Tuesday, May 31, 2011

2011/05/31 - Tuesday - Dinner out

We went out for dinner to celebrate Eric's birthday at an Italian place.

We did a little shopping and back to the house to relax

I worked on some laundry.

Monday, May 30, 2011

2011/05/30 - Monday - Drive Home

I got up and took the dogs out for the morning duty.

I proceeded to get everything ready on the outside to get ready to head home.  It took about two hours to get everything put away.

The whole group was ready about the same time, so we left as a group.  We stopped for lunch on the way home (before hitting the freeway).  Lunch was about two hours.

B.S. and I stopped at the truck wash to get everything cleaned up.  The RV really looks nice now.  They broke a valve stem on B.S. Bronco, so I got my tool out and it took awhile but we finally fixed that.

Before getting home I was going to stop to get gas at Costco but they were closed, so I had to go to another station - what a pain.

We got home and it was a little tight to get the RV past all the cars.  We unloaded everything, now we have a very big pile of laundry to do!!!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

2011/05/29 - Sunday - Games and Raffle

I was able to sleep in a little bit.

The adult games were going one, but I did not want to abuse the Jeep, but I did do the hammer pound (no jeep involvement) and I went ahead and did the articulation ramp.  My number was ok.

I came back to camp and took a nap.

I got thing ready for the raffle.  I bought my normal $50 and the kids $20.   When it came time for the raffles, the Kids got three different packages, while I got ZERO.......

Back at the campfire we had fun.

O as a note: my bent drive line was no where to be found - not sure who would want it.  Now I have to go under the Jeep to get the measurement to get a new one.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

2011/05/28 - Saturday - Run Time

I had to get up early to be at the Trail Leaders Meeting at 7:30 even though my run does not need to meet until 8:30.

I had my drivers meeting and this year we had a smaller group then I normally have.  Over half of my group was from my club.

We left at our designated time (9:00) and headed across the lake bed.  We even picked up another person that turned around from another group.

We made it up and down several hills, and now we were going across another valley when I got a call out that K.G. got a flat tire.  He was able to plug the hole and pump the tire back up to keep on going (without putting the spare on)

We stopped for lunch at the Copper Mine.

G.C. got off the trail a little to far on the downhill side and needed a little towrope to bring him back up on the trail.

We stopped at a guzzler and G.C. discovered that his track bar bolt nut had been lost so another person had another bolt and he was able to tighten things up.

We made it to Camp Rock Road and that is were a few people did not want to continue on the trail ride.

As we were heading up to the "lookout landing" I was informed that somebody got a flat tire and it was repairable by a few plugs.

We finally made it to the landing to enjoy the view.

We did the lower loop we got back to camp at a good time.

Later that night I went and watched the Best Equipment Game.

At the end of the game it was time for my night run.

As we started on the run, we headed across the lake bed, but I was really getting nervous about not finding the route.  But we finally found a land mark and we then found the correct path.

When we got to the waterfall, two people selected to tackle that route.  The first guy needed three winches and a high lift to extract him from the waterfall and about an hour.  The second guy was able to power through it with only a little rash on is finder flair.

The ride back to camp was uneventful.

I joined the group around the campfire and relaxed before heading to bed.

Friday, May 27, 2011

2011/05/27 - Friday - Another Pre-Run Day

We started on our pre-run, I wanted to tackle the waterfall that I noticed from yesterday.  So I tried several lines but I kept hitting something underneath the Jeep (thinking it was the cross member).  The line that allowed me to climb up was on the far right.

Amanda did most of the driving (other then the waterfall), when we got to the power line road the Jeep would begin to vibrate like a really bad wash board, so I told Amanda to keep it at 15 mph. 

As we were approaching the copper mine, I was told to stop, because a Jeep had a problem.  G.C. Jeep's power steering pump return line attachment broke from the reservoir,  so a fix was derived and now we are heading back to camp.

When I got up to 20 mph the Jeep felt like it was on a bad washboard road again and we weren't.  So I stopped and looked under the Jeep.  Well my drive line had some bad marks on it and it was bent, so the harmonics was causing the Jeep to vibrate.  So it was a very slow drive back to camp.

At camp, D.B. had to fix his shock - the top of the front passenger side shock came out of the attachment point - so he had to find a big washer to reattach it to the Jeep.

G.C. worked on his Jeep removing his power steering pump, while I worked on putting my spare drive line in.  Thanks to P.J. for helping fix my Jeep!!!!!!

Now it was time to head out and test my fix.  Off we went to the "lookout landing" on the East Ord Mountain.  The drive line felt good.

Once we  reached the "lookout landing" we did our normal view looking.  We also noticed that K.G. hub bolts where coming loose, so he tightened them up.

We went up to the next mine shaft and explored that one.

We drove around the other mines on the lower loop also.

We returned back to camp and enjoyed the evening around the camp fire.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

2011/05/26 - Thursday - Pre-run

I waited in the morning for the group that was coming out to do main camp setup.  I did get a call to see if I would help determine the location for the port-ta potties - so I did that.

Finally somebody (C&A.S.) was at main camp, so I no longer had to worry about setting it up.

We had our lunch and I lead three of us out on the trail that I will be leading on Saturday.  In two places I am not sure about the track that I want to do, but tomorrow I want to go do that track again to make sure it works.

K&S. G. came into camp with a broken leaf spring on their travel trailer - so by the time we got things torn apart no store was open, so tomorrow they get to go try to find a new leaf spring.

And several more people arrived at camp - so by the time it was time for bed, we had 8 different groups of family around the camp circle.

O and the wind has been bad all day - no letup on that front!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

2011/05/25 - Wednesday - Going Camping

I got up my normal time for work.  I work on finishing the laundry and finished packing the RV and Jeep "Blue".

We (Amanda and I) left a little after 9:30, but are first stop was at Fresh and Easy to get some meat.

Traffic was really good, We stopped at McDonald's for lunch on Bear Vally Road (near the Mojave River).

I stopped at Lucerne for gas for the RV, Jeep and the extra containers - that was over $150 worth of gas!!!

The dirt road was not smooth enough for the RV, so I was done to about 15 mph on the main dirt road and getting into the camp location was interesting, but at least I did not scrape the RV on any dips.

I got camp setup and the wind has been blowing none stop. 

I got a call that two people were lost and if I could give them direction so I did that, in fact one of them is going to camp with the Dirt Devils. 

It was nice sitting around the camp fire enjoying the evening. 

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Not sure about the following few days, I will try to post, but if not, I will try to catchup on the posting when we get home.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

2011/05/24 - Tuesday - Getting Ready?

I got the Jeep and RV mostly ready for this weekend HDR event.  I am going to leave tomorrow and help in camp setup for the event. 

I still have a few things to put into the RV before I leave.

I have few phone calls that I need to make when I am on the road and when I get to camp.

Monday, May 23, 2011

2011/05/23 - Monday - Clutch

I Stopped at the auto store and got two things.  The first item was a new relay for the ARB, so I don't have to connect a pair of wires to make the pump run.  The other item was a new clutch fan (well the clutch part - the blades are not included.

Cheryl made some pin wheels and we headed over to group

Sunday, May 22, 2011

2011/05/22 - Sunday - Work

Cheryl went to church.  I worked on getting the photos uploaded from this weekend, so now Amanda needs to determine which one will go on our pro-smugmug account.

I did update one of our photo software to hopefully fix how it looks at photos from a network drive, but I still had to hack it to make it work.

Cheryl and I went to a clients office to work on two items.  Cheryl was not able to get hers working, but the item I was working on requires more work, but the main thing is working.

We stopped on the way home to bring back some dinner...

Saturday, May 21, 2011

2011/05/21 - Saturday - Get Away

We did not get an early start as I expected.  We made it to J&L place without any issues.  We of course did our stopping at the meadow to take some pictures of the horses.

Eric and I got on their quad and we ran Turquoise up and down the road.

This time we went out for dinner so they did not have to be cooking...  Thanks L&J for dinner!

On the way back to their house, we did a little exploring with the van.

On the way out to head home, we almost got to the gate (before the water tank), a foal and three others were on the road.  The foal was extremely young.

Before getting to Lancaster, two foxes were playing on the side of the road, but they did run back into the field before I passed them.

It was a really nice get away from home and relaxing Saturday!

Friday, May 20, 2011

2011/05/20 - Friday - Prepare?

So are you prepared - hmmm - great earthquake - hope to see you all (where ever it may be) :)

We went to get a few things and got dinner.

I am trying to make a cooling duct for the phone.  We have discovered that cooling the phone will allow it to charge properly, else when the phone gets to hot, the charging will stop and the phone will drain the battery even though its on the charger.  I will take some pictures to show how red neck it looks - but if it works then I will be very happy!!!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

2011/05/19 - Thursday - Water

We went and got our water jug filled and a quick stopped to bring some dinner home

I did get phone call from a club member (Dirt Devils) in regards to what is going on with CA4WDC and the South District.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

2011/05/18 - Wednesday - Glendale Centre Theatre - The Happiest Millionaire

The RV pass the smog test with fling colors!

Tonight was Glendale Centre Theatre night for the family and we watched The Happiest Millionaire.

We all seemed to enjoy the play.  We really enjoyed the butler - his comic relief  was good!

Amanda was able to get signatures from the whole staff and we got a photo of all of them.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

2011/05/17 - Tuesday - Belated Birthday Call

I moved the RV and the Jeep around to get it ready for the smog I need to do on the RV.

I started to work on the laundry and a load of dishes.

I was just about to start working on the photos, when I got a phone call from my brother.  We talked for about an hour and a half.  It was really nice to talk to him! And yes he said sorry for the belated birthday wish.

Monday, May 16, 2011

2011/05/16 - Monday - Birthday Wishes

My day didn't start off completely smoothly - I forgot my access cards for work, so I had to returned back to the house to get it.

The rest of the day has been good.  I have been getting a lot of birthday wishes from work and Facebook.

We went to group where I got more birthday wishes.  

I want to thank everybody that sent there wishes.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

2011/05/15 - Sunday - Drive Home

The drive home was good - we only had a few places that we drove through some rain.  And traffic was not to bad - no major slow downs.

We got the van unload and then I took a nap - I was ready my phone and the next thing I knew I was napping.

I did have to call to get the main drain cleaned out - he did pull out a big ball of roots, so we should be good for several months.

I then started on working on the photos, but I ran into a problem with the software I was using.  I will try to work on them some more this week.  

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A side note - we have worked on our Smugmug accounts - so now our jechamer.smugmug.com account will be for family only.  If you have the direct link to an album then that will still work, but you will not be able to navigate to other albums (you will need the direct links).  I will leave the church photos available.  But our new site jechamerphotos.smugmug.com will contain photos we want to sell and show off.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

2011/05/14 - Saturday - Meeting and Reserving

Today was the California State Square Dance Council Meeting held in Visalia.  I attend the first meeting at 8:00, Cheryl and Mom D join me around 9:30.

The Meeting only lasted a little after Noon - so a quick meeting.  We came back to the Hotel and then headed out to lunch to have the Youth Meeting.  That was one of the longest Youth Meeting we have ever had - mind you I did not mind the time we spent!

One the way back to the car, we stopped at a camera shop and got a few items for Amanda equipment.  While at the camera shop we discovered a KOA that is near town.

After dropping the kids and Mom D at the hotel, Cheryl and I headed on over to check out the KOA.  Well we made reservation for the convention next year.

We returned to watch a movie before heading out for dinner at Black Bear Dinner.

Back at the hotel, we just relaxed...  Hopefully we get to sleep in before heading home.

Friday, May 13, 2011

2011/05/13 - Friday - Relatively Short Drive

To catch up for Tuesday through Thursday
  • Tuesday - Dawgs Meeting - Some interesting topics and discussion.  I can't believe all the drama that is happening with CA4WDC and the South District.
  • Wednesday - The kids and Cheryl went to kids life group while I relaxed
  • Thursday - Amanda had friends over and we watch movies - as Cheryl would state we got attached by a bunch of college kids.
Today Amanda went with Mom D and headed to were we will be tonight.  They went into Sequoia National Park to enjoy the views.

We finally left about 5:30 and we arrived at the hotel about 9:30. 

Monday, May 09, 2011

2011/05/09 - Monday - Group

Group tonight was about missed quotes.

I again forgot to call my friend - hopefully I can remember to call tomorrow.

Sunday, May 08, 2011

2011/05/08 - Sunday - Moms Day

Cheryl work really late last night - she did not get to bed until a little after 8am.  I slept in late and made sure she was not disturbed.

When Cheryl got up we went to get her lunch and I proceeded to get in a shouting match with somebody stating that I was going the wrong direction when he was in the wrong!

We went into a clients office to work on some computers and get them up to date on some software.  I received a phone call from a long time friend and it was cool to talk to her and I said I would call her back.

We picked up Mom D and headed out to one of Cheryl's favorite places for dinner - we only had to wait a short time.

Once back at home we watch a movie (2012).

I finally called Mom M and of course said happy mothers day, but then I remembered I didn't call my friend back, so I will call tomorrow.

Saturday, May 07, 2011

2011/05/07 - Saturday - Hitched

We got up late, and I didn't have the address for the wedding we are going to attend.  So a few texts and a phone call later we had the time and the address.  We left with time, but by the time we pass I5 we hit traffic (a complete standstill).

We arrived late to the wedding, but we did see most of the ceremony.  We were there for a couple of hours.

We went out to eat, we looked up a place that was on the diners, drive ins, and dives show but when we finally found it, it was packed and could not find a parking place around, so we went to another place near by.

Friday, May 06, 2011

2011/05/06 - Friday - Pictures

I have finally have got all the photos uploaded and copied over to the NAS so they are backed up.

I got  a phone call regarding HDR, I am planning to be out on Wednesday, but since I am going out a little early, I am going to help with camp setup - o well, what ever is needed to make sure the event goes ok.  I thing I did get from the phone call was the location of the main camp, so I know where we will be for camp.

Thursday, May 05, 2011

2011/05/05 - Thursday - Solar

We had an appointment to see if it would be cost effective for us to get a solar system installed on the house.  Well we did it - we signed the paperwork and we will be getting a solar system installed.  We put no money down, but we have two loans, the first one will get paid back in 18 months, the other loan will be a 10 year loan.

The other thing I get is a new power panel (bigger) so I can start working on upgrading the power in the house and later hopefully install a RV power hookup.

We now need to schedule the install, but hopefully it will be installed before the end of June...

Well I sure hope it pans out the way the numbers look for us!

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

2011/05/04 - Wednesday -

Cheryl and the kids went to Kids Group tonight while I relaxed and started to work on the photos from last week.

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

2011/05/03 - Tuesday - Club Night

Tonight was the Dirt Devils Club meeting.  We had a good turnout of members and potential members.  Tonight we needed to vote for some of the position's so next month we will know the results. Of course we had our normal after meeting talk fest out in the parking lot.

Monday, May 02, 2011

2011/05/02 - Monday - Tired

Not a lot of sleep - but I made it to work on time.

I went ahead and got a massage and now my neck feels better

Group is tonight and we had a good time.

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Now it is time to type up the last three days....

Sunday, May 01, 2011

2011/05/01 - Sunday - LONG LONG DRIVE

The day started early - we got up at 5:30 and we were on the road at 6:00 only after taking a credit card to the windshield to get some of the ice off of it.

I set the cruise control to 10 over the posted speed limit. 

The route:
  • Hwy 97 South
  • I84 West
  • I205 South
  • I5 South
  • I405 South
The first part of the trip was very tiring for me, but the rest of the trip I was not tired.  But the main thing that bothered me was my neck mussels.

We made it home Sunday Morning a little after 1 in the morning.

Stats:
  • Total Distance - 1274 Miles
  • Total Time - 19:05:57 Hours
  • Moving Time - 17:54:31 Hours
  • Average Speed - 66.72 mph
  • Average Moving Speed - 71.15 mph
Look at Maps Google, it calculates the time of 21+ hours for the route of the trip - so I say I did good.
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