Heat, Swamps, and the BUGS!!!!

I left Deland about 7:15 0n the 27th and was looking forward to a well planned drive and sleeping in Louisiana.




Well, the drive part worked out, but all the road and weather gods seemed to want to conspire against me. The travel temperature was somewhere between hot and just plain miserable!!!!



But along the way the gas prices were interesting...... I paid $3.35 a gallon in Florida. In Alabama the price was $3.27. In Mississippi the price was $3.17 and in Louisiana it was $3.29. I only threw that part in so that you can see what happens as I travel. I am sure as I get further out west the prices will go up some????



I finally got to Louisiana where I planned to spend the night in a rest area on the ATCHAFALAYA River but not knowing that the river is actually a SWAMP!!!!!!!!!!! WELL!!!!! I got out to go brush my teeth and was promptly surrounded by some of the biggest swamp skeeters I have seen. I have not seen anything like these big boys since down at a state park in Hobe Sound, Fl. and a couple other places. These boys were so hungry that they did not even argue about who got what, they just picked a spot and started munching!!!!!!! so after a short pause to take care of a couple of things I jumped back in the truck and headed for plan B.



So I out ran the skeeters, got a few hours sleep and woke up on I-49 somewhere between Opelousas and Alexandria Louisiana. It is now about 7:45 am where I am at and hopefully I will be in Oklahoma this afternoon where I can take a SHOWER!!!!!!!!!!

I just wanna know am I having fun yet????????
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The Best Laid Plans

sometimes just don't turn out the way they should!!!!


It is that time of the year when Miss Mabel turns toward the West and Mr. Blue attaches himself to the bumper and we all head down the road chasing the sunset????? Well, we really don't chase the sunset, we just sorta go the way the sun goes.....

Anyway I left today on my annual pilgrimage to somewhere or nowhere and actually not searching for anything as in prior years when I was searching for the meaning of life or the philosophy of life and I have finally come to the conclusion that everyone has their own philosophy and/or meaning of life and mine is that as long as I am looking down at the grass and not looking up at the roots that all is good and I will just take one day at a time!!!!!!!

But as I said in the beginning the best laid plans sometimes are not and such was the case the day before I left. I was going one place for the Memorial Day weekend and that did not work out so I am now in Deland for only the night and then I will start off heading more west the morning of the 26th.

This trip takes me places I have not been before and places I have not been to in a few years so I am finally "on the road again" and will write as I go for what reason I am not sure but it just seems to be the right thing to do??????

The beginning mileage for this trip on Miss Mabel is 248,135 and somebody needs to remember or write that down so that when I arrive back home whenever I will put the ending mileage down for a total miles traveled....... I am not sure where or when I will hit the big 250,000 but there will be something written about where I am and what time it is!!!!!!!

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How Many Old Cars Does it Take???

Well here we are at the end of July. Can you believe it??? It will be Christmas before you know it..... I just don't understand where the time has gone?? But it has and I will be leaving here in the not to distant future for parts and places unknown.. But for now I will answer the question that is the title to this chapter, well not really a chapter, but I guess you could call this a chapter since because of picture limitations there will be a few other PICTURE CHAPTERS to go along with this one. Isn't this just exciting???

So shall we press ahead and if you don't want to press ahead then just keep one hand one the mouse for scrolling purposes and you may do whatever you wish with the other hand. EASY THERE YOU PERVERTS!!!! I meant like drink a glass of wine or an adult beverage of your own choosing which is what I try to do as often as possible as it seems to help the creative juices flow. I am not exactly sure how the wine works as far as my writing goes, but it definitely has some affect on it.

And now on to the answer to the question that begs to be answered. Well the question does not beg because if it did then it would have some semblance of intelligence and obviously a question cannot show intelligence. I even have trouble doing that!!! even if I am not drinking!!!!

And now on to the answer to the question that begs to be answered. Didn't I just write that??? See what happens when I write and drink at the same time!!! The "PUTER" tends to repeat itself!!!

So HOW MANY OLD CARS DOES IT TAKE??? to have a really humongous car show?? Well it takes a whole bunch of them and every year in Grants Pass, Oregon on the last weekend in July at the city park there is a car show called the "BACK TO THE FIFTIES"!!!!! It brings in a great coolection of old cars, odd cars, custom cars, and cars that defy the imagination!!!!!!!

This year I was asked to put Mr. Blue in the show since to my knowledge I had the only GENUINE HUMMBUG within at least 5 miles of the city park. It may have been a greater distance but I do not wish to take literary license with a statement that may or may not be true!!!!!!

Anyway I was up early in the AM on the morning of July 30 so that I could have my coffee, get my act together, pack up some stuff, (NO WINE {:-{ ) get Mr. Blue sort of spiffied up and then it was off to the park so that I could get my place..... I got there I thought early and was I wrong. I was in a line about 1/2 mile long getting into the park. But with my show pass and the organization being what it was I was pleasantly surprised to be in the park and parked with in 20 minutes. then it was time to set up my chair, wander around, take pictures do my OOOOOHING and AAAAAAAHING and then go back and get ready to answer questions.

The show as it turned out was a rousing success. There were cars from as far away as Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, California, Washington and I am sure some other states, but these I know for sure. I was told that there was approximately 1500 cars in the show. If you started in the morning and just kept going I am sure you could see all of them, but I saw just a fraction and that was an accomplishment by itself!!!!

So after sitting and answering questions and letting everyone that wanted to sit in the car and have their picture taken in, on, or around the car the day FINALLY came to an end and it was back to the Chateau To Go for a much needed shower and a BIG BOTTLE OF WINE!!!!!!!

I will post this story and all the other pictures will be below this story as chapters 2,3, and 4.
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How Many Old Cars Does it Take??? TWO

How Many Old Cars Does it Take??? THREE

When I saw this thing????? I had no idea what you would call it???? It also drives from on top or inside!!! The entire inside is empty!!!!
WHAT A PARTY BUS!!!!!!!!!!
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How Many Old Cars Does it Take??? FOUR

I beleive this is a 1931 or 1932 Chevy that has been slightly modified!!!! I know it is a Chevy. The torpedo looking thing on the "shotgun" side is an actual working air conditioner from that era!!!!

Crater Lake???????

So did I tell you about Crater Lake???? Well of course I didn't because if I had then I would not be asking that question and I would not be writing this story. Ah but I could have had a senior moment in which case I would not have remembered if I wrote about Crater Lake but then I could not ask you since you are here now and I have already been here, well not really here, but on my "PUTER" some where typing what you are reading. But is here where I am or is here where I was or did I really type this and if I did where was I and what was I thinking???? as all things in time and space are relative, but I think I already wrote about being related to time and space and I am still pretty sure that neither of them is on my family tree any where and so now that we have established some sort of ????????? Exactly, I am not sure what just happened but I am not going to change it......

So after the trip to the coast for the 4th of July it was time to go to Crater Lake and where is Crater Lake you ask???? Well maybe not all of you will ask, but I know some of you are geographically challenged and since you can ask, but I am not able to answer I guess you will just have to GOOGLE or MAPQUEST it.....

Crater Lake is a really cool place and that can be said both literally and figuratively since the lodge is at 7100 feet above sea level and one observation point is about 8000 feet???? above sea level. And yes it was the week of the 4th of July and yes there was lots of snow on the ground and yes it was COOL!!!!!!! They had actually had so much snow up there that the roads were not cleared yet to be able to drive around the rim of the lake. There was still on the road about 14 feet of snow in certain areas!!!!!!!!!

Taking a tour of the rim is always exciting, but since I am not real thrilled about looking down or over the side of a mountain I always prefer to take pictures from afar...... But in certain cases that is not possible to be able to actually get the full affect/effect (I was not sure which word to use so I just used both) desired with out taking a certain amount of chance. So therefore yours truly risking life and limb to bring you only the finest photography put himself in HARMS WAY at great risk to life and limb so that pictures you see are what they are....... Now this is the point where you OOOOOOOOH and AAAAAAAAH and say "WHAT A GUY"!!!!!!!!

I will give you a few facts about the lake and then end the story. The lake used to be a volcano called Mt. Mazama. Then about 7700 or so years ago the volcano blew up, collapsed on it self and became a lake. Well it did not actually become a lake quite hat fast. It formed a 5 mile wide crater and began to fill with snow melt and rain water. The lake is one of the clearest and deepest in the world. How deep is it you ask?? Well I am glad you asked for I shall give you the answer!!!!!! A little drum roll please... Sorry I don't do drum sounds so you just have to imagine.. the lake is a little over 1940 feet deep.....and is about 5 miles wide.

Since there are no streams or springs to feed the lake. It remains at an almost constant level from rain and melting snow. The lake was actually stocked with fish, of several varieties, but only 3 survived. One was a type of trout, another was the Kokanee? salmon and I do not remember the third type?? But for those of you who really want to know I bet you can find out.

and so after an exhilarating day way up there in the LAND OF HARD TO BREATHE it was time to head home. It is about 120 miles to where the Chateau To Go is from the lake, but it was still a great trip!!! Again due to the picture limitations The pictures will be posted in groups of 5. The story will be first and then you should be able to scroll down to see the rest of the pictures in parts 2 and 3??? The 4th picture in this story you are actually looking down about 8 or 900 feet at snow on the lakes beach!!! The last picture in this series is an actual lookout at approximately 8400 feet above sea level!!! I guess they can see better from up there???????
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