Good morning gang.

Looks like Tom is haveing a good time. If you have never been to the Grand Canyon I would suggest to put on a to do list. I would love to go back also I would like to go see the five national parks in Utah and Glacier National park in Montanna. There is so much to see in this country and for some it is just a day or weekend trip. Take the time to see it. I'm glad I have. We have more to see. The wife and I look forward to seeing it.

Word of the Day Tuesday, June 18, 2013

falcate\ FAL-keyt \, adjective;

1. curved like a scythe or sickle; hooked; falciform.

Origin:

Falcate entered English in the 1800s from the Latin falcem meaning "sickle."

Dios nikau ta umma

Good Morning CGs!

I have never been to the grand canyon, but at the end of the summer we are traveling to Arizona for a few days and we would like to make the trip out there for the kids. I am sure it is a sight to see, one of those things that pictures don't do justice. There are a lot of places I have not traveled that I would like to...Niagra falls, Florida beaches, Mt Rushmore, etc. Maybe when the kids are older.

I stayed up too late last night watching Fast N Loud because they were finishing up the Ferrari rebuild and I wanted to see how it turned out. I am not hooked on any shows, but that is a good one to watch. The illegal street racing show was on before that. Kind of neat, but way melodramatic.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Matthew

Hidey-ho! It's a little cloudy, but that's supposed to burn off soon and be a nice day. Which probably means that the rain should be starting any minute now.

Have a good day, Gurus!

Morning guys...AZ doesn't observe Daylight savings, so it's early here. My body hasn't adjusted to the time change. Today is a travel day for us. We have about 6 hours to go.

Got a little too much sun on the back of my neck, now I'm truly a redneck.

Big Tuesday and I feel like crap......tried to do some running last night.......I can hardly move today then I put a bunch of hot salsa on my omelet last night at 8:30 in the evening.....I did not sleep well....you would think by now I would know better........but I don't.....

I have been a lot of places and seen a lot of things and the older I get the more my deck looks good to me. I like the Black Hills have spent a lot of time there in the Parks and camping out and enjoying the cool mountain air.

Matt are you going to Phoenix? If so I can get you some great room rates at a 5 Star that has a waterpark with it that your kids and you guys would love.....and a huge outlet mall for the Mrs. just down the Street.

Gotta go now going to be a long day......

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I enjoy that too......every nite.

I hear there's a big lake close by that I should go see.


I would like to run around the Black Hiils a bit and hit Glacier in Montana.

I just realized that the last "planned vacation" that I took was the year after I graduated high school. Spent a week at the beach.

The only other places I've been had loud cars going very fast.

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Falcate: when you feel like you gotta go but can't.

Howdy!

Have three guys and me cleaning up the nusery at the house. Had a load of soil dumped to work on the plants tomorrow. Today is weed and trim day. We have a big pile and the pickup is scheduled for tomorrow. I'm woking half assed today. That's because I'm sweating my ass off. I actually adjust to the heat pretty well if I stay out in it. But if I am to be honest, I prefer the cool, dehumidified air inside the house. Well, there's work to do.
Later .......

Just got in..now it's eat and fall asleep in the big chair with my mouth hanging open.....it's not pretty......

Ya, today I busted my butt. I have to get up in the wee hours to take Sue to the airport. No Heat game for me tonight. I'll have to catch the recap in the morning. I don't even want to peek at it, lest I get hooked .......... That would mean little to no sleep. I'm too old for that shit.

Well, we are in California. Lindsay to be more specific. Another 444 mile day. This time we sandwiched in a trip to Hoover Dam. I decided that since it was supposed to be a travel only day, that we would get to California really early and after running some scenarios, Decided the trip to Hoover Dam would only add an hour and a half to the drive, plus what ever time we spent at Hoover.

I am so glad that we made this trip. In similar fashion as yesterday, we are driving along AZ 93 going north and top a hill and BOOM, there is the west end of the Grand Canyon (below Hoover Dam) Even though not as deep or as wide as the part where we visited yesterday, still extremely impressive. I knew that it had to be like that, but was not expecting it like that. There was one pull off where we could stop and take pictures, but I missed it, so no pictures.

We continued on to the dam, crossing the new bridge that is out from the dam. Can't see the Dam at all from the bridge. But there is a turn off where you can go around, park and walk across the new bridge. Kind of a cliche picture, but very impressive point of view.




We then drove over the bridge and parked and walked back across the Dam taking a few pictures. From the Dam here's the new bridge.





After the visit we headed for California, the Garmin took us north to Henderson NV, catching I15 toward Los Angeles. I15 goes through the Mojave desert and the north end of Death Valley. As we dropped down into the valley the entire landscape changes.....dramatically. It is obvious what we are coming in to. I15 is packed and rolling along at a very quick pace, no real chance to stop and take pictures. On to Barstow it is much the same terrain, white sand everywhere, even packing up the mountain sides. After leaving Barstow we headed northwest toward Bakersfield.

During this part of the trip we start to see agriculture, just not sure what it is they are growing, dates and grapes? Just not sure. From Bakersfield we head north to Porterville and see Citrus trees everywhere, pistashio plants (I think) as well. Quite a change of scenery from NM and AZ.

The traffic is considerably worse here in California too.

Tomorrow the plan is to head into the Sequoia National Park and visit the BIG trees. Then head north a bit and Thursday visit Yosemite before heading on north.

Things have been really dry there too. The white line is where the water used to be, now it is about 40-50 lower than that. Still the water at the dam must be close to 500' deep.

Amazing pictures, TB.

Marcus, we are going to Flagstaff, but staying with family. Thanks for the offer to help, though!

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Willow Springs Raceway is on the edge of Death Valley.

I spent a week there, in August, at the Grandnational Karting Roadrace Championships , 120 degrees every day for 5 days, with a full race suit on.

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Well duh,

Californians have a strange definition of "Light Traffic".

Finished the waterpump on the Silverado.

And got the shift linkage done on the Atlantic.

The gear selector lever is hardened steel. How do you drill it? With a masonry bit of course.

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I was expecting traffic, it's just more so than even I was expecting.

Here's a picture coming into Henderson, we can see the "strip" about 10 miles away....close enough for me.

TB, that water is really low. If you are on that lake like I have been and you look up, you just are in awe that it can be that low. Good ole drought in these western states

If our lakes were that dry, they'd be empty, which I guess some are.....

Awesome pics, Tom!

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You're going to see a lake that is 1,645 feet deep.

Can't wait, Bill. Thanks Brad.

Glad you enjoyed the damn dam tee.



http://youtu.be/-6oxhLz9l5s

Wait till you drive on the 405 in LA.....mind blowing traffic even at 5 AM in the morning.....good pics Tom...