2009/05/20 – Wednesday – Jelly Arms

Today is my third day of furlough. We all took our time to get up, eat breakfast. We did things on the computer and then it was time for lunch.

CJ and I took the trailer that had all the signs and went and placed all the road sign (4 small one and 1 big one.) I did get a minor blister in my palm trying to secure the small signs.

One of the vendors showed up, so I placed him in the main camp area on the Northeast corner (hopefully I put him in the correct place)

After dinner (Amanda made it – Thanks!); CJ and I put up the Ranch Sign and the East and most of the South stakes. We still need to do more stakes, but we totally ran out of light and were doing some of them in the dark. O man my arms are really sore – and we need to do more.

I got a phone call from Mom M and we talked for little while.

I some how did not take any pictures today – bummers.

2009/05/19 – Tuesday – Shopping and Relaxing

Another day off on Furlough – I still got up at normal time like I was going to work – I don’t know about that….

We all ate breakfast and we did a little research on some Geo Cache and around noon we finally got ready for leave.

First stop, Slash-X – It was Closed! hmmm don’t know why.

We stopped at the National Park Service for the Mojave Preserve and looked around – it is small but has a good map display.

Now in town we stopped at Home Depot to get a few things (stakes, ribbon, and batteries), next it was time for Lunch at IHOP.  We then stopped at Vons to get a few other items and replenish.

We stopped at Flying J’s to refuel, and did two Geo Cache that was really close to the road.

“Blue” needs some tlc, so I am going to take it easy this week.

Amanda did cook dinner tonight and I started the fire to relax at for the evening.

We did have two campers (one group) come in today, but they did camp a little bit away.

CJ wanted to do the telescope, so I got it out and set it up for him.

Now the fire has died down and I am leaving what little wood I have left for tomorrow.

2009/05/18 – Monday – Interesting Weather

We all slept in a little today.  We had clouds this morning so it slowly warmed up. 

We did not go anywhere today – it has turned out to be another do nothing day.

I did make and received a few phone calls.  Worked on the computer, ready bogs and just enjoying a relaxing furlough day.  I did get invited to go with a group to dinner on Thursday night – so of course I said yes.

Sometime in the afternoon, I  noticed in the distant that it looked like rain.  The rain and the wind made for some very interesting dust storm.  We only got a few drops hitting the side of the RV (wind driving the drops.)

We only had four different people pass by today – two different motorcycle couple, and two different vehicles – Nobody stopped.

The cats are doing ok – Amber still will hiss at Moonstone, but Moonstone and Pearl do play together a little bit.  Turquoise does play with Moonstone, in fact, Moonstone will lay down and curl up on Turquoise – I will try to get a picture next time he does that.

I did get the Jeep “Blue” cleaned up inside and got all my stuff organized in the back.  I may regret for not getting everything that I normally carry, but time will tell.  I did check my fluids and I had to put water and some oil in to top things off.

I think tomorrow we will run into town to get a few things.

I wrote this out by the fire – it is a little windy but still nice to sit out side.

We had a late night visitor – He dropped off a few things for the Cafe.

2009/05/17 – Sunday – And Now No One Is Here

I and the kids got up late.  I did turn the generator on, in the hopes to keeping the RV cool during the day.

All of us did play on the internet most of the day.  We watched several DVD’s all through out the day.

I even got a nap in a little bit in the afternoon, so that was really nice.

The other group packed up; so we are the only ones out here at the HDR camp.

I noticed from my emails and twitter that home had an earthquake – 4.7,  Cheryl felt it and a few things moved around but no damage – which is good

I am out by the fire doing more internet stuff this evening.

Maybe tomorrow, we will be more productive.

2009/05/16 – Saturday – HDR Pre-run

With the help of S.G. we got Baby Beast ready – CB added, Fire Extinguisher secured, Wind Generator setup and a few other minor items.

The Dirt Devils finally showed up little after 9:00, we got ready and left for the trail.

Once on the trail, the first obstacle was ruffed up more – Baby Beast made it but it was not very easy. I stalled it a few times and finally made it through it.

One our way to the next obstacle was having a little problems getting over some rocks, that’s when I am expecting I don’t have four wheel-drive. Sure enough after looking I don’t have four wheel-drive, I can get the Jeep into low, but the front wheels will not spin.

Not having four wheel-drive made it very interesting to climb some of the hills.

About 30 minutes later I noticed that I did not have normal breaks. After a few more minutes of driving, the front breaks were working (I could skid the fronts), but the back breaks were not working.

At the lunch stop, that is when we found out that I broken the back break line. So after lunch I headed back to camp. We unloaded the Jeep and I headed home with Baby Beast.

I surprised Eric when I showed up at home; I did the vehicle swap and started back to camp with “Blue”. The Jeep (XJ) has a vibration at 70 so I kept it round 60 to 65 the whole way back to camp.

On the drive back to camp, I talked with my Mom and Cheryl.

I also found out that our Friend L.S. lost her mom today – so our thoughts are with her

Once back at camp, I talked with the other camp for a while, and then went into the RV to watch some movies.

O and it was HOT today!
--------------------

Thanks Mom for the call.

2009/05/15 – Friday – Travel Day – Start of Furlough Week

I did the normal work day

I finally got home and we got the last of the items it the RV. For the last three days, we have been doing things to get ready. So tonight, I had a few items – clothing, computers, and the animals.

Amanda, CJ, and I left the house about 7:00 PM. Our first stop was at Fresh and Easy for the last minute items to get.

Next stop was at Flying J’s to get everything topped off and drained and more last minute items.

The road (Stoddard Wells Rd) into the HDR camp location is a little ruff so it was slow going. A small group was already park near the main camp at HDR and enjoying a fire. I finally found the location where I will camp for a week.

With the help from S.G. and the kids, we got most of the RV setup and the internet running.

Bedtime came a little after 1:00 AM.