TO THE RANCH

Oct 3

Hey y'all!

Turned north to I-40 in Knoxville & passed by Bucksnort, TN (that's for you Mickie) & on to Memphis for a visit with the Wibles. Crossed the Mighty Mississippi & STILL no sign of Tom & Huck. I'm beginning to believe those boys are fictitious! On across Arkansas passing Toad Suck Park for an overnight in Ft. Smith. On our way to Oklahoma City we passed by Lotawatah Rd & the Kickapoo Casino--LOVE these names. Oklahoma City is a destination for us to have dinner at the Cattleman's Cafe at Stockyard City where the steaks are like velvet on your tongue and, once again, we were not disappointed!

Turned north to Kingsdown, KS for a few days with Chuck & Karla at their ranch. Drove about 200 miles one day to have a picnic & tour a hotel built in 1885 which is being restored by a retired USMC couple. This is a story I can only TELL you--and I will when I see you. What an adventure! Left this AM bound for Moab, UT & the next adventure.

Later--Tee

From Tom--Chuck now has his hangar complete so one day we went to feed the cows and Chuck decided we should fly over to the Cafe 57 for coffee and a cinnamon roll, then a little jog up to Dodge City to refuel and return to the ranch. Always an adventure around the next corner!

2008 Western Trip

Written Sep 23rd by Tee but ignored by Tom until Oct 13--oh well!

Hey y'all!

We're on the road again heading west. Spent the weekend with our local camping group, the Carolina Pelicans, in Effingham, SC & had a wonderful time--as usual. Then on to Spartanburg, SC for a great visit with dear friends Al & Lee Huey. Lee and I did lunch & saw "Mama Mia"--what a hoot--& the guys saw old friends--one Tom had not seen since 1964--what a special day!

As I write this we're in Lebanon, TN on the way to Memphis. For those who "track" us, we came up I-26 to I-40 and will be on I-40 to Oklahoma City. We tried to volunteer to go to Houston with the Family Motor Coach Assn Disaster Response Team to help with the aftermath of IKE but got such disjointed & unsure responses that we decided 1000 miles out of our way for something so unsure was probably not in our best interest. Even on our route there are lots of stations with no fuel!

So--there ya' go--the Krimmingers are rolling on!

Later--
Tee & Tom

PS--You can catch some of our photos at our Picasa Web Album
Click on the link to go there.

Tom

TOM TRAVELS ALONE

We arrived back in Little River on December 1 and spent the following week in our usual routine: unload the motorhome, clean up, catch up on paperwork, etc. On Friday, Dec 7 we headed over to Florence, SC for our Carolina Pelicans'(local chapter of FMCA) Christmas Party hosted by Danny & Doris Dimmery. Bob & Ann Billups who live just down the road from Danny were gracious enough to allow all who desired to dry camp on their property--not sure why they don't just open a campground. Pictures are of Danny's tiny little barn (6,000 sf) and the pig on the cooker.

On the way to Florence on Friday I received a call from the Red Cross asking if I could go to Oregon for disaster relief. They wanted me to leave in 24 hours which I believed just wasn't possible so we agreed that Sunday afternoon would be acceptable.

Friday night we visited with the members of our group who were there and played some wild games of Mexican Train and drank Danny's home made wine. Good stuff!

Saturday found us at Applebee's for a Red Cross pancake breakfast and then back to Danny's to watch the pig cook. Had to leave before the Christmas party but Danny was gracious enough to provide us with an extremely generous portion of pig--one of my very favorite things. Arrived home about dark and with Thomas' help unloaded and winterized the motorhome. Also thanks to his generosity I was able to borrow just the luggage I needed for the trip.

Sunday found us ferrying the "Beav" to its resting place for the winter and me trying to make sure I had the proper clothing, etc. for the trip. This was my first deployment for the Red Cross and I found it to be extremely rewarding and interesting. Arrived in Portland around midnight EST and finally managed to get in bed sometime around 2:00am EST (11:00pm PST) and then reporting to the Red Cross by 8:00 on Monday morning. I was sent to fill a position in the technology portion of the operation but for reasons unknown to me, they were overstaffed so I was assigned to Health Services as their administrative assistant.

Most of my work was for the two managers of Health Services--Donna, a local volunteer nurse from Portland and Dianna, a national volunteer from Knoxville. We operated out of the headquarters in Beaverton, OR which was a very large warehouse with a small office space.

One day I did make it out to Vernonia, the site of the worst flooding. Believe it or not there was no looting or any of the shenanigans we saw after Katrina--only people helping other people less fortunate. It did bring back memories of Hugo when we were flooded--I don't even like to think about it!


The Red Cross had several other shelters and service centers early on in the relief operation but these were closed as soon as the immediate needs were met and other organizations stepped in to provide long term assistance.

In Vernonia, the Red Cross had both a shelter and a service center, both located at a sports camp. As you can see from the pictures, it was an extremely nice facility for this purpose. One slight drawback was that it was located on the side of a hill--not really ideal for your elderly clients.




































Mudslides continued while I was still there and at least one occurred after I returned home on the 19th of December.



Hurricane force winds stripped the trees and as you can see, these are not baby trees!



A good experience and I still made it back before Christmas even though I had been scheduled to be there through the 29th. As with any operation of this kind, there is always a rear party to close everything down and so there were some who didn't make it home for Christmas. There were also some who left Oregon to travel to the midwest where the Red Cross had yet another relief operation in progress because of the ice storms.

Until next time,
Tom

PS--I did see the sun for 10 minutes one day!

UPDATE FOR THE GIRLS

Tee says---------------------------------------

While the boys were out in the desert on their "continuing education program", the girls were shopping, dining, laughing, and playing "catch-up" on the last 25 years or so with Judy Pirtle. Talk about a good ole' chin wag! We felt as if our tongues were blistered and our jaws needed to be in traction. Duncan said it was like flipping channels on the TV to different stories. What fun we had!

The boys returned on Sun with smiles and sunburns and scraggly beards. It was a bittersweet and meaningful time for them. Thomas had a flight out on Mon and two hours after we left him at the airport, he called and requested a reservation with us for another night. Seems the plane had mechanical problems as did the one they were going to use to replace it. So--hooray for us! We had him with us for another day!

We had our traditional "kiss off" dinner on Thursday, the 15th, at Red Lobster with the Kochs and this time Duncan's birthday & our anniversary followed the next day. The following day the Kochs headed to Mexico for Thanksgiving with their family & we left for Tucson where we had dinner with the Vigals and Hansons.

Saturday, the 17th, found us in Las Cruces and another absolutely fantastic Sunday Brunch at the Double Eagle in old Mesilla! On Monday we drove to White Sands National Monument which is definitely another wonder of the world. The sands are pure white and powdery--you can't discern grains like beach sand--and the dunes go on for miles. The sky was so blue it almost looked lavender on the horizon and there was not a cloud to be seen--not even a wisp. We saw several Stealth bombers out of Holloman Air Force Base and given our surroundings we almost felt as if we were on a Star Wars set.

Because of weather at this time of year we opted to take the southern route home. Duncan picked up her truck which she had stored in Las Cruces & off we went thru El Paso to Ft Stockton, TX for the night and into Fredericksburg, TX for 5 nights. The RV park had a potluck for Thanksgiving & they provided the turkeys so it was a nice day. We arrived on Wed afternoon in 70 degree temp & 42 degrees is the highest we've had since! They were calling for snow this AM but it was a non-event.

We head for Houston tomorrow where it's supposed to be warmer & hopefully, the holiday travelers will all be back at home.

2007 Memorial Hunt-Thursday Nov 8

Thursday morning found us eager to go back to the desert for the annual "hunt". This year was a memorial to Bill Kerekes, the fearless leader for all these many years. Bill finally lost his battle with cancer in June and many of us feared that the hunt would not occur. Thanks to Billy and Mike Kerekes, 2 of Bill's sons, we carried on in fine form with 9 of the group--Jim Wible, Gordy Pirtle, Jay Bibler, Steve Bibler, Gary Bibler, Bucky Walters, Neil Koch, Thom Krimminger, and myself. Much missed were 2 of our regulars, Bush Hedges and Phil Brenan, who were waging their own battle with health problems.

Although we know that Bill was watching from above, we really could have used his guidance down below where the scene was reminiscent of a Chinese Fire Drill. I thought of a better description but then this is supposed to be PG rated. With all of this high priced leadership, one would have expected better results! We finally made it, however, back to Camp Saguaro for the 3rd straight year. You can understand the name when you look at the pictures.

Thursday afternoon was spent setting up camp, acquiring wood for the campfire, and preparing our C rations for the evening meal. We also had a sip of sherry prior to C rats.



Since Mike had a permit for deer, he and Billy spent Friday and Saturday hunting the elusive little devils, much to no avail. The rest of the group spent Friday in various "Seminars". We also allotted time for the youngsters in the group--led by our resident pyromaniac, Gordy--to gather more firewood. Saturday was spent in more "Seminars", gathering more firewood, and preparing for the Marine Corps Birthday Ceremony in the evening. Although everyone participates in the ceremony, most of the thanks go to Gordy, Jay and Steve for the elaborate decorations and ceremony complete with the Commandant's Message on the widescreen and the same music played at thousands of locations around the world.



The dinner was complete with multiple toasts using grape juice poured from "Jarhead Red" bottles designed to resemble wine bottles.



After chorizo tortillas on Sunday morning we broke camp in a couple of hours-- returning Camp Saguaro to its original state--hopefully awaiting our return in 2008.

We returned to Yuma and waiting members of the opposite sex who maintained a safe distance which was probably a wise move considering the fact that there are no shower facilities in the desert. Participating in the whole affair were Patty Wible, Sandy Koch, Tee Krimminger, our friend Duncan Wall, Judy Pirtle, Ginny Bibler and of course our Yuma hosts, Linda Kerekes (Billy's wife) and Cheryl Kerekes (Mike's wife).

We owe a great debt of gratitude to the Kerekes family without whom we could not possibly hold this wonderful event and whose father had a great impact on all of our lives. Bill welcomed us as members of the family and the children have continued.

Wednesday Nov 7

Spent the last 2 days eating at some of our favorite restaurants with Kochs, Richmans, and Duncan. Richmans are leaving so we had to introduce them to Yuma in a hurry. Tomorrow we leave for the desert so we hit yet another restaurant tonight with the "desert rats" that have arrived along with wives, etc. The above is actually from our 2005 trip at Lutes Casino (not actually a casino but a restaurant that is an institution in old downtown Yuma). The "Especial" is a cheeseburger/hot dog combination. Good!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update

Sunday Nov 4

Spent two full days in Tucson in a park WAY out of town in the desert. Although we didn't see them, the owner said the coyotes and javelina (wild pigs) wander into the campground. I was satisfied watching the quail scoot by and the cactus wrens flitting from their nests in the saguaros--thank you very much!

The Hansons made it back from Texas with all of their possessions from their trailer in a U-haul. They managed to salvage about 95% but nothing from the kitchen area which had been ripped away as they skidded down the highway along a median barrier. You can always buy new pots and pans but you can't buy a new life. From the story and the pictures one can only conclude that their guardian angels were along for the ride and the slide!

We made it to Yuma on Friday Nov 1 and will be here until the 16th. Barbara and John (Sisters, OR) will be leaving this week so we're trying to cram in all the places to see & our favorite spots to eat since this is their first visit here. We'll all be waddling by the time we leave!

The lettuce fields are all green, the skies are blue, temperatures 90 + or -, lovely breezes----Life is still good!