To Mr. Bethke, Where Ever He May Be...

Some of you know that Algebra was not my cup of tea. Mr. Bethke, my Algebra teacher, was more than patient with me. I have a mental block with numbers. I choose the "soft" sciences in college. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT stupid. I just don't speak the language of mathematics.

I thought that part of my life was behind me. I thought Mr. Bethke was wrong about how I would need it later in life. Okay, I used in nursing and it did help when I had to take Experimental Stats for my Master's Degree. But by and large for my everyday life I have managed not to use Algebra.

Then I decided to go cruising with a kid. Now she is doing Algebra! Our afternoons are spent at the table with books, tables, the internet and the ever important answer/full solution key.

Just what we are working on this week.

Sometimes things come out of my mouth and I am sure that I am channeling Mr. Bethke! Sometimes I can hear him in my head, "Miss Bonham, all you have to do is plug the numbers into the formula and work it out." It still is easier said than done, but thanks for the advice.

Dad, I wish you were here with us. It brings back so many memories.

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round...

Riding the bus is a way of life in Guatemala.  Some buses are okay, some are great and some should not be on the road.

Our first year in Guatemala we rode Fuente del Norte.  All gringos commonly refer to it as ‘Death from the North”.   I would rather have 40 knots and be in twenty foot seas than ride with them again.

LiTegua is now our favorite bus line.  They have good hours and routes and they stop at the water park for lunch or breakfast depending on the time of day.  No matter if we are going to the city or coming back to the river we get the Express Special bus.

What exactly is the Express Special bus?...well it depends.   Sometimes it is a ragged old thing that is belching black thick smoke or it can be a middle of the road “rode hard and put up wet” bus that still is comfortable.  A movie may-be provided or not, you may get a sandwich , most likely not these days.  It may-be a straight run or you may stop along the road and at every bus station along the way for the next 5 to 6 hours.

We were shocked and amazed at our latest bus back from the City to the Rio.  It was NEW!  No one had broken a seat, no one and peed or vomited in a seat.  It still smelled clean, the curtains were new and still had the original holders and weren’t jury rigged with filthy rope.  The TV was a flat screen that swung down from the ceiling, not that we had a movie, instead of the old heavy type that you hit your head on or were afraid that it would come loose and kill you or at least knock you out cold.

We had LEG ROOM!  We had a driver that wasn’t too crazy.  We did stop and pick up any one that was willing to stand in the aisle.  But all in all not a bad ride.

Jehovah, Guard your exit and your entrance.  Now and forever.   That was hanging in our bus.

Cockpits R Us

Cockpit cock.pit \kak,pit\ n: place for a pilot, driver, or helmsman.

I spend a lot of time in cockpits. I find that they are interesting places. Once only the domain of men, more and more women are finding themselves at home in the cockpit.

The cockpit on our boat is simple. A binnacle with a compass, a large wheel for steering, the depth gauge and our chart plotter really is the sum total of what we need to move about the ocean. Down below at the navigation station we do have radar. I must admit that we rarely use it. Mainly for avoiding storms. I prefer the chart plotter with a good paper chart for navigation.

In our RV our cockpit is also simple, but it has more than the boat. The steering wheel, all the idiot lights for fuel, battery, oil, over heating. The radio which can handle CD’s, Sirius, an iPod and has a weather channel built in. You can control the air conditioner/heater from the driver’s seat. Windshield wipers, turn signals, emergency flashers and have your cup of coffee within reach. We have added “Betty” or GPS, who mostly we ignore.

 Simple but it gets us down the road.











While at an RV show we looked at Class A diesel pushers. Now folks these monsters have Cockpits. They rival the cockpits of small aircraft! The usual controls for driving then there are the hydraulic levelers, the air brakes and more gauges that Carter has Pills! Seriously I was gobsmacked as I sat there in jaw dropped speechlessness. You would need a weeks worth of classes just to figure it all out. It was a feeling of total control with all the gadgets and gauges surrounding me. I HAD THE POWER! But I wasn’t sure I wanted it.

Funny you would need all that technology to drive down the interstate that has mile markers, exit signs with more information that you can read while driving 70 mph. And that doesn’t include the guides and maps and scraps of information that you have at your fingertips to get from point A to B.

Cruising Guides have nothing on Woodall’s, Trailer Life Directory or the Next Exit. There are many times when coming into an anchorage, harbour, or marina that I would have loved a Next Exit Guide. But I digress…Cockpits big, small, fancy or plain…they are what get us from here to there.

A View from the Cockpit

Cruising in a Motor home.

When you are on a boat and the wind is up your aft, it is downwind.  Quiet steals over you and there is the feeling that you are barely moving.  In a motor home it is called a tailwind.  Again it is a quieter ride and it saves on the gas mileage.

If you are headed into the wind it is pounding into it, a bone in the teeth, or a head wind.  Whether you are in a boat or on land it is most uncomfortable.  By-the-by if on land your gas mileage will suck with a headwind.

On the boat we watch the weather like a hawk.  We want some wind to sail and quiet to anchor in.  It isn’t much different on land.  I really don’t want much wind while driving a moving billboard.  I can do the tailwind, but a broad-reach will send you all over the road.  It is especially fun driving in the canyons and mountains.  I can feel myself tensing up when I see signs like:

1.     Strong cross winds for the next __ miles

2.     Gusty conditions ahead

3.     Dust storms may cause zero visibility

You get the idea.  Wind and weather control both situations.  Right now we have a forecast for SNOW!  I want palm trees, NOT snow!

 Okay, if I am honest it is nice to be able to pull over if there is a problem.  I am enjoying not sweating every minute of the day.  I no longer feel claustrophobic in long pants, long sleeve shirts, jackets, socks and shoes.  I do miss my shorts and sandals.

And Then There Were NOT Lights

When we got ready to pull out of the park at Fort Sam Houston we were doing our safety checks which includes checking to make sure that the lights on the tow dolly are working.  Well that morning they weren’t working and it was foggy and we were suppose to be leaving for Corpus Christi.  This is not a good situation.  We checked all fuses and connections and couldn’t find the problem.  Michael finally convinced me that we couldn’t stay at Fort Sam Houston as there wasn’t a spot in the park and we had a paid reservation in Corpus Christi.

So with a really sick feeling in the pit of my stomach we headed out of the park without lights on the trailer.  Funny the police that followed us didn’t stop us, so off we headed into San Antonio traffic.  We made it to Corpus Christi without incident.  We knew we had to fix this problem before we leave Corpus Christi.

This was a true mystery.  The plug on the rig had continuity and all the fuses were working.  There wasn’t any continuity on the plug on the trailer.  However, when we applied 12 volts to the lights directly they came on.  Hmmmmmm…Michael is looking down any available hole on the trailer and checks all the wire.  Finally Michael saw a boat plug inside the tongue of the trailer that wasn’t connected to anything.  I could feel around and was able to pull one end out, but the other end was inside too far and I couldn’t get my fingers in the hole.

Through some ingenious, but dangerous elevation of the dolly I was able to lay under it and with some sponge forceps able to reach deep into the tongue and found the other end.  We connected the plug and voila we had lights!!!

The plug is now taped with rescue tape so that hopefully we won’t have that problem again.  Just another job well done.

A Look Around the Park

I thought that cruisers were getting older, but let me tell you RV’ers take the cake!

Yes…I have graying hair and I am not a spring chicken, but I can still get around under my own power. May-be not as fast, but under my own power.

Currently we are located at the Fort Sam Houston Travel Camp in San Antonio, Texas. As I was walking to the laundry room I noticed that I was the only one walking to the laundry. Almost everyone else was driving to the laundry. We are talking a few hundred yards. Let me put it in perspective…I walk three times as far at the marina to go to the laundry! This is way simpler than when we are at anchor. But that as they say is another story.

So here I am speed walking with a weeks worth of laundry trying to get there before the SUVers. Then I really start to look around there are rolling walkers with baskets outside of 4 RV’s. There are 2 hover rounds and in one of them the man in the hover round is walking his dog. The poor Chihuahua is running to keep from being drug to death.

This concerns me because most of these people are behind the wheels of 40 foot diesel pusher RV’s. Not only that they are pulling a car or truck or a covered toy hauler trailer that is the same length! These same people can’t walk or drive their cars without having their mouths hanging open all the time. A sure sign of age in my book. The open mouth syndrome. I know it will happen to me in the not too distant future. SO stop laughing.

So back to that 40 foot diesel pusher. Yes, these same people who can’t walk to the laundry or just walk are driving these rigs on the highway at speeds over 60mph. If you are not scared you should be. These rigs are the same as a Greyhound bus. If you drive a Greyhound bus you must have a commercial driver’s license (CDL). I believe that if you are going to drive an RV you should have a CDL! And after some of the dumb-shit things that we have done on the water with our boat and the things that we have seen being done by other boaters may-be it is time for cruisers to have Captain’s licenses.

I can hear it now. “We are out here because we want to get away from rules.” Who does she think she is thinking we need Capt’s licenses and CDL’s. Safety people safety. I will admit to this…at least on the water out in the open ocean most of the time you are only going to endanger the people on your boat. On the highway you endanger everyone on that highway with you.

Flying by the seat of you pants can work. Heck I have done it. But just think about this. The person sitting in the hover round pulling their dog will put that in the salon of a 40 foot, 25,000 pound/ (15 Tons) RV and will be driving with you at 70 to 75 mph on the Interstate. There is an illusion of safety because all they have to do is push the accelerator and the brake.

All I know is that I hate pulling into the gas station. They aren’t made for the RV. I look for Truck stops. They have TURNING ROOM!

Be sure to wave as I pull around you and cut you off.

Out with the Old and In with the New

2009 has been an interesting year.  A good friend of mine told me it was going to be a "Big Wheel" year.  Boy was she right.

This past year has found me evaluting my life and my future. Good friends have died.  Good friends have struggled with health issues.  I have noticed that I am not getting any younger and I have more aches in my body than I care to admit to.  But overall, I am health, if not overweight.  Need to work on that one.  I know less BEER!

Relationships are tricky and just when you think you know what one is about you get the rug pulled out from under you and you just can't seem to find the road to forgiveness or to forgetting.  I think that forgiveness will be easier in the long run and I am working on it, but the not being able to forget about how it was is harder by far.

The boat pulpit got destroyed again this year and is now repaired and ready for service.  I am looking forward to blue seas and salt water and a little seclusion.

This year saw more of our cruising friends swallow the hook and become lubbers.  We are slowly drifting in that direction...I think?

We bought a Motor Home and that has reopened some doors of discovery.  We are spending more time in the States and we love the travel.  Can't see us settling down and living in a house.  We just like to take our home with us where-ever we go...be it land or sea.

I went to Spanish School this year and almost had a total break-down.  Thankfully Carole wouldn't let me be a slacker and it all worked out.  That was a wonderful week of just "girl" time.

I became addicted to my iTouch.  I love it...music, movies, wifi, books, addresses, games and more games.

I bought a Mac computer and started the road to switching from a PC to a Mac.  A little different, but all good. 

I got Facebooked!  Still not sure if that is a good thing or not.  Sometimes I like it, but sometimes it wastes my time.  Sometimes I find that it is like overhearing a conversation that you weren't suppose to and all it does is hurt your feelings.  On a different note I have reconnected with  old friends and met some new ones.  Thanks to a  meeting on Facebook we got a new tow dolly for the RV.

Because my sister, Helen and her husband, Einor store our car and RV we have got to spend more time with them.  That sure has been WONDERFUL.

My son, David married Lilly and that increased our family by two.  So welcome Lilly and Devonie to our family.  It is so good to see you happy, David.

My daughter, Sarah and Chris found each other.  I am excited.  Sarah seems happy.

Found out I am going to be a grandmother again. And just got off the phone with my step-son and he and the mother of his child just got married!

Cynthia is growing into a fine young woman.  Our grandsons Chance and Jake are growing like weeds.
Kelly is working and working.  Tina is moving.

So let the new year come and reveal all it has to offer.  We have 2 new daughter-in-laws and a new baby on the way and a new grand-daughter.  The year is full of promise.

So Happy New Year!  May your future be full of promise!