So Long John Wrightson

The world lost a sweet and loving man last week. 

It was only a few months ago that he called Jim.  His speech was halting and he had trouble with words.  He explained that tumors had been found in his brain.  In the following months he underwent treatments, but there wasn’t much that could be done.  

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” Lao Tzu

I thought of Lynne and John when I read this quote the other day.  They were so clearly in love.  We are so sad.

Jim posted on Facebook:

I met John early in our first year full-timing. We were kindred spirits and bonded immediately. He was a wise and gifted craftsman with a joy for life. He was married to a wonderful woman who enriched us all. To say I, and all who knew him will miss him, is a gross understatement. As I tearfully write this, I remember and am glad I was his friend. RIP John Wrightson.

As soon as the Escapade rally is over, we are on our way to Tillamook, Oregon – originally to visit Lynne and John – now to spend some time with Lynne.  We love you two.

These pictures have been gathered from our albums over the last 10 years and several that Lynne sent me as well. 

Geeks meet Technomadia

It’s a Geekathon!  Chris and Cherie of Technomadia.com were traveling thru South Dakota.  Because we follow each other on our blogs and Facebook, they knew that we were staying at Rush No More RV park in Sturgis, SD.  They emailed to see how long we would be there, and then made it a point to stay at the same park for a couple of nights. 

What a treat!

 

A day in the Black Hills of South Dakota

We went for a play day in the Black Hills.


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Colorado to South Dakota

We almost didn’t take route 34 north out of Estes Park because it looked like it had too many tight twists and turns to be safe for an RV.  But Jim decided to brave it, and we’re so glad!  It was a beautiful drive.  I made Jim pull over so I could get a picture of our rig

And here’s the road:

As it turned out, the worst driving conditions were after we got on Interstate 25 heading north … w i n d y 

We made it as far as Lusk, Wyoming the first night and stayed in the parking lot of the Elks lodge there.  They had no hookups, so we had to run the generator, but there was no charge,and we were the only ones in the lot.  And, they had a hamburger cookout dinner on Friday night!

It’s hard to imagine what it would be like to live in a place like Lusk.  It’s a tiny town 2 and half hours from any city.  This looked like the most exciting place in town!

After spending a couple of nights at the Lusk Elks lodge, we drove thru the Black Hills to reach our destination of Sturgis, SD and the Fulltimers rally.  Although we did present a couple of seminars, we were primarily attending because we R fulltimers!  Other than our own TechnoGeek Learning Rally, we haven’t had a rally devoted to our own interests since the demise of the Datastorm Rally.  It was fun to be part of a small group and get to know them.

I think they appreciated our help as well.  We got to teach them a little about Smartphones, Picasa, and even some hands on with Windows 8.  Sally was a quick learner.

After the Fulltimers rally, we decided to stay for the Elks chapter rally as well. 

There’s good 4G Internet signal here at Rush No More RV park, so we were able to successfully do a remote Picasa seminar to the SLOBytes computer club in San Luis Obispo too.  I think we’re starting to figure out the right way to do these remote presentations.  Instead of trying to manage Jim on his computer, and me on my computer, we’re doing it just like we do the live seminars – with Jim driving the computer and me standing behind him and narrating the presentation.  We ask that the moderator on the remote side position their computer so that the camera is aimed at the audience.  That way we get to see them (on my second monitor) at the same time we’re presenting our material.  As long as the Internet connection holds out, it really is almost like being there.  Here’s what the SLOBytes club representative had to say:

Thank you for the great presentation Sunday. I think it is safe to  say that it was one of the best, if not the best, webinar yet. What really impressed me was the way the two of you worked in sync without stepping on each other.  We all learned a lot, and while I use Lightroom, I was impressed with Picasa. I will not be changing , but I now know that I can recommend Picasa for image management and simple editing.

John Waller, VP for Programs SLOBytes  (Computer Club in San Luis Obispo, CA)

Rocky Mountain National Park

Some of the most spectacular sights in the world are at Rocky Mountain National Park.  We had to visit, even though we just had a couple of days.  Being a Floridian, we thought that May 30 would be a fine time to visit mountains.  Welllll … many roads are still closed due to snow, it’s COLD and WINDY, and we even had to walk in the snow.  But, we did see some awesome sights:

Here’s the view right from our campsite:

 

 

We drove as far as we could up the Trail Ridge road.  Right before the road closure in an overlook.  W O W

Make sure to click on this picture to see it bigger (then, to come back click the x in the upper right of the picture).  It’s actually 6 pictures stitched together using Windows Photo Gallery.  I wrote an article about how to do this, if you want to know more click here.

The next day, we took the park shuttle up to Bear Lake.  We felt like quite the adventurers there!  It may have been only a half mile walk, but in the cold and snow we felt like we had a wilderness experience!

 

 

I think this little guy was laughing at us!  Saying, “You folks are from Florida … I can tell!”

 

I mean, “really?!”

 

After the shuttle took us back down the mountain, we drove to another part of the park where there was a short easy trail by the name of Copeland Falls Trail – sounds good.

Lots of Aspen at these lower elevations, just sprouting their new, spring attire.

No snow, still cold:

 

 

 

After that delightful hike, we found a scenic route back to the RV.  We drove thru a canyon on St. Vrain Drive east to the town of Lyons.

 

That was it for our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park.  Our friends Howard and Linda, of RV-Dreams.com did a much better job just the week before us.  The Trail Ridge Road was open when they were there, and they saw lots more wildlife than our little chipmunk!  Check out their blog for some real hiking pictures!  Gem Lake Hike  and The Loch Hike.  Hey!  With friends that take pictures like that we can feel like we’ve already been there done that!  Thanks Howard and Linda!

On our way out the next day, we ended up on another canyon road (hwy 34 to Loveland) and I made Jim pull over so I could get a picture of ‘Big-Boy’ our RV, on the road.