's IPhone navigation. I followed her phone instead of mine. On the plus side, we did get to see some rural West Texas roads. We rode around the park on our bikes after we got set up. Jenny even did some off road trails. Maybe I should put nobby tires on her bike. We got a satellite TV system for the money pit a few weeks ago. There are so many trees around here I had difficulty finding enough open sky. Here are a couple of pics.

Texas, W. of Texarkana

We have been moving every day. The days are so short I haven't really had any time to get any exercise. I need to move. Tomorrow we will stop at Abilene state park. We should get there pretty early so I'm hoping to be able to get on my bike. We will probably be there 2 nights. I want to visit our old house. We lived there from 82-86 right before I left the Air Force.

Camped on the Mississippi River

We got going early today (9:45). We're headed west on I 40. No real destination in mind. We have a full tank of gas because we filled up yesterday. A full tank will last something like 6 hours. That's plenty. We fill up in Memphis. We are "camped" at 'Tom Sawyer' campground in West Memphis, which is actually located in Arkansas -go figure- anyway we're right on the Mississippi River. Gazing upon the river at sunset brings back memories (some good, some, not so much) this is a pic of our campsite.

Long way to S.A.

Today is Dec. 16th. We are driving the MP to San Antonio so that we can spend a Christmas with our Granddaughters and other assorted relatives. (sons, daughters-in-law, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers etc.) We have a lot of relatives in S.A. We drove to Cumberland Mt. State park, which is somewhere east of Nashville Tn. We don't really have a plan other than to be in San Antonio around the 22nd. Here is a pic of me in my blogging position.

Perfect timing

Using extraordinarly good judgement we were able to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal with both kids napping.

8 lbs of red meat

Standing rib roast has replaced turkey as our Thanksgiving entree. Lindsay has a recipe that has it covered in a salt crust.       

Austin turns the big ONE

The party was held in the back yard. The party theme was cars/trucks. Austin had his very own smash cake. A dumptruck filled with graham cracker crumbles was dumped on his cake before he dug in. It was apparently delicious. The dogs were unleashed to do the clean up.

Picnic in the park

Lindsay's house is close to a county park that is right on a salt marsh. The park is covered with trails. It is really a tremendous asset to have so close to home. The only problem with it is you can't use the trails there during the summer unless you have showered in insect repellent. Today was mosquito free. Sweet. We had a picnic.

Connor crashes

Walk'n in Charleston

Watch "ABC" on YouTube

Austin's Birthday

We came to Charleston to attend Austin's party. He turns 1 on November 11th. Today is the 7th so we've got a few days to visit. Right after we arrived we went around the block. I'm learning to use this new phone. Hopefully this will work.

New phone

Jenny now has an iPhone and I'm using her android thunderbolt. This is a test to see if I can blog from my new phone.

Aggie B'day party (Saturday)

There was nothing on the official agenda until 4 this afternoon. Our small group went to breakfast and then drove around the area some. We toured the house where the movie "The Texas chainsaw Massacre" was filmed. After that we came back to the resort and played a putting golf course. I didn't lose. Thank goodness for Diane Maxwell.

Aggie class of 74 60th b'day weekend

This weekend we are in Marble Falls doing an Aggie Mini-Reunion. We drove into Llano and ate lunch at the original Coopers barbeque restaurant. After that we split up and went to Inks Lake State park to have a look around. After that, the group did a wine tasting at a local winery. The day ended with a dinner at an outdoor restaurant.

Auburn AL

Drove about 8 hours today. After some discussion we decided to put in an extra hour today because we are going to drive into the Eastern time zone tomorrow and lose an hour. I am still suffering from what I believe to be a fatal virus. Luckily, my immune system is primo. Consequently, I did a bike ride after we arrived, that was intended to spit in the eye of the killer virus. Possibly a mistake. This campground has cable. Jenny forces me to watch MSNBC. This pic is proof.

Breaux Bridge LA

We are finally headed back to Tega Cay with the MP. She was parked in the CFG warehouse parking lot for over a month. During that month I spent a few days in Charleston being a superior grandfather. I really am fantastic at playing 'cars'. Then I flew to SA and introduced the girls to freestyle play. Jenny was in Sadona AZ having a family adventure with her dad and 2 of her brothers. After all of this exposure to child germs I succumbed to a virulent strain of the "creeping crud" I was a sick puppy for a couple of days. After we get home we turn around and fly back to SA for an Aggie class of 74 60th birthday bash at a resort near Marble Falls

Princess's castle

Jenny and I are in S.A. to babysit the girls while Seth and Courtney attend a wedding in Boston.

Lindsay & her boys visit

Jamie was going to be out of town for a week so Lindsay brought Connor & Austin to Tega Cay for a visit.

Separation anxiety

We're in S.A. We've decided to leave the MP here for a few weeks. We've got Grand Parent duties plus a few other pressing issues that require our presence in Tega Cay. We will be flying out tomorrow. The MP is parked in the CFG warehouse parking lot. I am bummed that I will have to start mowing my own grass again.

Seen at New Mexico rest area

Lake Powell days 7-9

We covered a bunch of miles these last 3 days. The charted miles follow the old course of the river. The channel is marked real well with buoys, each numbered. There are wide bays that cover the meandering river channel. Shortcuts were in order. It was somewhat confusing because we could do some channels that no one else could do. We even had to get out of the boats once and drag them through 3 inch deep water. Anyway we saved I'm guess'n 5 miles off of the charted distance. Also the dam is mile 0 and we weren't going to the dam. We were going to the state line marina, 5 miles short of the dam. This is blog worthy because we finished today (day 9). Some highlights of the last three days: We had another thunder/wind/sand storm. I had to go swimming to retrieve some of our stuff. Jenny lost a screw the helps hold her rudder in place leaving a 3/8 inch hole in the side of her boat. She took on water for 2 days before I figured out what was up. We changed our watches to Utah time because we were in Utah. We found out the entire lake stays on Arizona time when we hit dangling rope marina an hour before it opened. The trip is over. We were glad to see Wahweap marina. We drove the MP into Page and picked up the car that was parked in Vaughn's Uncle's driveway. Laundry tomorrow then we're headed east. We started this trip on July 3rd. We're pretty much done.

Labor Day on Lake Powell

Watch "Lunch on the lake" on YouTube

Lake Powell days 5 & 6

This weekend is labor day weekend. The lake is really crowded. Boats everywhere. We are a little worried about finding a camping spot that's unoccupied but our requirements are different than everyone else. Tonight our boats are sitting on a rock ledge and the tent is pitched on a spit of sand a short walk from the water. That wouldn't work for a powerboat. We have seen no other Kayakers. The last 2 afternoons we have had horrific wind storms. Jenny was in the tent both times as the tent filled with sand. To put it mildly she was extremely unhappy. Today, day 5, we were forced to paddle 3 extra miles because there were vertical cliffs on both sides of the lake for several miles. We stopped at the first available spot. 18 miles. That puts us a little ahead. Today day 6, the crowds have thinned some. We had a strong head wind today that slowed us considerably. We made our 15 miles. We are 57 miles from the dam at the mouth of the San Juan river.

Lake Powell day 3 & 4

We've decided a 6am getup will get us on the water by 8. It takes us 6 hours to do 15 miles which puts us in camp early enough to beat out the camping power boaters. We couldn't see any good place to stop in the main channel so we gambled and paddled up a side canyon hoping to find a place. We're in Hanson Creek canyon. Tomorrow we paddle by Hall's crossing marina.........passing through halls crossing now. Wifi available. Here's a couple posts.

Lake powell day 1 & 2

The shuttle worked well. Vaughn was on time. The drive took a little over 4 hours. It took us awhile to rig and load the boats. We were kind of tired to begin with plus we lost an hour entering Utah so we only did 4 miles the first day. We informally decided 15 miles a day would be enough. We started looking for a campable spot at 15 miles and ended up on a beach. We had a horrific wind storm late afternoon while I was making a breakfast bread. There was some. Blowing Sand that got in the batter. It made for a crunchy breakfast.

Kayak trip prep

That's pretty much all we did today. I did a bike ride pretty early, it's now 7:30, the sun has set and we just finished getting ready. As usual I don't think it's remotely possible that we can get all of this stuff in our boats. I'm disgusted. I'm always disgusted with our load when we start out. I've got 2 weeks of food that I think we'll need. The problem with that plan is Jenny won't eat what I will so we will invariably have a lot of food left over when we arrived back here. Anyway, here's the plan: We pick up our shuttle driver (Vaughn) at 8 in Page. We drive 5 hours to Hite, which is on the Colorado river arm of the lake. It's 150 lake miles back to the dam. The money pit will be parked in a big lot near the dam. We'll take 10 days to 2 weeks to paddle what amounts to the length of the lake. When we get here we beach the boats, get in the MP and drive it to where Vaughn has left the car (his uncle's house in Page). We camp in Page one night and then begin the drive back to S.A. . Of course Jenny will probably call a divorce attorney as soon as we get cell coverage. That reminds me, we will be out of touch for the duration I suspect. Maybe not but probably so. I will be sending Spots. I know you all look forward to those. I'm sure the boats won't float with all the stuff I have to put in them so you'll probably hear from me tomorrow.

Lake Powell

There was some serendipity going on today. We got here pretty early with no problems. I had made an appointment with a dentist in Page to have a look at the crown that fell off a week or so ago. My temporary fix was real temporary. I told the hygienist our story and that I needed someone to shuttle us to The Hite marina on the Colorado river. A 10 hour (at least) round trip. Story short. I hired one of the dentists nephews. They couldn't fix the crown because my teeth had already shifted a little. We decided to just forget it until I get home. I have been de-crowned. I didn't even abdicate. Jenny is busy roaming around the campground taking pictures of the clouds as the sun sets.

Dave does a beer run

Today we just chilled. Greatly needed. Except for doing laundry that is. Tomorrow we leave. 26 days in The Grand Canyon. Half of that below the rim. We feel like residents. It's sad, but we gotta go. Tomorrow is Page AZ and Lake Powell. I made a beer run to the market and bought a 12 pack of Grand Canyon beer.

Back from Horseshoe Mesa

Here's the synopsis: The Grand View trail is very steep. You loose 2500 feet in 3 miles. Jenny doesn't do downhill too well, especially with a heavy backpack. A couple of hours in it started to rain. The steep rocky trail became a muddy river. It was pretty gross. It took 4 1/2 hours to cover the 3 miles to the camp site. I knew then that my 4 day plan wasn't going to be possible. We decided to base camp at our Horseshoe Mesa camp and day hike. The problem with that was water. I was going to have to spend 2 1/2 hours every afternoon doing a harrowing hike to a spring. Starting on day 1. I did that hike 3 times. It was a trail suitable for a mountain goat. It rained all night that first night. Day 2 we hiked to the tip of the west fork of the mesa. It is a special place. I had been there before and wanted Jenny to see it. On the way back we looked for and found "The cave of the domes" it goes back 1/2 mile under the mesa. We went in maybe 200 feet. The cave is not marked on charts and visiting it is discouraged by the NPS so I was happy we found it. The next day we hiked down to cottonwood creek and around the western tip on the Tonto trail and then back up. We were out 5 hours. Today we hiked back up the steep Grand View trail. It took us only 4 hours to get up. Jenny does uphill better. We're in trailer village again. This time for 2 nights. I didn't take my phone so no pics for the blog. Tomorrow will definitely be devoted to the Laundromat.

Backpack tomorrow

Had a good long hike along the Rim trail today. We rode the shuttle to Hermits Rest because we have been there several times and never seen the building Mary Coulter designed. It's on the rim and its a really neat building. We walked back 5 miles to a bus stop and rode the rest of the way. After lunch I spent the rest of the day getting our packs together. Our permit # is 12-04561. We'll be hiking down the Grandview trail camping at horseshoe mesa. Day 2 will be Hance creek. Day 3 Cottonwood creek. Day 4 out and back here to trailer village. I'll be sending spots. Seth & Lindsay, you should hear from us on Saturday the 25th.

Rim trail

Watch "Jenny on the edge" on YouTube

Down day

I've tried to avoid the utterly trivial minutiae that occurs daily in The Money Pit, but I can't resist this. I lost a crown this morning. There seems to be an endless amount of----well---crap, that happens to occur to me/us with predictable regularity. That being constantly. In my zealous planning I have some glue that is specifically for crown failure. I performed this dental procedure, and, knock on wood, it stuck. I did another bike ride after my oral surgery. I talked some foreigners into taking this pic. After lunch we tried to set up our Lake Powell kayak shuttle for the end of the month. It will be a 10 hour drive for someone. It doesn't look like plan "A" is going to fly. I've got a plan "B" and even a plan "C" so I'm not to worried. We're having hors d'oeuvres for dinner. Gotta go.
 

What a rack!

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The day after

We slept in today. After the river, 6 is sleeping in. We got up at 5 during the raft trip, shooting for a 7 start. Yesterday we had a simple breakfast so prep and cleanup were simple. We got on the water at 6:30. Our guides said it was a record. Jenny and I are sort of soaked in tired. The abrupt transition from intense activity to hotel room seems to have disrupted our spirit. I'm dragg'n. We are back in trailer village for 3 nights. Our energy levels should be back to normal by the time we leave again. We have one more short 4 day backpack trip in the canyon before we leave. We got here on the 1st of August. I feel more like a resident than of a tourist. The raft trip was really good, the guides were really good, the food was really good, the group was really good. Thanks go to Cindy Shipley for putting this together. At this very moment we're doing laundry again. This time the clothes are seriously dirty. Here's a pic of Kelly & Stan Shipley, Kathy Lott and Jenny.

GC raft trip day 3,4, & 5

We, the clients, were brilliant this morning. We were seated in the boat at 7. I haven't been keeping track of the names of the rapids or of the side canyons we've hiked because my mind has been in neutral. There has been many of both. There are many places inaccessible to hikers that we have spent time in. Some days it's been very frequent. At this moment the trip is over. We are on a bus bouncing along on what will be a 5 hour drive back to the south rim. Keeping the blog up to date at night after dinner has not been possible. The food was endless and with the beer and wine, staying up wasn't going to happen. We should be in phone contact soon. This was a great experience. 

GC raft trip day 2

We apparently didn't make enough miles yesterday due to our relatively late start. The head dude "Jamie" wanted an early start. He told us 5am get up with 7am on the water. We were pretty close to that. We did a bunch of rapids, including the one that has killed the most people, crystal rapid. They didn't tell us of its reputation until we were through it. We covered all of the canyon that I am familiar with today and we are now in a section I am unfamiliar with. We had several stops with short hikes to interesting spots. Today was a good day. There are 4 desert bighorn sheep about 100 yards from camp pretty cool.

GC Raft day 1

No one got any sleep last night. The Maswick isn't air conditioned and it was a little warm, plus there was some anticipation of the impending adventure. We met at the Bright Angel lodge at 5am, got our briefing and got going at 5:15. The hike took around 5 1/4 hours for most of us. Jenny & I went to the Phantom Ranch to drink some of their spectacular lemonade and buy a couple of T-shirts. There was a couple that took several hours longer to make the descent so we hung out at the boat beach and waited. After we finally got going we went through several rapids, Horn Creek, Salt Creek, Granite and the biggest, Hermit Creek. Even though the boat is huge everyone gets wet. The Rapids take on a different perspective when your in a boat in the middle of them. This is the boat, the beer and the guides.

Raft trip prep

Today was one of those transition days. I did a good bike ride this morning (have I mentioned what a fantastic place this is to bike ride?) We loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly. Not really. We moved the money pit to the back country office parking lot. It has taken us quite a while to get our act together. We are not used to not having to take everything with us we need. We our using day packs, mostly clothes. It's a 4am getup for a 5am show at the Bright Angel lodge. We will meet our hiking guide at that time. It will be a 9.5 mile hike losing 5000 feet of elevation. Forecast temp at the river 107. This is Jenny's loaded pack.