Amazing show "Stomp Out Loud"

When we were planning our trip to Las Vegas for the Christmas Holiday, we decided to attend the show Stomp Out Loud at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino as it has no dialogue and is just percussion music made from various items.
With Kimberly not being able to follow a lot of dialogue because of her hearing this was thought to be a good show to see.





Boy were we ever thrilled with the decision when we attended the show! It was wonderful in that they worked in sight gags and audience participation which made it a very entertaining time.








The imagination of the directors to come up with a variety of items to make wonderful percusion music and dance was just super! They billed the show as an intense assault for a full 90 minutes and they were correct.







They used everything from floor brooms to trash cans, cardboard boxes, car keys, plastic barrels, rubber hoses, newspapers, hand clapping, etc. and the results were astounding.

We are very glad we went.

Christmas Vacation in Las Vegas

The family has come together in Las Vegas this Christmas Holiday to have some fun. We are fortunate in that all of us were able to make the trip this year.


Today we toured the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay Resort.



We were given recievers to listen to at each exhibit and learn about the creatures contained in them. Here Barbara, Shane and Nicholas are contemplating the information recieved!

The effect of having the sharks and fish swimming overhead is interesting to say the least. There was even glass underfoot so as to watch them swim underneath it. Sheri was less than impressed by that!







Here the Grandchildren are in front of the sign projected on the wall. When someone walked in front of it there are ripples










All eyes are on the fish and sharks as they swim past the glass in front of you.

The vast array of fish to view during the tour was just astounding.

Mr. Pumpkin Head

Poor Mr. Pumpkin Head has been ravaged by nocturnal vandals!


Mr. Pumpkin Head has been traveling with us since he joined us at the Garlow reunion in October. He held a position on the front dash of the coach for most of that time as it was too warm to set him outside. We enjoyed his company and studious looks he gave through the reading glasses perched on his nose.

He came to life by the creative efforts of Darwin Gates who is a cousin of Barbara. He explained how he made the heads which we thought quite unique. The nose, eyebrows and mustache were made by chewing gum and when he was finished chewing he would fashion the shape he wanted and stick it on the pumpkin and paint accordingly.

Now that the outside temperatures have moderated here in Needles, CA, we decided to place Mr. Pumpkin Head out on the patio so that everyone in the park could enjoy his company! Unfortunately the first night some creature with a fetish for chewing gum took his nose! The second night he lost his left eyebrow and last night he lost his mustache leaving him a forlorn shadow of his former self!

We find it comforting to notice that with all of his problems, he appears to retain his jovial demeanor. It seems that it will take more than a nocturnal vandal to get the best of Mr. Pumpkin Head!

Oatman, Arizona

We took a day trip from Needles yesterday and one of the places we visited was Oatman, Arizona which is an old mining town that has turned itself into a tourist attraction. Their main fun thing is to have donkeys wandering around loose and stopping the traffic. This group is on its way to town to beg for handouts from the tourists.

In order to get to the town we had to take old route 66! I took this route from Kansas to Long Beach, CA and back to Kansas during the summer of 1958 when I drove my mother, younger sisters and brother in my newly purchased 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline and with my newly acquired drivers license that I got on my 16th birthday two weeks before.

The trip today was far more comfortable in the Tahoe!


The actual town is quite small and mostly consists of shops full of trinkets for the visitors to purchase.


I will have to admit that their sense of humor is alive and well in the names that they chose for their stores.

Christmas spirit in Needles, CA

We arrived at Desert View RV Resort yesterday evening and found it to be a nice park.
This evening we were pleasantly surprised to find a group of carolers outside of our coach spreading Christmas Spirit and Cheer!

Lovely group of nice folks.
Even Pepe sat quietly and listened to them. He was a bit unsure what they were doing and was anxious.

ORA Motorcoach Country Club

We went to Indio to the Outdoor Resorts Motorcoach Country Club for two weeks to visit with old friends and do some shopping.
This is a picture of the lot that we used for our stay there.











The ORA is very unique in that it has canals which the owners use for their electric party barges. They have canals to each section of the resort and a marina at the clubhouse so that they can barge over and go up and have a meal or party with friends.

This photo is of a private site accross the water that has done extensive stonework to make a very nice patio next to the water.








Many of the sites have been improved by the individual owners to have a fun place in the desert to go to with their motorcoaches. They have outdoor kitchens, Casistas (small buildings about 12 feet by 12 feet square, with private restrooms, laundry, kitchens, offices, or whatever they feel appropriate for their needs), water features, small swimming pools, hot tubs, etc.









If you look carefully at this picture you will see what they call an infinity pool that makes it look like it is a part of the canal behind it.

What a life!

Geocaching with Pepe

While we were staying in Borrego Springs we decided to go Geocaching and we took Pepe with us. We were pleasantly surprised at the result.
On our first cache we started searching and as we got close Pepe was using his nose to do some searching which lead him to stand on top of the actual cache and look at us as if to ask, "Is this what you are looking for?"









Sure enough he was on top of the cache. Here he is checking out the contents of the ammo can that was used.













Our search for more caches around Clark Dry lake were fun and it was interesting to watch Pepe smell them out. Nice doggy! I suspect that this is not what you would consider apropriate methodology for hunting caches!












Here he again inspects the contents of the cache.

New Datastorm System

When we attended the Datastorm Rally in Tuscon, AZ in October we decided to upgrade our old system for a newer, larger, more powerful system.












Here Scott Whitney of Dustyfoot.com satelite systems company is busy installing the controller and modem inside of a cabinet in the bedroom of our coach. He was the man that installed our first system.

Quite a jumble of stuff strung out on our bed!

The system included a new controller that is a huge upgrade and should find the right satelite with greater ease.








Here Paul is attaching the new .98 meter dish to the new mount on top of the coach.


















Now we are complete with an antenna system that is twice as powerful as the previous one! It will allow us to have faster service with better performance in marginal weather.

With the advent of more video content on the internet it should prove to be a very good improvement over what we were used too.