The Next V.W. Project Has Officially Started

I do not know how long it will take, but we have started on the '66 bus. The first thing we had to do was clean out a decade worth of tossing parts into it. These old busses can haul more than their own weight in their cargo area----one of the first vehicles to do so. We put that attribute to the test!! It was loaded with tons of old V.W. parts---enough to hold our parts swap meet!! It took the boys and I half a day to finish cleaning it out. We built shelves the night before to put alot of it on.

Now that it is all ready to go, you can see it needs a bunch of work. We are excited to get it on the road. As I am up to my elbows in rust, oil, dirt, paint, and a little sweat for the next few months, I will just keep the vision of cruising down the road in my sweet old bus to stay motivated. We will keep you posted.

It is a Sad Sad Day.........&(

My beautiful car going away..............

I do not know if anybody cares, but today was a heart-wrenching day. I had to watch my 1966 V.W. bug being hauled away to its new owner's house. I have had it for over five years, and it has been sitting for 98% of that time. It was time to let it go. Morgan is upset also because she had this fantasy of being able to drive around town racing guys in their jap cars.

Well, I do have another project. So, who knows? Maybe I can get that one going. I just need the right motivation, I guess.........

YYYEEE--HHHAAAAWWW!!!!! We finally got out again!!

Denver, Dillon, and I on the trail. Can you believe how big they are getting?!
I am standing on a little rise, or else you would see that Denver is almost as tall as I am.

Simply beautiful. It gets harder to come home after every outing......

Isn't that a great fish!!? I could do this every day!!

I know it has been two months since my last posting, but I have been boycotting. That's right, I have been refusing to post until we went on another adventure. So here is my report.......

We went to Kinder's Crossing which is on East Clear Creek up on the Rim. At the end of October. Yes, it was cold when the sun went down. About 29 degrees. BBBBBRRRRRRRR!!!

Morgan had to cheer so she could not go this time, and that was a bummer. She adds spice to every trip. I made a video for her while we were there, showed it to her when we got home, and she laughed. You will have to ask her about it.

We caught some gigantic trout! It is amazing in how little of water they can hide! By the way, they tasted GOOD.

One of my favorite parts of getting away is the campfire. We sit around talking about whatever we want, laugh our brains out, cook yummy fixin's, and burn stuff. Awesome.

When the mountains call, I have to go. That is all there is to it. This was a new spot for us and it felt a little more untamed, I think. We will probably have to go to warmer places for the next little while-----except if it is just a guy trip.

This was also the first run with the Trooper's new clutch. It worked fantastically. I talked to Dennis about finally getting it done, and we had a good laugh. How long had it been going out? Over four years? Wow.

Boys will be boys...............

Well, as you can see, the Ring boys have a new toy. It is a snowboard fitted with solid rubber 4x4 tires. It is longer than five feet, so I am sure the whole family can fit on it and save on gas. It is all about being GREEN baby !!!! Yeah, whatever. I just hope the next group of photos are not from the emergency room that knows us by name...........

Where is Monica, and who is her new friend ???

Monica and I went on a road trip and had a wonderful time. It was about 11 hours of driving, so we had plenty of time for talking, laughing, daydreaming, and just taking in the scenery. That is about all the details I can give you, because if I say anymore I may incriminate myself and get in trouble. You will have to ask her about the "mall" she was looking forward to experiencing and ended up being very disappointed. I felt pretty bad about that.

You may recall Deanna's blog about Marvin catching the house on fire. I came to his defense by saying that men seem to be always getting the bad rap. We are not remembered or praised enough for the myriad of things we do on a regular basis for those that we love. From the dazzling to the mundane, day in and day out, we do pretty darn good. Then one little "oops" and that is all anyone remembers. He was beautifying the home by getting rid of that pesky foliage on the front of the house. He was using his new weapon......"The Mighty Weed Burner". Things got a little crazy and after the smoke settled, people forgot about the loving gesture he started out with.

Our house has been besieged by pesky foliage as well, so Monica borrowed "The Mighty Weed Burner" for me to use to save our home. This shows great love and confidence on her part towards me, knowing how quickly things got out of hand at her parents' house. First of all, this contraption is connected to the propane tank of a BBQ!!! This is a serious weapon. Turn on the gas, light the end, and everything is calm, quiet, ready. When I pulled the trigger on this thing, it sounded like a jet taking off at Luke Air Force base. The happy and unsuspecting green foliage was turned into flattened, blackened, smoking piles of ash in the blink of an eye. Yes, I blinked. In fact, my eyes were squeezed shut in terror. The flame and heat shoot out so far, I can burn weeds from 8 feet away!! If I point the nozzle down and pull the trigger, my feet leave the ground and I hover to the next spot to do battle. My kids followed me around with the garden hose to keep the smoke down so none of the neighbors would call the fire department. Clearly, it was not Marvin's fault.

Hopefully, I have cleared Marvin's name. Loving husband and father. Man.

AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I. Am. Hot. Not Dennis' green chile hot. Not "brown chicken brown cow" hot. Just plain old fashion hot. My kids like to trace the white salt residue on my clothes when the sweat dries.

"CLEARLY" a good time.......

Tell me where this giant Hobo resides, and I will buy you lunch.

Here is the crew at camp. We were making fresh-picked mint tea here.

This is a great shot of Dillon cliff-jumping. You can barely see him right under the pine tree

trunk in mid-air. I am blowing this one up. Fantastic!!!!!

You know it was a great backpacking weekend when everyone is talking about the next trip while heading home. East Cleer Creek is so much fun. Trout fishing and cliff jumping.......who could ask for more?

We had a full team this time. Susie and Micah, Allen, Brian, Jonathon, and the Rings. (Oh, and Buddy, the dog) Can you imagine if we had some more people come? Wow.

Some might complain about the rain, but not me. Monsoon season up on the Rim is simply beautiful. A good tarp and a good book is all you need. (And Monica's "Goody Bags")

Susie and Micah lost parts off their car taking it down the high-clearance road that was filled with mud bogs and rock-crawling technical areas. It reminded me of Monica and I taking our Plymouth Sundance all over Arizona's backroads in our earlier years.

You may have noticed the picture of the Giant Hobo. I threw that in here as a sort of Arizona Travels Quiz. If you can tell me the exact location of the Hobo, I will buy you lunch. If you live far away and get it right, I will get your lunch to you. Can you ship Taco Bell via U.P.S. ??