Whelan's Wheels (go round and round, round and round): Rain rain rain

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Rain rain rain

Today it is pouring ~ so much for getting the bikes out!

Our day yesterday wasn't quite what I'd planned (story to follow). Arlo got to have a tubbie - yup he just had one last week but he needed another one as soon as possible. For some reason he was scratching and scratching after the one last week ... don't know if he wasn't rinsed properly, if he had a reaction to the shampoo they used or a reaction to the flea and tick medicine we use after he has a tubbie. At any rate we needed to stop the constant scratching so off to Petco we went for a do it yourself dog wash! Yup, he's better.

We did the Arlo tubbie while Rick's bike was at the dealer getting its noise taken care of. Check out these cattle at the dealership! I have no clue what cattle have to do with a Harley dealer but at any rate I was pretty impressed by the racks on these guys! Hopefully the pictures can be enlarged and ya get the "full effect"! It is a huge dealership with a very large inventory.

Okay, now for the story part ... I had intended to do some shopping, hair etc. yesterday. I went to pay for the dog wash and the credit card was declined. Well Capitol One has done that to us three times this year - they don't quite get the concept that we travel and therefore the card will be used everywhere not just in one geographical area. In order to get it squared away, once again, Rick has to call and deal with trying to speak with someone who actually speaks English and has the ability to comprehend spoken English ... always a challenge in these days of outsourcing.

Well come to find out it wasn't the use in a different area this time. It was huge amounts of on line purchases ~ made by ???? who the hell knows! So we are now waiting for our new cards to arrive .... great time of year for this. We do everything on that account - all fuel, all food, all shopping, all campgrounds ~ everything. Talk about frustrating, angry, feeling violated UGH do you think? What the hell is wrong with people that someone would really and truly do that? People will never cease to amaze me ~ thankfully I am amazed more often by the good in people not crap like this!

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This is our story ~ and we're sticking to it.

Our attempt at a blog - quite scary isn't it?

We left MA in early October, 2007 after I (Tracey) retired September 5 as an executive assistant for a software developer and Rick retired from his job on October 1. We passed papers on our house September 28th and off we went. We traveled down the east coast to the Florida Keys ~ where we planned to spend three nights but 17 nights later had to leave our site because someone had reserved it a year prior! We then stayed in northern FL for another month and headed off to meet our Marine returning to the San Diego area after his second tour "over there". We spent several wonderful weeks realizing why grandparents get tired easily! After the San Diego area we headed to the "low desert" (certainly a new phrase for us) of CA and into western AZ .. and decided it was finally time to start the blog we'd talked about since August or so!!

So many wonderful things we saw along the way. And the people, oh the people. I have said so many times to Rick the best part of this journey has been the people. So, so many people with so many interesting stories. Think about it - think about the stories YOU have and multiply that by the many many people we must have met along the way ~ particularly a social person like Rick .. we met a rattlesnake milker in Sweetwater, TX, we met the camp hosts in the Keys who summer back in NH ~ talk about the best of both worlds! We met the female police Sgt. at the Sweetwater Elks whose son was also in Iraq at the same base as my son. We met people in Slidell, LA who survived Katrina and had a great attitude and a smile on their faces and were proud to share their local cuisine with us. We saw the Blue Angels, purely by chance, in El Centro, CA. Or the "campground" where within an hour of arriving our house had been hit three times by golf balls! Or the Elks lodge in Indio ~ the sweetest, bike riding, bartender ~ I just wanted to pack her up and bring her along on our adventure. Not to mention the aerial tram while we were there, the warplane museum for Rick who does NOT do aerial trams! The Salton Sea ~ WOW just WOW. We stayed in the lovely little town of Wilcox, AZ - there was just something about that town. How about Pensacola, FL where the Elks Lodge on the beach is now built high, very high, off the ground! Or what about Huntington Beach State Park in Murrels Inlet, SC - talk about beautiful. What a great place that was to spend our first Thanksgiving on the road with good friends - that was something to be thankful for, for sure. Our first Christmas and New Years in the Keys!! WOW. The love and support of a dear friend in FL while Rick had to fly back to Boston and we dealt with all that entailed with unexpected follow ups back in FL .. how fortunate were we through all of that. Not to mention having the new trailer outfitted in Myrtle Beach and staying at what a week or two a year is the Broken Spoke? Or the kind and soft spoken LA Police Detective who is on the gang unit? So many people, so many stories. And there is so much ahead. The people .. did I mention how wonderful the people have been - all different walks of life .. so many personalities, so many stories! I have said many times ~ I need to pinch myself every morning to be certain it REALLY is happening to US! We are so grateful.

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