Think Tank

On a cool day by Florida standards, overcast, and a relatively dismal day, we ventured into Tampa for a visit to the Florida (Tampa) Aquarium. It's a nice aquarium, poised at the precipice of a major renovation during which the goal of making it one of the world's most interactive aquariums should be realized. There was an ongoing art show within the confines of the aquarium displays that had some really terrific stuff, including the one below called "Think Tank."

This aquarium features the usual fish displays, but has some really dynamic indoor/outdoor environments to explore as well. Inside this massive greenhouse is a "working" mangrove swamp with fish, turtles, rays, otters, nesting birds, orchids, and more.
The giant Manta Ray at the entrance gives you the feel of being in the water with these magnificent and absolutely gigantic creatures. They do not have a live one on display. As far as I know they have never been kept in captivity. But I sure would like to discover otherwise...or get a chance to swim with them somewhere, sometime. Memo to self: Add that to the "to do" list.There is a widely diversified "touch tank" that offers contact with many more marine creatures than the typical starfish and conch experiences offered by a lot of aquariums. This one had a variety of anemones that were touchable- often they are not!
This clown fish swims with a giant clam and some lovely anemones. Giant clam. Did I mention I love sushi and clams on the half shell??? Just asking....
The Florida Aquarium already offers the world's ONLY interactive experience with, of all things, Penguins. We gathered in the big tank theater room in anticipation of the "Penguin Promenade." Kids get to sit on the floor up front. That's not fair! I couldn't make myself look small enough to make it up there, but what the heck. Even from the Peanut Gallery the view of the crowd awaiting the penguins was fun.
Once the penguins arrived, the kids weren't quite as brave about being up front. But the crowd had me penned in up back so I took whatever shots I could from back there.
You know, if you have ever been to a penguin display, that they have a very strong odor about them. It comes from "guano" which is, well, penguin poop. Here is one of the interesting factoids we learned about the real "poop" on penguins. They can project, that is to say, "shoot" their poop a distance of about four feet. You can challenge this fact if you wish, but as I was there and a penguin poops every 10 minutes or so, I can tell you that this fact was, in fact, demonstrated on more than one occasion. So when the handler tells you their poop can shoot four feet- believe it. But here's the thing, when they pick them up to bring them close up and personal for the photo shot- that range doubles to about 8 feet. That too is true. Eau de Penguin. Very fashionable I hear.
Before back surgery caused me to discontinue scuba diving, I tried to see jelly fish in the water column for the express purpose of staying away from them. But now that I watch them through the glass in an aquarium display, I find the fascination with them much more interesting and appreciable. While they are some of the most simple creatures in the sea, they are spectacularly beautiful, especially when the light catches their structure just right. I love to photograph them, so here's a sample from the Tampa Aquarium jelly display.
The lion does not always roar. Sometimes he moves slowly and silently through the grass and waits for the perfect moment to take his prey. This lion operates like that all the time.
Something for every one. Pretty little thing, eh?

Pillow Talk

Not that it has anything to do with anything, but back when I was in high school, I "starred" in a drama club presentation of "Pillow Talk" - a wonderful piece of theater that took me further into drama in school, and then eventually into the role of drama coach as a teacher in Maine quite a few years later. It (the flare for drama) was evidently in my sole and being, as even my parents called me "John Barrymore" more often than they called me by my given name. Whether being dramatic is a skill or a curse, I will leave you to decide, but I have always been comfortable with that attribute and used it for the good when ever possible. But as I say, that has nothing to do with this post, excepting for coming up with the title and the lead. At my age, "Pillow Talk" has more to do with sewing than romancing, excepting to say what a great job Marilyn has been doing with her mother's vintage sewing machine, which, as I have previously mentioned, is now a functioning part of our coach equipment. And to that end, she has been working diligently at realizing her design concept for the coach- something that got placed on the back burner until we found ourselves with some "down" time when things like this can be worked on. She started by making a new bed for Abby, two of them actually, which we, and Abby to be sure, like much better than the old and functional, but artistically unacceptable one we used up until now. Then she started on a few pillows for the sofas and bed that added some pizazz to the color scheme we had to work with. After hours in the fabric section, material was selected and the project got off the ground, and after a few days of concentrated effort sandwiched in between retrieving tax records and other mundane tasks, the mission was accomplished in great style. We are both pleased with the results and think that surely "mom" is happy as well.
Like I said, she did a great job! So great in fact that I "let" her sew a padded vinyl, custom cut and shaped, draw-stringed, very classy indeed cover for my table top grill! Now those of you who travel know that much of what you see in the possession of other campers looks a whole lot like what you have. That's because you all bought it at camping world or the like. But me? I got a "cool" grill cover hand made by my personal seamstress.....and I feel special!

Pulling IT All Together

It really doesn't matter where you live- in a house or a coach or a condo or a cabin in the woods. It doesn't matter what state you reside in (or happen to be traveling through) either- taxes must be paid! And the annual effort is always daunting. But we are finding that pulling it all together from the confines of an RV, no matter how big it may be in comparison to others, is even more challenging than it ever was before. For starters, when we had the house(s), we always had at least a four drawer file cabinet filled with receipts, and reports and a closet full of boxed old records. We had a reference library close by too if we needed it. We had a much bigger computer, a bigger calculator, a much bigger desk, a much bigger space in which to "figure." No room here for any of that! In the coach, there is only one small file drawer in the main salon, a plastic portable file buried in the back closet, and a few more older records that we still need tucked away down below. No matter what we need- it seems it is not at our fingertips, it's "somewhere else." Still, we have made good progress, especially considering that all the annual forms like filing forms, tax organizers from the accountant, 1099's of every type - all have to come to us in the indirect path from the mail forwarder that reroutes all our necessary mail to us. So while we wait for the facts and figures from the banks and so on, we compile the necessary data from our businesses and prepare to reorganize the business venture going forward. It all takes time and concentration. And it takes more time now than it ever did before. Yet while it is necessary in more ways than one, it's not much fun, so it tends to be a more, rather than less, stressful time. But after a solid week at crunching the numbers, there is light at the end of the tunnel! Now if only that light turns out not to be the proverbial train!
Our total time allowed for tax prep this year, before materials get sent off to the accountant will be three weeks. One down, in East Tampa, and two coming here at Bay Bayou on the other side of Tampa. Hopefully there will time to play, because, well, you know, all work and no play makes Greg a dull boy....

Annual CheckUps

It never fails! If I stop and take a break from writing the blog, the calls and e mails start up in short order: "Hey, we don't see anything new on the blog. Where are you? Are you OK? What's wrong? How come?"

Well, in truth we are still in Florida and were camped out within easy commute of the old stomping ground of Cape Coral. Why? Annual check ups of all kinds. Each by itself is not noteworthy and certainly not great reading for the masses, and I'm not real sure that collectively it is much better, but I'll try to bring you up to date with the personal stuff, at least as much as I think will quench your thirst for knowing what's up.

Life on the road is a real blast. We all love it! But there are certain elements of necessity in life that are made more challenging by the life style. Getting the annual blood tests and physical is not so easy when you are in Alaska and the doctor is in Florida. You get the idea. And dentists? That's a story in and of itself. Of all the services that are possible on the road, getting you teeth cleaned is the least easy to accomplish. Actually, it is nigh on impossible, and although we tried our level best to do that, even going so far as to carry recent x-rays, letter of recommendation and referral from our hometown dentist office, we were not able to "git 'er done" as the cable guy would say. So the nature of this visit "home" was to fit in all the business of appointments, services, check ups, repairs, etc. Here's the partial list:

The car needed two new tires from Sears under warranty. Go Sears! Oh, and an alignment- we were pretty rough on the old Honda Odyssey, which came back from it's first 24,000+ mile trip thinking it had become a Hummer! It took three visits to get all this accomplished, and we fit appointments in where ever we could so as to multi-task.

The coach needed to have the outside basement TV replaced- also warranty. Go Newmar! Go North Trail (And if you're shopping for an RV and want a really good and honest guy, ask for Ray when you call)! Both the coach manufacturer and the dealer have been great with us! There is no shortage of horror stories out there in the wonderful world of RV-ing. The coach keeps breaking. The manufacturer won't make good. The dealer won't fit me in. None of those things have posed a problem to us...and whether we are just lucky or in some way finding things favorable because we like to treat people right and always (well, usually) get the same in return- I don't know! But I'll take it the way I have it-and gladly pass the credit on to those who have taken such good care of us. Getting the necessary service took two visits to the dealer, one upon arrival and one to fine tune at time of departure. So we not only "got in" for service, we got in when it was necessary as well as when it was convenient. And this is the much dreaded high season in Florida! The service department at the dealer (North Trail) and the guys from the manufacturer (Newmar) on the other end of the phone or the e mail treat us like valued friends. They, in turn, are valued friends of ours!

My doctor's appointments produced a clean bill of health, as did all of Marilyn's. It took something like five different visits to the labs and the offices to dispense this annual task with all the necessary health care providers.

The eye doctor found everything "looking good" deep in the eyes of each of us. We first had our check ups and then returned a few days later for lens swapping (glasses, not eye balls). Two visits each in this regard as well.

Below, Marilyn takes a moment from kitchen duty to peek out onto the patio to see what's up with those of us hanging outside the coach. See, there's all kinds of "checking up" getting done on this stop...
Look at that cute little face!

Abby had her check up too. She had a preliminary visit to the vet to check her thyroid meds and a lump on her back right leg. And after we got some test results that showed some cancer in the area it was back to the doggie doc for surgery. Whether it's people family or the four legged family, medical woes produce more than their share of anguish and this was no exception. And while there is always the chance that the surgery didn't get everything that needed getting, the results were promising and I am happy to report that now several days later, Abby is happy and seemingly quite comfortable and back to her old self and her old routine. Oh she clearly saw the worry in our eyes and milked it for all it was worth for a few days....but all seems normal now and life goes on.
It is the fact that someday life must end that, if we appreciate the concept correctly, helps us to make the most of the time we have, whatever the circumstances under which we have it. Life is always what you make it and always a gift.
Oh, and did I mention Marilyn sewed two new covers for Abby's newly improved bed using her mothers old sewing machine which is now traveling with us???

Abby hangs with the big guy and runs with the big dogs on a foggy day at the doggie beach near Lover's Key, Bonita Beach, Florida. For those of you who might be thinking it is ridiculous to spend time writing in a blog about the life and times of a dog---think again. Abby has made as many long term friends on the road as we have. Because we often see camping friends again and again in our travels, the dogs get to revisit old friends as well. And she gets darn near as much e mail as I do!
And speaking of old friends (but not old dogs), here sit Bouncing Bob and Precious Polly. We met these two happy campers in Florida over a year ago...and here they are again! We spent some time with them in Texas and just missed them in Wyoming some time later. Life has thrown us each a couple of curves in this last year that kept us from spending more time with each other, but even a short visit with them is unbelievably uplifting and seeing them again is always on the list of things we look forward to.
I'm really sorry I forgot my camera the evening we stopped in for a visit and a bite to eat with former neighbors Bruce and Michelle and family. I really should have a picture of them! It was a wonderful visit and we were so happy to see them and have at least a quick visit. Like our other friends on the Cape they are people of great character- honest, hard working, caring, loving, generous and just plain fun to be around. So with that- apologies to all of those other good friends that time made it impossible to visit on this go-round. But then it is Gundyville on Wheels and it will be coming around again for a "check up."

The Other Disneys

I previously showed you some of our visit to Animal Kingdom. We took the next couple days of our Florida residents 4 day pass to take in The Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The weather was truly perfect for the visit to the theme parks and we had a good time. There are some venues that appeal to adults, but the focus in the parks is, and has always been, families, and specifically those with kids tagging along. The images within the parks have not changed an awful lot over the years, so I just picked a few of them to share with you. But perhaps the neatest thing about all of the Disney parks is the infrastructure. People move in and through and out of the parks and the parking effortlessly. Merchandise for the shops, ingredients and produce for the restaurants and food stands, trash produced from all the activities of the parks- all move underground and unseen, as do all the utilities. Problems are solved, business is transacted without evidence. Way back when Disneyland (in California) was first built, much of the world thought it a likely model for cities everywhere because it was such a smooth flowing operation. For whatever reason, the model never really took off in "real" cities. Maybe it was the cost involved "up front." Maybe it was a perceived and/or real difficulty in retrofitting already built up cities. Maybe it was just because no one saw it as a profitable venture. But Disney "works" where many cities do not. Strangely enough, some of the most noted new cities the world over that do bear striking similarities to the ideas of Walt Disney, like Dubai, for example, are not only working well as "cities", they are also drawing business, tourists, investment, and most elements that we consider desirable. The concept is a proven one. US cities should take another look. Innovators and visionaries are in a much better position to build a workable tomorrow than politicians are. Walt Disney was just that. Cinderella's Castle, background to the statues of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse is still the mega symbol of the marvel of Disney that it has always been. It is also just plain a neat piece of architecture.
Below, this "Trash Can" mimics R2D2 outside Tomorrow Land at Epcot. Believe it or not, it was actually my favorite part of the visit. The "can" engaged kids passing by in conversation, danced a little, held "interviews" with families, and became so personable and affectionate that many people actually gave him a hug before moving on. The robot was of course controlled by a Disney employee, but it was difficult to figure out how it was operated and how it knew exactly who it was talking to- and that puts the "Magic" in the Kingdom.
Balloons are always popular, and Disney has some of the best...
The Monorail is a fast, efficient, and dependable form of transportation. AND- it's fun to ride. Public transportation: Take note!
There are 12 "countries" that you can visit, shop, and dine at within the Epcot venue. We had lunch in China, and took a stroll down main street in each of the others. This is probably the most "adult" portion of any of the Disney parks.
Planet Earth, the central design feature of Epcot (above in the background and below in close up detail) is a fantastic trip through the past and the future. The future portion of the trip is currently under renovation, but it doesn't stop the activity from being really cool- and if you haven't been in it previously, you would never know the change was in progress. Such is the magic of the Disney operations.
Characters from all the Disney cartoons, clubs, and venues can appear at any point to meet and greet visitors to the parks. Here's one you may not know as well as some of the others. Not a very scary dragon- that's the way is should be for the kids...
At the Universe of Energy, you sit in a "theater" to start the show, then the theater itself moves though the display that takes you back to the days of the dinosaurs to study the history and development of fossil fuels. We made the trip to the present and projected things into the future with a look at solar, wind, and other "green" energy sources.
Yep! Yet another 4-D film under the belt. This was one of the better ones, stink bugs and all! It's Tough Being a Bug"
In the Sea, where we were all trying to find Nemo, I found a lot of irresistible signs. Enlarge to enjoy!

Animal Kingdom to Lake Hancock

Meet Abbie and Annie who rode the train to and from the parking lot at Animal Kingdom with us. Happy Birthday, Girls! Of all the face paintings we saw in the park, they had two of the best. While we enjoyed our day in the park, we think this is a kid's venue for sure. That's not a bad thing. Just IS.Fishing with bobbers looked like fun. You think it's Mickey, Goofy and Pluto, right. I'm thinkin' Larry, Jim and Rick.
Were it not for the palm trees, you might think this was one of our shots from Alaska. Actually, it's a roller coaster. Abbie and Annie took the ride. Greg and Marilyn did not!
The Tree of Life...
They gave me a drum, so I played a rousing rendition of Wipe Out...
My rhythm was not nearly so inspirational as the bongo group's. They had the large crowd moving and grooving and taught a few African moves and dances in the "Kilimanjaro Safari" inside the African village.There was a great 4-D movie called "It's Tough To Be A Bug." If you can get there, don't miss it.
In the past we have always taken our own picture wearing those goofy 3-D glasses and posted it on the blog. Not this time. Too Ugly! Just imagine it. Maybe next time.

At a more leisurely pace we took a paddle with the Cosmic Cousin Kayakers who are once again "living next door," this time at Thousand Trails, Orlando. The shots below are taken at Lake Hancock. Below, Bob and Susan...
and Susan and Marilyn.

Florida Temps Hit Record Low To Start Year 2008

In the final days of 2007 we made our "usually annual" trek to Cocoa Beach and the very famous Ron Jon Surf shop. Woodies outside, a live "beach"band playing inside, lots of retro stuff, color, excitement- it's a great place to buy that new t shirt or pair of Crocs or shark's tooth on a chain.
Down at the pier and on the beach, the surfers play in the surf and there's plenty of people soaking up Florida rays of sunshine. Bikinis are the uniform of the day....or
Wet suits to protect from the somewhat cooler wasters this time of year. Dudes wax their surfboards and test the application hour after hour. Great fun to watch, and you can fish or grab a bite to eat on the pier while you check out the surfing action.
Under the boardwalk....it was cool in the shade, perhaps a warning for the cold front headed our way.

But surely no one was expecting this! 9 degrees in Orlando a few days later? Well, actually there was a cold front that blew through on the third day of the new year sending temps down somewhere near 29 degrees. But is was truly, actually, and verifiably only 9 degrees inside the Gaylord Palms Convention Center ICE show. We wore our own winter (Alaska Ready) warm clothing, but they passed out heavy parkas to everyone who was less prepared. Being the travel turtles that we are, we pretty much carry everything around with us in the old "shell."
Inside, you will find 2 million pounds of carved ice. The ice is frozen here. The ice is dyed here. The ice is carved here. The display is put together here. In Orlando. So you would think it was an all American proposition. But if you did, you would be wrong. Because, in actuality, the Gaylord Palms brings in 30 ice carvers from northern China each year to create the display. What started out in China as carving ice for use as lanterns, has turned out to be a huge ice carving extravaganza. So while the show is technically "Made in the USA," it is actually "Made by Chinese in the USA." Go figure!
Some of the ice is frozen fast so that it appears white and translucent. Some is frozen slowly so that it is crystal clear. And lots of it is dyed bright colors to make the designs in the exhibition. But EVERYTHING is ice. Sold ice. And yes, it really was 9 degrees in there, and if you don't think so when you go in, you WILL think so when you come out. Trust me on this one. The price of admission includes a big cup of hot chocolate so that when you come out of the exhibit, you can hold it to warm up your hands, whether or not you want to drink the hot chocolate. I did both. My "camera hand" was so cold I was beginning to wonder if it was part of the show.

The bears were life size. The candy was huge- maybe 15 or more feet high.
There was an ice slide at the Penguin display for the brave of heart...and the young and foolish. You don't see a picture of me on the slide, now do you??? That's because I figure those that are ONLY young at heart should not ride the ride.
Even the Train was to scale and you could walk right through from one car to the next. We did. All aboard!
Despite plenty of signage similar to this below, there was a lot of all three of the "no-nos." Perhaps the security was a bit lax on this, the last day of the 45 day show. But to tell you the truth, at 9 degrees F, all 200,000 of the people attending could lick the ice and nothing would happen to it. Marilyn said she was thinking that a "Lick the Metal Pole" display, might get the point across to a few disobedient souls, but not on this day! Interesting thing about an ice carving show in Florida on what will probably be the coldest day of the year here in Orland0- it felt quite warm when we came back outside. But not THAT WARM!

2007: It's A Wrap

J.C. Levendecker's Dec 28, 1907 cover for the Saturday Evening Post

Having this year of 2007 come to an end is like sliding into home in game 7 of the World Series, bottom of the ninth, score tied, and hearing the Umpire scream, “SAFE!” as the crowd (Red Sox fans, no doubt) erupts into a deafening roar. That’s how good, how exciting this first year of being full time in the coach has been for us. Like the “ball game,” there were moments when we were ahead of things and times when we were trailing a bit, but there was never a lull in the action, and the excitement of our adventures built right to the very end. It’s a WIN. So on New Year’s Eve (tonight as I write this), it will be “Game Over” for this year…..But wait ‘til next season! We’re looking to repeat!

It is so incredibly tempting for me to list all the travels, the precious moments, the scary episodes, the majestic vistas, and good times with old and new friends alike - but you are already reading the blog and so you have all that before you if you care to scroll down or dip into the archives. So rather than detailing the year all over again, let me present a “book report” summary.

We visited a grand total of 32 of the 50 states in the good old US of A in this, our very first year. On the left side of the blog page at the top you will find the colored in map of those states. When you hear people tell you that we live in a beautiful country, believe it, whether you have availed yourself of the opportunity to get out there and see it yet or not. You will find all that you expect from the places that are known to you before you set out, but there is great beauty in the discovery of things and places and sights that are unknown to you. Adventures unanticipated are marvelous gifts.

We also spent some quality time in three Canadian Provinces, and there is a map to that effect as well. While “three” may not sound like very much, it is important to remember that space is BIG up there and the distance traveled though three provinces can be thousands of miles. It is for example, 2,300 miles from Seattle to Alaska. This helps put matters in perspective.

And while we’re talking about miles, the total for the year, as noted on the odometer of the coach at the Pilot Truck Stop for the last fill up of the year, crossed “home plate” at 23,571.9 miles. That, remember, is JUST THE COACH. We towed the Odyssey behind us for each and ever one of those miles, and then unhooked it whenever we needed to day-trip around where-ever we made base camp. So I’m guessing that the actual mileage driven for the year, combining both vehicles was probably near double that figure above. In any event, I can promise you we did a lot of driving. Fortunately I love to drive. We all do. Marilyn has become an excellent navigator- a skill she did not have before we set out. But practice makes perfect…and she’s had a lot of that. There were times when she was right and the GPS was wrong. That would make me “wrong” on more than one occasion when I opted to follow the directions of the GPS and not hers. I only remember one or two particular times when that happened, but somehow I’m thinking Marilyn can detail quite a few more.

We had a few repairs to deal with along the way, but nothing major (knock on wood) and in the vast majority of times, Newmar or a particular dealer or repair shop made the pain go away fast like a good “doctor” should. We took all the safety measures we thought we could and put as many redundancies in place as we could think of (and afford). We call that the "Gundy Redundancy Program." Certainly that has paid big dividends and prevented problems that may not have been easily handled. We say our little prayers that the travel continues to be safe, but we help out that process where-ever possible with good planning and common sense- or so we think!

I’d like to offer a few observations from the vantage point of one who is on the road, one way or another, on a daily basis. You are free to disagree if you like, and perhaps some of my thoughts will change with more time, but a few things seem to me to be, in general, misperceived in this country, and I just felt like offering my 2 cents worth for your consideration:

First off: gas, diesel, fuel prices in this country are NOT expensive! Oh, they may be a lot higher than they were, say, two years ago, but that’s because it was artificially cheap then, not because it is outrageously high now. Now I’m not saying it won’t pinch your wallet and mine for a while until we get used to the new reality, but we still have it good here. While you were paying a buck and a quarter for gas several years back, we were living in Honduras and paying 4.50 a gallon. In Europe at that time gas was about 6 dollars. This year, when we traveled through the Canadian Provinces we paid generally much higher prices than anywhere along the route in the US and as much as 5.50 a gallon in British Columbia (price converted to US gallon from Imperial for comparison sake).

Secondly: While the rest of the world uses the metric system because it is “better” and “easier”, I have not yet proved that to myself, so I certainly can’t prove it to you. It MAY, however, be true, so I’m keeping an open mind and we made comparison charts so we could work at learning what even little kids the world over all understand better than we do. The scale of the GPS in the coach, a Garmin 7200, can be switched back and forth which helps the learning curve a lot. It is good and positive and fair for us to appreciate the way we do things. But it is not so constructive for us, as Americans, to think that everything we have, everything we do, is better than the way others deal with things. There is value in both understanding and appreciating the ways of others. We do not…or rather should not…travel to see how much better we are than everyone else. We travel to learn those differences, to appreciate those differences and to grow constructively in the process. What we view with and react to with respect builds friendships which are necessary for peace in the world. Without mutual respect we will always have problems at every level.

Next up: People send me reminders in the form of forwarded e mail about this and that just about every week, especially that English is the official language of the country. True. No argument from me there. BUT…I have traveled, even lived for periods of time, to places where I didn’t speak the language or couldn’t speak the language, even though I made every effort, and I sure appreciated it if there was sign in English to help me out, or a bilingual brochure, or a person on the street who was willing to try to communicate to help me out. I’m just thinking we are taking this a little too far sometimes. We are an immigrant nation. Trace your own lineage back far enough and most of you will find relatives speaking something other than English. Even so, that would make you British, not American. Point being this: We have heard English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Athabaskan, Inuit, Japanese, Chinese, a variety of First Nation (Indian) languages and a smattering of many others along the way. While our official language is English- that was not our first language, so if your argument is that “If you want to come to our country you must learn to speak our language”- I would only ask you one thing: How much Cherokee, Apache, Sioux and/or Cheyenne do you speak???

And finally, a word about energy. You read the same headlines and stories I do. So it’s temping to buy into the horse crap that as Americans we are not innovating, not conserving, not going “green”. I have seen countless evidence to the contrary, so permit me to go on a bit more. Wind? There are wind farms across this entire country. I have seen them, marveled at them, photographed them countless times. I have seen them on the east coast, the west coast, in the heartland, in Alaska, in the south…so please don’t tell me we are not working in that direction, Mr. and Mrs. Politician. In fact the only place you won’t see them is in the bay in front of Ted Kennedy’s place because he thinks they are ugly and doesn‘t wish to have to look at them! There are solar homes, solar panel stations, solar operated road signs even in places where I am not too sure they can work well but they seem to be doing just fine. There is a solar panel on the top of this coach which helps to keep our 6 batteries charged (didn’t know that one, did ya?) There is hydro power a plenty, complete with fish ladders to protect the species that need protecting. There are lots of coal fields in lots of places where I didn’t expect to see them. And we identified oil shale deposits along the way that are primed and ready to be developed at today’s prices. The facts though are simple: Oil is still the cheapest energy source to find, to produce, to use. Until that changes, guess what? But we ARE preparing for that eventuality. And about the "Amber waves of grain" in the famous line from AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, they were nowhere to be found on this cross country trip. Wheat has been replaced by either corn or soy as we ramp up production of ethanol; if this keeps up we may need some new lyrics for that beautiful song.

The evidence of what is going on in the country is quite different from what the so called “truth” is. Truth is not self evident, as you might have heard. It grows out of experience. We hope you will ride along as we get ready to begin our second year on the road. Keep the windows and the mind open so the experience can flow on in….Thank you all for a great year and….Happy New Year!