My mother, Virginia Dale......

7:10 am - Tuesday - April 14th - Wittmann, AZ - 50° F, 43% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the north by northeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 77° F.  On this day in 2016 we arrived at the Fontana/Rialto Elks Lodge #2013 for our first stay....we were not yet members, but because we had applied for membership we were allowed to stay.....

.....since that first stay in April of 2016 we have returned 3 times for extended stays.

Within an hour of TLE and I waking up Monday morning we received a text from my brother-in-law, Bob Hammett, that my mother had 'gone home' at 8:52 am.....

My mother, Virginia Dale, at age 18

She was very athletic in her youth

On their wedding day in February of 1949....Virginia and Arthur

She took up the guitar in the late 50's

One of my favorite pictures

 She had a wonderful voice, and performed 

often before large crowds singing solos.....

....and in stage plays

One of the last pictures of us together taken in 2014

......it is never easy to lose a parent.  My father died in January of 1978 of colon cancer, and it still feels like yesterday to me.  As I watched my mother's life slowly slipping away it brought back all those memories of my last hours with my father.  Going through that experience with my father changed how I felt about death......I was no longer afraid of death.  Do I want to die?  Of course not, but I will not be afraid when my time comes because of the example of my father and mother as they prepared to 'go home'.  I know I will see them again. 

I remember when my father died....I didn't really understand how many lives he had touched until the graveside funeral....we had notified a few people of the funeral arrangements not thinking there would be a large crowd.  When I arrived at the internment site I was shocked to find some 400 people there, and more arriving all the time.  I know from the messages I have received in the last 24 hours that my mother had a similar impact in her life.  Art and Virginia led amazing lives, and touched many lives.  They raised 5 children, and now have 11 grand children, 14 great grand children, and 2 great, great grand children.....quite a legacy.

Around 12:30 pm Virginia's 5 children came together in another 'Zoom' call, talking and sharing for almost 2 hours.  Due to the current pandemic 4 of the siblings will not be able to be in attendance at her funeral.  Virginia will be interred in Spokane, WA with my sister, Hilary, her husband, Bob, and two daughters, Stephanie and Caroline in attendance this Thursday, April 16th.  The service will be video taped, and we are hopeful we will be able to virtually attend via 'Zoom'....I hope that works out.  A friend sent me the following artist's rendition of what my mother's moments after she left her earthly body may have looked like....

Painting by John Holcombe

....as she met Jesus for the first time.  I know how much she was looking forward to that moment.

Monday was a very emotional day for me and my siblings, as well as our significant others.  Sometime around 2 pm Tom invited me to help him install his new street sign pole.  I have a lot of experience digging post holes from my 9 months working at RORVR, so I took upon myself that task.  The pole is 10' long, so we made the ole 24+ inches deep.  Tom used this 2 part foam to set the pole, and it worked quite well.  In the following pictures you can see the foam slowly expanding until is was above grade.....

.....once it cures Tom will cut off the excess down to ground level.  It came out well, and it served to get my mind off of the morning's events.....

.....we had dinner with Tom and Darlene once again, and then shared a fire with them.  The sunset was beautiful once again.....

....and so came to an end the day my mother went home to be with my father.  My mother is at peace, and so am I.

Thanks for stopping by!

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The Sacraments....

7:21 am - Monday - April 13th - Wittmann, AZ - 56° F, 57% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the southeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 75° F.  On this day in 2016 Kobe Bryant played his last NBA game......

.....the Lakers had won only 16 games up until April 13th, 2016.  On this night he brought the Lakers from way behind to win their 17th, and last game of the season with Kobe scoring 60 points....a nice way to end a great career....who could have known that less than 4 years later he would die in a helicopter crash.

Sunday, of course, was Easter Sunday.  Tom and Darlene had invited us a couple of days prior to share the Sacraments of Holy Communion with them Sunday morning, so around 9:30 am we got dressed up.....well, dressed up for us...and at 10 am walked over to their home.  We watched/listened to the Hallelujah Chorus, watched a re-enactment of the last days of Jesus Christ, including his crucifixion, and resurrection, then an amazing rendition of 'Amazing Grace'.....

.....next we partook of the Communion elements......it was an Easter Sunday we will not soon forget.  Thank you Tom and Darlene....it meant, and means more than you can imagine.....

....my mother made it to Easter Sunday, and as of this writing continues to linger.  As one might imagine it is unsettling, and sometimes excruciating to watch a parent slowly die over days at a time.  Watching her via video as we have been doing has brought back vivid memories of the final days of my father's life back in January of 1978.....he lingered a long time before he let go.  My sister Jill, my mother, and I served 6 hour shifts so my father would never be alone.  I was on the final shift days later when he passed.  I feel so much empathy for my sister Hilary as she sits there hour after hour watching my mother ever so slowly decline.  We all encouraged her to go home around 10 pm last night to take a break, and she did.  I am waiting to hear from her this morning as I write.

At 6 pm we joined the McCloud clan for Easter Sunday dinner, and what a great time was had by all.  There was a lot of laughter....something we both needed.

Thanks for stopping by!

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The right place in time.....

7:20 am - Easter Sunday - April 12th - Wittmann, AZ - 48° F, 81% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the east.....clear, blue, sunny skies have returned today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in 2012 we were at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, GA.....

.....home of the 1996 Summer Olympics.  We had dry camped at a Walmart on the north side of Atlanta the night before, and driven back into Atlanta on this day.

We began Saturday in limbo regarding my mother, and ended the day in limbo.....she continues that gentle slide into the next life, and she made it to Easter Sunday, which was her stated goal last Sunday.  The latest report from my sister is that her breathing is extremely shallow, and spaced out as of an hour ago.  She spent the night with my mother.  She, and the nursing staff believe it is not long now until she slips her earthly bonds.

Around 7:30 am we got on a Zoom call with my sister at Hospice, including all my siblings, as well as four of our children, Dwyer's son Arthur (named for my father), and Philip's daughter Danielle.  In all we had 12 people on for over an hour talking to my mother through her as she peacefully lingers in that space between this world, and the next. There was laughter, and there was seriousness as there always is at any Hockwald gathering.  I'm sure it made my mother happy to hear us.

After the call was over TLE and I decided to take a Jacuzzi break.....it was the perfect anecdote for the time.....

.....I spent some time talking with my friend Tom about our lives, and how we ended up where we are today.  It is a good thing for both TLE and I to be with good friends with whom we can bare our souls right now during this time of reflection for both of us.

Just before sundown we had a cloudburst out of no where....it rained hard for about 5-10 minutes, and was gone just like that.  In the residue of that spring shower we were blessed with a beautiful sunset as we edged toward Easter Sunday.......

.....this is not a time to be alone, and our hosts know that.  I got a text from Tom inviting us to share another fire with them, and their family.  Jon and Laura, and their two children joined us.  I felt right at home with the laughter, and 6 conversations going on all at once.....

.....as I have said oft, we are in the right place at the right time.....there can be no denying that.

Thank you for stopping by, and we hope you have a wonder Easter Sunday!

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Good Friday.....

7:14 am - Saturday - April 11th - Wittmann, AZ - 51° F, 60% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the east.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 69° F.....the view this morning......↴

.....on this day in 2017 we were in San Luis Obispo, CA at the Elks Lodge.  We rode our bikes along the Bob Jones Bike Path to Avila Beach and back......about 18 miles round trip.

First of all, TLE and wish all of you a memorable Good Friday.  It has particular significance to us at this time as my mother hovers near death in Hospice up in Spokane, WA.  Her last wish before she became comatose was that she would live until East Sunday.  The hospice nurses are amazed she has come this far all things considered, but she is still breathing as of this morning, Saturday morning (just now), however, my sister, Hilary, just received a call from Hospice that her breathing intervals have slowed significantly, and suggested she drive down as soon as possible.  She is a Christian, as are 4 of her children, including me, so we believe there is a life after this one, and as my mother transitions from her mortal life to what comes next we stand with her, and are cheering her onward to her new life.

Friday I avoided getting involved in any projects as I wished to be available at a moment's notice should my mother's condition change.  I did help Tom transport a 'router table' over to his son-in-law, Jon's home using his Hallmark enclosed car hauler trailer.  The table was quite heavy, hence the use of the trailer.  While we were getting ready to load the table Tom showed me the solar system he set up to power the trailer's interior lights, as well as the electric jack.  It is made by Renogy, and costs less than $200 to install, including an AGM battery.  The package includes the panel, cable, charge controller, and all the necessary things to do the installation.  I have been thinking about this for some time.  I have a little more to power than Tom does, including a Fantastic Fan vent, my radio, and TV.  The solar panel in the picture below is a 50 watt panel, and should do the trick for my purposes......

.....I'm going to do some more research, but expect to order this kit within the next few days so I can get it installed before we leave.

Shortly after I wrote the sentence above we received a 'Zoom' link from my sister, and all of us joined my mother for what may be the last time......

.....from left to right, Virginia (my mother) who is resting comfortably, but unresponsive (Hilary is just out of frame), Kate (our daughter) and her husband, Nick, our daughter Meredith, my sister Jill, my brother Dwyer, Stephanie (Hilary's daughter), my brother Philip and his wife, Jeannie, TLE and I, our son Tim, our daughter Sharon, Danielle (Philip and Jeannie's daughter) and her two children, and Hilary's other daughter, Caroline.  We spent about 90 minutes talking, laughing, sharing our love with my mother and each other.....it was good.  My mother's breathing continues to be intermittent......about 10-15 seconds between breaths.  It was a blessing to see her resting so peacefully as she waits to meet her Creator....not long now Mom.....we love you so much, and we will miss you terribly, but you are going to a better place where your 90 year old body will no longer hold you back.

Blessings and love to you all, and thank you so much for stopping by!

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More unexpected.......

7:30 am - Friday - April 10th - Wittmann, AZ - 51° F, 54% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the northeast......clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 72° F.  On this day in 2015 we visited the 'Four Corners' monument......

.....we were boondocking at Goosenecks State Park and made the drive from there.  Four days later while in Mexican Hat our fuel pump on the VW died....you can read about that here.

Thursday we had 20+ mph winds out of the south by southwest, which is a bad direction for our ZipDee patio awning here at Newell house based on our orientation.....it was roughly the same angle of the wind that tore three of the stitched seams apart a couple of weeks ago.  Usually we do not worry about stowing the patio awning unless the wind gets over 25 mph, but the direction of the wind is also a factor.  At any rate, the final seam at the end the awning nearest the rear of the Newell pulled completely apart.  Oh well, more of the unexpected, so nothing could be done until the wind died down, and by Thursday morning we had zero wind from any direction, so I retrieved the lumber from the Newell House which I had used two weeks ago and set everything up, but waiting for the sun to get higher in the sky to heat up the Sunbrella fabric.  The seams on either end of the awning are the easiest to repair, because you can access them via the telescoping ladder without getting on the roof.

I forgot to mention that TLE spent the day driving with Tom and Darlene up to their cabin in Happy Jack, AZ to check on the progress of a new deck they are having built.  I decided to remain behind to be able to spend time via Facebook messenger on a video chat with my sister Hilary who is on site with my mother in Hospice.  It is really hard to see my mother in her current state, and not to be able to communicate with her, but we think she is still hearing us talk, so we did just that for about 1/2 an hour before it was time for the medical staff to reposition my mother, so I bid adieu to Hilary until later......

......this time, instead of stitching a few spots to draw the fabric back together, I decided to use a stapler to tack it in place in three places......since the 2x4 was on the underside of the fabric I just stapled into the wood.....it worked like a charm, and much, much more effective than stitching the fabric, and quite a bit faster......

 One of the three staples

......once that was done I proceeded to apply the clear silicone caulk to the seam, and then let the sun finish the job of curing the caulk for a couple of hours before removing the lumber.....

.....and, once again, order is restored to our precious 'lido deck'......no more seams to repair now as they have all been fixed over the last 5 years.....

All fixed

......after I put the lumber, and ladder away I went into Newell House to play one of the pinball machines Tom has there with a 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' theme.  The other one has a 'Gilligan's Island' theme.  I spent about 1/2 an hour playing and managed a high score for me of 14 million......

......after that brief interlude I spent the rest of the binge watching season 3 of 'Jessica Jones'.  TLE was home just after 7 pm, and another day was in the books.  TLE and I remain asymptomatic.....that's all folks!

Thanks for stopping by!

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The unexpected......

6:38 am - Thursday - April 9th - Wittmann, AZ - 42° F, 82% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the north by northwest.......clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 69° F.  On this day in 2014 we were boondocking at Lone Rock Beach, UT......

 Lone Rock Beach, UT

Horseshoe Bend

.......this was our first of three visits to one of our favorite boondocking sites.  On this particular day we visited the iconic Horseshoe Bend vista point.

I began Wednesday with no particular plans, or aspirations.  As I was walking out the door to the trailer I noticed TLE had pulled all the glassware out of the cabinet on the right side of the sink.  She was intent on cleaning the glass door, as well as the interior which has mirrored walls.  I had been noticing for some time that the strip LED lights I had installed in that cabinet years ago were failing, and only about 6 of the 36 LED's were still working as you can see from the picture below......

.....since the cabinet was empty I decided to seize the day, and remove and replace the 10 year old strip lights.  As I pulled them out they broke like pretzels......normally these all weather LED strip lights are very supple, but these had gone bad in a big way.....

....I had about 26" of all weather strip LED's left over from my rocker panel project a week, or so ago, so I cut that length in half.......

.......and wired them together in preparation for installation.....

......I apply a water based 'flux' to the wire ends, and to the contacts on the LED strips before soldering the wires to the strip....this helps the solder to make good contact with both surfaces.....

....and a soldering iron I bought at Radio Shack a few years ago to do the soldering...it works well....

.....it took a while, but I have nothing but time on my hands, right?  Finally I was ready to install the new all weather LED strips in the cabinet.....

   The two new all weather LED strips are now wired together

.......installing the new LED's was very easy, and within 20 minutes the new lights were installed.  All I had to do was peel off the protective strip to expose the adhesive strip and press them against the ceiling of the cabinet......

.....and we once again had the cabinet lit.......

......while I was on a roll I decided to begin replacing the lights in the engine bays.  About 9 years ago I replaced the original light, which was completely inadequate with a fixture containing two strips of LED strip lights....it was a big improvement, but I was still not happy with the amount of light.....

The old one

....when we were here in Wittmann a year ago Tom show me some LED lights he had bought for just this purpose, so I bought a box of 5 off Amazon, and installed two of them in the trailer to replace the old, inadequate lights there.  It took me less than 30 minutes to remove the old engine bay light, and install the new one in the passenger side.....

 Much brighter!

.....with that my unexpected day of lighting projects came to and end.....I'll install another one of these in the driver side engine bay on Thursday.  That is how some days evolve when an unexpected opportunity presents itself.

Oh, and by the way, it is now official.....my sister and brother-in-law are coming to Wittmann.  They placed their order for a solar system with A.M. Solar and it is being shipped via UPS to our Wittmann location where we will install it when they arrive in a little over a week.  We are very excited about this development.  Also, TLE and I continue to be without COVID-19 symptoms.....we are healthy, and just taking it one day at a time.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

In the crosshairs......

7:00 am - Wednesday - April 8th - Wittmann, AZ - 52° F, 56%  humidity, wind 3 mph out of the northeast.......clear, blue skies with a few clouds today and a forecast high of 74° F.  On this day in 2012.......

......we were in Savannah, GA for the first time......we dry camped in a field at Red Gate RV Park as they had no sites available.  We still owned our 2002 Thunderbird....I really miss that car!

We haven't left the Newell House property since we drove into COSTCO last Thursday, however, on Tuesday we had an appointment at Walmart to pickup our online order.....mostly greens, and veggies......at 12 pm.  We left around 11:30 am arriving at the Walmart pickup area around 11:55 am......

.....just as last time, we parked in Reserved 1, called the number to advise them we were there, and within minutes an associate appeared with our order.....

.....within a couple of minutes our groceries were loaded, and we are on our way home.....

.....hmmmmm.......the last time we were here the associates were just wearing gloves, but this time they had face masks, and no gloves.....go figure?

We were gone less than 60 minutes when we rolled up to the Newell to disgorge our groceries.  TLE discovered that she had inadvertently ordered 2 of everything, which was not her intent, so we have a lot of greens, and veggies, and enough 1/2 and 1/2 to last a month....hope it lasts that long!

During the course of the afternoon, and early evening we had two more 'Zoom' calls with my siblings, and my mother.  She is in a semi comatose state right now......asleep most of the time, and waking up for short periods of time.  She is comfortable, and appears to be hearing what her children are talking about.  Several of us told stories from our childhood.  Even though we are meeting 'virtually' it is the first time in years we have all been together in the same conversation for a very long time, and that is good.

After our final 'Zoom' call was over around 7:30 pm we were invited to sit by the outdoor fireplace with our hosts and talk about things other than my mother's declining health....it was a nice distraction.....thank you Tom and Darlene.....you are the best!

With a full moon rising out of the east the night sky lit up.....the moon was so bright it was hard to look directly at it.....crazy!

TLE and I remain in the asymptomatic category......no COVID-19 here in the rural back roads of Wittmann, AZ......thank God.  The IHME (The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation) whose computer models our collective governments (Federal, State and Local) have been using to make policy lowered the expected number of expected U.S. deaths from this virus from 83,000 down to 60,415......this is just a week after they forecast 100,000 to 240,000 U.S deaths......as you all know there are not even 100,000 deaths world-wide right now attributed to the Chinese virus. Just 3 short weeks ago they were forecasting over 1,000,000 U.S. deaths!   We are beginning to see signs that we may have already, or may be near the U.S. apex of this battle.....again way earlier than forecast by the IHME.  Look, I am not alleging a conspiracy, or even incompetence.......what I am saying is no one really knows what to expect, or how to design a computer model that is even remotely accurate......we/they don't know what we/they don't know.  The hospitalization forecasts are still being wildly exaggerated (again I do not believe intentionally) by the IHME models, but they are getting more accurate as they continue to modify their algorithm.  Nonetheless, policy continues to be made based on total guess work.....guess work that is shown to be wrong on a daily basis.  We will never really know whether it was really necessary to crater our economy, and put 20 million people out of work.....there is no way to know the unknowable.  This experience should stand as mute testimony to the fact our government's power to protect us from a pandemic has limitations.  If you rely on the expertise of the 'bearded' government experts more than your own common sense you will get burned almost every single time.

Based on what we do know, and what is glaringly obvious after a few weeks is that if you live in a large population center you should seriously consider moving to a more rural locale, right?  What's the point of making a lot of money working and living in the big city if you cannot protect your family from a pandemic?  That's just common sense, right?  How many will do just that will probably not be many....some will get the lesson and move, and others who know they should will not because it is easier to keep doing what they are doing and hope the next pandemic will not put them in the crosshairs once again.

Thanks for stopping by!

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