The Honda has come and gone....

Sometimes…things just don’t work out like you thought they would. This was the case with the Honda VLX. Nothing on this bike was easy to work on, with the exception of changing the oil and filter. Every job required watching countless YT videos and buying special tools (ever tried changing the plugs on a VLX?). Honda built a great little motor, but the engineering and accessibility of the coolant, battery, cables, etc left a lot to be desired. I pulled the plug a couple months ago and sold the bike to a guy in North Carolina. I’m not normally glad to see a project leave the garage, but in this case…I was thrilled. The hunt continues for the next project.

A new project - a 1997 Honda VT600 Shadow VLX Deluxe

Sometimes you search nationwide for a new project…either a car or a bike that hasn’t been trashed by previous owners, isn’t a rust bucket, all original parts, clean title, etc….and you find nothing for months and months and then…something turns up in your own backyard. That’s exactly what happened recently.

I had been searching for an 80’s to early 90’s BMW airhead for nearly a year. After too many fruitless chases to mention and email exchanges with flaky owners who advertise on Facebook, I gave up for the time being, figuring that sooner or later, something would turn up. Several did, but as always with vintage BMW’s, most owners ask top dollar for their bikes. This is great if you’re going to hold on to it for many years, but not so great if you need to sell within a couple years. As all vintage collectors know, you never get your initial investment back, unless you buy under the current prevailing prices (I check with Mecum, Barrett-Jackson and Hagerty, among others). So, I decided to move on and find something else until the right airhead comes along.

While checking the listings on our local FB page, a 1997 Honda V-twin turned up. Original owner, less than 10,000 all original miles, basically mint condition. You don’t find many original owner bikes these days, much less a ‘97 with fewer than 10K on the odometer. It now sits in my garage. It doesn’t need much, other than fluid changes, some cable adjustments and other minor service issues. Not my usual project, for sure, but I have to admit, it sure is nice not to have to start at the very beginning with a stripped-down frame. I’ll post some pictures later. It should be a fun bike to ride locally…low seat position, good handling, great brakes and a smooth engine/transmission.

Searching for new projects....and heading back to Barrett-Jackson

It’s been a while since I updated the website, I thought I’d take a moment and get it done. We now reside in Hilton Head, SC. Unlike Florida, Arizona and California, this area is not a mecca for vintage motorcycles and cars. I now have to search classifieds from surrounding states, call the owners for more info….then jump in the truck and drive to wherever they are. If you’ve done this, then you know what I’m about to write. Very few of the owners are truthful about what they are selling and I have made many worthless (and long) drives, only to find either a piece of junk full of Bondo, or an owner with a beautiful car/motorcycle who is asking what a Pebble Beach winner would bring. It’s a funny thing about owners of vintage wheels….they completely lose their perspective on what something is worth and I think this is mainly due to the fact that they paid too much and have put way too much into the project. Pride gets in the way. Eventually, many of these guys end up taking their cars/motorcycles to the Barrett-Jackson auctions in Vegas and Scottsdale and settling for way less than guys like me offered them years ago. i’ve seen it happen over and over again. So much so, that I now believe the Barrett auctions are the way to go. The car goes up on the block, the auctioneer begins and in two minutes or less, it’s over. No haggling with the owner, no busted deals because the owner decided to not sell, etc. So, if you’re reading this, head out to Scottsdale or Vegas to one of the auctions. Sign up in advance and be ready to buy. You’ll be glad you did! Good hunting!

How Covid 19 shut down the vintage car market....for a while.

The words “unprecedented” and “this has never happened before” are used a lot these days, whether the speaker is talking about the medical crisis, schools trying to reopen or the many thousands of restaurants that have closed and will never reopen. But those words also apply to the vintage car and motorcycle market, of which I have been a part for many years. Our plight pales in comparison to those mentioned above of course, but for those of us who made a good living for many years buying and selling vintage rides, it most definitely has made an impact.

The good news is that Barrett-Jackson Auction Company has decided to hold an upcoming auction in Scottsdale on Oct. 22nd - 24th. As I write this, I’m still not sure what the protocol will be as far as social distancing, etc., as they have not yet disclosed these details on the auction website. I’m definitely planning on attending this auction, as the rumor mill has made it very plain that quite a few collectors are getting out of the market and putting a lot of their collections up for auction. In years past, auctions held in “trying times” have been great chances to pick up a real bargain and I hope that’s the case this year as well. Stay tuned!

Cheers and stay safe!

Wayne

A return to the sea....

After two years of exploring the Western USA, we decided that we missed the ocean. A lot. Fifteen years of living in Florida and many vacations at the beach while growing up will do that to you. And so, we headed back to Florida, but decided on the East Coast this time. We’re in Fernandina Beach, aka Amelia Island, FL. We have 15 miles of beautiful beaches to walk and a historic downtown that we explore often with our faithful labrador, Tuck.

And remember….All those who wander are not lost!

Cheers!

Wayne

Happy New Year....searching for a new project....and car prices going down

With my recent back surgery behind me….I have begun the search for a new project in 2019. I’ll be attending the upcoming Barrett-Jackson auction in a couple weeks, which luckily for me is going to be held right here in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.

Prices on a lot of collector cars have started to decline, so I’m hoping there will be lots of owners ready to sell some of their inventory. If you attend the Barrett-Jackson or Mecum auctions, or perhaps watch them live, then you’ve already noticed that a lot of cars are being sold with “no reserve”…..and there have been some amazing buys in the last six months. In particular, the market for classic motorcycles has really fallen, so I doubt if I’ll get back into that area for a while. I don’t know whether prices are falling due to the overall economy slowing, or the fact that a lot of collectors are simply getting too old to participate in this hobby any longer (a fact I can appreciate, since I can no longer work on my cars…only buy and sell them). I still own my 1958 BMW Isetta and the prices on them have held fairly level for the past year. The Isetta will be sold in 2019, so if you’re reading this and might be interested, please contact me via the link listed on the home page of my website.

Thanks for reading!

Wayne

Taking a break from the heat in Flagstaff

Spoiler alert...it's hot in Arizona. Even with humidity levels around 10%, the heat is always here and baby...it's hot! Yesterday hit 109. The locals say it takes about a year to get used to it. I think it's a local myth...just like everyone in Florida tells you that you get used to the humidity. Nope, it's a lie. You don't. You just learn to live with it. Just as we did in Florida, you don't go out a lot between 11:00 and 5:00...and here you really don't go out for a walk until after sunset. For those of you reading this who've never been to Arizona, the sun is much hotter here than in other areas. Not only are you up higher (elevations in Sedona, for instance, are around 5000' and Flagstaff is around 7,000'), but the atmosphere is crystal clear with no haze, smog, etc. which filters the sun in most areas of the country. The UV factor is 30% to 50% higher here. I think the old cowboys must have died from skin cancer long before whiskey and gun fights took them.

So...we decided to take a break from the heat and headed up to Flagstaff, or "Flag" as everyone here calls it. The temps dropped about 20 degrees there and it felt great. The evening was even better, with temperatures dropping into the 60's. In the valley where we live, we won't see temps that low until October or November. We loved it.

Flagstaff is a very cool college town. Lots of micro breweries and coffee shops. When I say lots of breweries, I mean like one brewery on every block in the historic downtown area. Ditto for the coffee shops. They all roast their hops and their beans...no store bought stuff served here. As a student...this place would be heaven. Study a while, walk into town, great some great local beer...then head to a coffee shop for a quick expresso...and back to the dorm to study some more. Or...forget the study part and just head into town and drink beer. Life is so good when you're 18. 

Flag is also a famous town because Route 66 runs right through the center of town and all the old historic hotels and the old train station (still being used by the way) are still there. The best part is...they kept their old fluorescent signs from the 20's, 30's and 40's.....as in "Rooms for $5" and "steam heated indoor garages" (it gets really cold in Flag in the winter). The next time we go, I'll take some pictures of these great old signs. Kudos to the town and the merchants for not replacing them.

Flagstaff is also one of the gateways to the Grand Canyon and there are visitors there from all over the world. Over 5 million people a year visit the canyon and the numbers go up every year. We've been there and we plan on going back...but it will be in the winter after schools start back up and some of the tourists go home (I'm not sure that happens any longer, as international visitors don't plan their trips around our seasons or holidays). But that's our plan anyway.

Heading home, we stopped off in Sedona. What a beautiful area...but what a frustrating place to visit. The phrase "loved to death" fits Sedona perfectly. There are people everywhere and this is a very small town. Roads are packed, restaurants are packed, trails are packed, etc. The only way to get free of the madness is to hike away from town. Since my back won't tolerate hiking and the temperature was around 100 that day, we decided to pass. Maybe in December? Stay tuned.

Cheers!

Wayne, Claudia and Tuck

Is it green in Arizona you ask?

Well, after many requests from my hundreds of readers (actually, I think the number is about 6), asking "what does it look like in Arizona", "what does your neighborhood look like", "does anything grow in the desert", "are there snakes, coyotes, mountain lions and other evil creatures in your yard", "are there mountains near you"....and a few others I've forgotten...I decided to load up a few pictures. This morning, we had a very rare rain shower (for this time of year) move through and I took advantage of the beautiful clouds and muted light to run out and shoot a few pictures of the neighborhood, the golf course, the local Verde mountains, our yard, etc. I promise to add more when I can remember to take along my camera. I have to tell you this...the morning and afternoon light here is amazing. It has a yellow cast, unlike any I've ever seen. I now really understand why Georgia O'Keeffe moved to New Mexico to paint and why so many photographers love to do landscape work in Arizona (I'm planning on doing lots of it).

To answer a few of the above questions: Yes, it's green here. The John Wayne cowboy movies never showed it, but the desert is very much alive and beautiful plants live everywhere. Some bloom in the morning, some only at night. We even have orange groves (the orange blossom honey is great) nearby and a pecan orchard down the road. Both of those are on the local Indian reservation (yes folks, it's actually OK to use the term "Indian"). When I was in high school, my English teacher was a Native American and he was adamant that we not use the term "Indian". Times have changed. Now, the older generation like to be called American Indians and the younger generation often use the term "indigenous" or even "aboriginal". The Indians were here roughly ten thousand years before "America" was even a gleam in the eye of the Spaniards or the English....and they want and rightly deserve to be referred to in a way that references that history.

Now, on to the critters. Yes, there are critters out here in the desert. So far, we've had a small bobcat walk right up on our patio. He was looking for one of our quail, who live in the tree by the patio. You probably won't believe this, but the quail hop up into the tree! Yep, I didn't believe it either, but they do. Anyway, as soon as Tuck saw him and let out a howl that raised the dead..he took off and we haven't seen him since. That's a good thing...Tuck wouldn't stand a chance in a face to face battle with a desert-hardened animal who has to kill to survive, even though Tuck outweighs him by at least 40 pounds. Labs are lovers, not fighters. So far, I've seen one snake...and he was crossing the main road into Fountain Hills. I've seen only one coyote running across a neighbors yard, but we can hear them howl at night. Hey, we had coyotes in Punta Gorda....what's the big deal? Anyway, they sound cool. We've seen a couple javelinas (for those of you who don't know about them, they look sort of like a Vietnamese pot belly pig...but meaner). So far, that's about it. Stay tuned....that could change any day. This is, after all, the desert.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading!

Wayne, Claudia & Tuck (the bobcat ninja)

 

The Wagon Train reaches Arizona!

Yippee...we've arrived...let the adventure begin.! We're now in cowboy country...time to shop for snake skin boots, a whole new set of clothes, Southwestern furniture and most importantly, a new blender to make margarita's (the state drink). We both grew up in Kentucky, where the mint julep is the state drink. Sorry to all my Kentucky buddies...I never really liked them, too sweet and a waste of good bourbon. I'll take a margarita anytime. Frozen or on the rocks....who cares baby, it's got tequila.

Anyway, after a grueling week of packing up and loading the Penske truck, we headed out of California early Saturday morning for Scottsdale (actually Rio Verde, which is outside of Scottsdale, up in the high desert). For anyone who has followed the blog over the past year, you'll no doubt recognize our RAM truck (Old Red) pulling the trailer (which usually carries the BMW Isetta). Since we had already taken the Isetta to Arizona (in January), we filled up the trailer with my tools, my photography equipment, our Weber grill and lots of odds and ends that you always end up with at the last moment when moving. Where did we get all this stuff?. And...you'll also recognize the 27' Penske truck, the same length we used when we moved out here from Florida. The biggest difference this time was that we added a 20' car carrier behind the Penske truck to haul our vintage 1958 Volvo. This additional length caused lots of problems when we had to get off the interstate to look for diesel fuel. Here's a tip for anyone attempting a move like this....only fill up at big truck stops! Don't even think about exiting the interstate onto a random road into a random town. Read on.

So here we are on the outskirts of Pasadena, CA and we're trying to figure out where the next truck stop is so I can get some diesel fuel (it takes $250 to fill it up by the way....yikes). I forgot to add how stupid I was passing up a huge truck stop about 100 miles back down the road. Cardinal rule #1...never, ever pass up a big truck stop. Getting into Pasadena, we quickly realize that there are no truck stops anywhere, as the exit we choose lead us right into downtown Pasadena. On Easter Sunday. Great. So, with me watching the fuel light blinking "empty", we find a station. Whoops, the truck is too tall to get under their gas pump canopy. We drive on. We find another station. Whoops, the turn getting into the station is too sharp for me to maneuver the nearly 60' length of truck and carrier. Damn. We drive on. We find another station, but the diesel pump is located too close to the building and I can't get in without having to back out. That's not going to end well.  We find another station with great entry and exit areas. BUT....they don't sell diesel. If you heard some really loud cussing Sunday afternoon, that would have been me. Finally, with me running on fumes, we find a solitary station with a single diesel pump on the outside of the lot. VICTORY! We fill up and after an hour of wandering through downtown Pasadena (a really pretty town, by the way), we get back on the interstate and begin the final leg into Mesa, where we spent the night. Did I mention we were exhausted?

I'll make the last part of this post brief. We got up early Monday morning, drove to our self-storage area where we stored the Isetta, unloaded the Volvo, dropped off the car carrier, drove to Rio Verde, met the moving crew at 11:00, unloaded the truck and the trailer and collapsed around 5:00 that afternoon. We did it. Hell yes.

Cheers,

Wayne, Claudia & Tuck

 

 

 

Heading to Arizona...the Snider's are on the move again!

A big shout out to anyone still reading the blog! You truly have a lot of patience and find joy in reading boring exploits from a family exploring the country with their faithful yellow lab sleeping in the back seat. Tuck, we love you buddy.

Seriously, I haven't written much lately, as we've been pretty damn busy getting ready for the move to Scottsdale (actually Rio Verde, which is outside Scottsdale). Between boxing up stuff, weeding out even more clothes (in Arizona, you basically only need shorts, tees and sandals...yippee) for the local missions and selling even more of our furniture, we haven't had any time for traveling. But, never fear....as soon as we're settled, we're hitting the road to explore more of Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Mexico (probably where we're going to live in the Summers). Mexico is super affordable, has amazing food, a great climate and best of all...they hate Trump. What's not to like? So stay tuned. We're also thinking of starting a YouTube channel when we head down to Mexico to document all the stuff that everyone keeps asking us about....how are the roads, what do the houses look like, are people still getting murdered in the streets (no, that only happens here now), what is the healthcare like, should I live in the mountains or near the ocean, does anyone speak English, etc., etc. If you're just now getting serious about living somewhere other than Hometown, USA...check out International Living. It's a great magazine that profiles lots of areas around the world that are quickly becoming go-to retirement locations. 

That's about it for now. I'll add a new post and some pictures the first week in April....and I'll be sitting outside on the lanai wearing shorts and sandals....which I'm definitely not doing now.

Cheers!

Wayne, Claudia & Tuck

SEASON'S GREETINGS FROM ALL OF US!

It's been an amazing year for us...almost too much to remember. For those of you who have followed the blog and the pictures, you already know about our journey. Since leaving Florida, we've driven almost 40,000 miles exploring the Wild Wild West (what a great show that was) and we have so many places left to go it will take us many years to see them all. So much to see....so little time. So true. Life is brief...go out there and live it.

2018 will be another travel year for us. We've decided that Northern California isn't going to be our permanent home after all....and the more we travel, the more cool places we find that might just be "our next home". We're heading to the Scottsdale area in late February or early March to try out that area for a year. The Phoenix/Scottsdale area is the fastest growing metro area in the country right now and after visiting it several times this year, we can easily see why. With one of the sunniest climates in the world, great neighborhoods, tons of culture, world-class restaurants, state of the art medical facilities and geographically located near lots of national parks and to Mexico (also, on our list of places to check out), it fits a lot of our requirements.

I promise to do a better job of sitting down and writing now that the holidays are almost over. In the meantime, we hope that you and your family have a wonderful and safe holiday season and a very happy 2018! Hope to see you out on the road....

Cheers,

Wayne, Claudia, Katie and Tucker

Another car auction in Vegas, visiting Phoenix and Sedona (again)

The latest car auction took us back to Las Vegas...and with a major creep factor...to Mandalay Bay, the site of the recent shootings. As my Uber driver pulled up to the convention area near the hotel, the median in the street was lined with the crosses of each person shot. Lots of media there, as well as relatives and others who were just curious. From where I entered the building, I could look up at the 32nd floor where it all started. It was surreal...and another reminder just how fragile life can be. Get out there and live it every day, as tomorrow is promised to no one. 

Unfortunately, I found nothing to buy. Actually, I'll rephrase that...I couldn't find anything I could afford to buy, or should buy. The last couple auctions had "project" cars and motorcycles. Not this one...only the very high end cars showed up. But I made some good contacts for the next show coming up in January 2018.

After Vegas, we headed to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area to check out the real estate market. There's A LOT going on in Phoenix. As a matter of fact, we found out it's the fastest-growing city in the country. Lots of culture, great food, beautiful homes, more shops than you'll ever need and a wonderful climate (at least for 9 months of the year)...what's not to like? And we did. We explored the whole area, checked out a Farmer's Market, went in a few "Open Houses" for sale near Scottsdale and joined our VRBO host at a car show near his home. This particular car show is the longest-running weekly car show in the country and the McDonald's that hosts it is the #1 McDonald's in the country. Claudia and I enjoyed it, but Tuck...bless his heart...was majorly freaked out by the noise of the street rods and the motorcycles cruising the lanes. And here's an odd fact that we learned while visiting: Much of the areas around the town are on the Indian Reservation...aka "the Rez". At the car show, there were no Phoenix police present...only the reservation police. When we first started watching the Netflix series "Longmire", we had no idea about the relationship between the local, state and federal police and the reservation officers. Guess what...the reservation officers answer to no one on Indian property. They are in complete control. And you know what...they've earned it.

We took a day trip from Phoenix out to Sedona, just to see if we could actually avoid some crowds. We failed. It's a shame that the same federal officials who did such a marvelous job establishing our national parks didn't have the foresight to do the same to Sedona. Had they made it a national park back in the 30's, it would be a jewel today. Don't get me wrong, it's still drop-dead gorgeous, but you have to put up with a lot to enjoy it. We did figure out that there are some 4-wheel drive only roads in the area...and we plan to visit those on our next visit (yes, there will definitely be another).

That's it for now. Cheers!

Wayne, Claudia and Tuck

We visit Death Valley...and the Fall colors in Yosemite

I grew up watching Western movies, both on the big screen and weekly television shows. The list of shows is a long one, but I sure remember Bonanza, Wagon Train, Batt Masterson, The Rifleman, Yancy Derringer, Rawhide, Gunsmoke and The Wild Wild West, just to name a few. And...most, if not all, were filmed at one point or another in and around Death Valley. Even as a 10-year old, I remember thinking how awful the place looked and wondering how anyone could survive it. As it turns out, the TV producers only told part of the story. Figures.

We visited Death Valley last week on a relatively cool day...the high was only 98...a little warm for October. It is truly a desolate, remote, dry, vast expanse of sand, salt, borax, rocks and scrub brush, but it also has colored rock layers, beautiful sand dunes, over a 1,000 kinds of plants, 51 species of native mammals, 307 species of birds, 36 species of reptiles, three species of amphibians, and five species of native fish. Who knew? The Shoshone Indians, that's who. They have lived in the area for over a thousand years and have figured out a way to exist in the lowest and hottest place in the country. Since dogs aren't allowed on any trails, we had to stick to the paved or graveled roads and thus we only saw a tiny portion of the park. The true beauty lies in the canyons and sand dunes only accessible via the many hiking paths that run through the park. Visitors from all over the world (over a million a year) come to visit and the day we were there, we heard German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Slavic and I believe Swedish. That's a lot of rented minivans!

Last, but not least, I found out from the park website that Death Valley is considered a "Gold Tier Sky Park"...meaning it's one of the best places in the world to view stars. I think the gold prospectors figured this out when they passed out from the heat and cheap whiskey and woke up later in the night lying on their backs looking up at the stars. Just a theory.

Will we ever go back? Never is a long time, but I doubt it. We'd rather view the stars from The Great Basin. They have water there.

Cheers!

Wayne, Claudia and Tuck

A visit to Mendicino, the giant redwoods, searching for Sasquatch and Crater Lake

We hit the road again last week....can you believe it, it's been almost a month since our last trip. This time we weren't exploring places to live, but simply enjoying the beautiful coastlines of California and Oregon and then over to visit Crater Lake. The Oregon coast is rugged, hilly, remote and beautiful. It's also the home of the Sasquatch monster.  Although we saw lots of signs advertising Sasquatch sightings, alas, we never saw the big hairy guy. I can't say whether he exists or not, but after visiting the area, I can definitely understand how anyone or anything could disappear up there. Elvis sightings anyone?

I'll write more later, but for now I've added a few pictures of the trip.

Cheers,

Wayne, Claudia and Tuck

The BMW Isetta wins an award

Finally...some news to report on the blog! Yippee!

One of the local car clubs here held their annual car show at the Nevada County Fairgrounds last weekend. This is a big show and the site is great for showing off vintage cars and trailers. Lots of trees and grass, plenty of food vendors and cars from all over California. In a brief moment of insanity, I decided to enter the old Volvo and the Isetta. Little did I know that this show is basically for American-made-only cars and trucks. We found that out pretty quickly after walking around the show on Friday. The only other import there was a Mini Cooper woodie wagon, which is owned by the sponsor of the show. Now to the good news.

On Saturday morning, a group of judges walked up to me and Claudia and told us that our little Isetta had won an award for "Most Unusual". Really? This was no small feat, considering there were probably 250 cars there from all over the state, many worth over $100,000. I'll post pictures of the cars in the Images section. A little later, one of the show officials showed up and gave us our plaque and some instructions on entering the Winner's Circle ceremony on Sunday (which turned out to be a fiasco and lasted nearly two hours).

Anyway, the Isetta drew lots of attention during the three-day show and was a huge hit with the kids. We let them get in and have their pictures taken. Many people told us the Isetta was their favorite car at the show. We appreciated that a lot, as virtually none of the "street rod" guys even bothered to acknowledge our presence or speak to us. We could almost hear the comments...."the nerve of that guy bringing that little German car in here". HA! We won an award and they didn't. So there.

We're off on our next trip in a week...visiting the giant redwoods, parts of Southern Oregon, Crater Lake and the beautiful Pacific coastline.

Cheers!

Wayne, Claudia and Tuck

 

 

The BMW R-26 gets profiled in a national magazine.

During the Summer of 2016, as were preparing to move to California, I contacted the publisher of an international BMW magazine and asked him if the magazine might be interested in any pictures of an old BMW I was restoring. It turns out, they would be....and could I also write a short story about the restoration? After 18 months of work, there was a lot to write about and more than 1,000 pictures. I finally condensed the story and submitted it, along with some pictures. Fast forward to this Summer. I went to get our mail last week and ....Whoa...there's a magazine in the pile with a cover shot of the front wheel of a vintage BMW.  I knew immediately that it was my bike. Opening the magazine, I discovered that my bike was the featured story. Pretty cool....a nice payoff for a lot of work.

If you're interested in seeing the article, please click on the "Images" tab and you'll find the scanned pictures.

 

A visit to Palm Springs....and we head back to Yosemite on the Tioga Pass.

This will be a short post...I mainly wanted to post some pictures. We decided to make a quick visit to Palm Springs last week...having heard most of our lives about the desert town where Bob Hope and many other movie starts had/have homes. Since we're getting really good at packing and we have no schedules to meet....we hit the road early last Tuesday and arrived in Palm Springs around 7:00 that night. It was around 100 degrees, but didn't really feel that hot due to the humidity levels around 10%. In terms of Florida heat, it felt about 90.

After checking in to our room and taking Tuck for a quick walk, we headed into the historic district to check it out....about a five minute walk from our hotel. Who knows...maybe Bob Hope's ghost was wandering around holding his famous golf club? Well....it was different than we had imagined....smaller, more "touristy", not as fancy....but lots of new buildings going up. It was obvious that for much of the past 50 years, not much had changed in downtown Palm Springs....and perhaps that's the way the residents want it? On the outskirts of town, however, things were entirely different. The town is ringed with very upscale golf resorts and gated communities. We spent a day looking around at houses, just to see what the area had to offer. Our conclusion....if you have a million dollars (or more) to spend and you want a very cool mid-century modern home...Palm Springs is the place to be. There are literally hundreds of these classic homes in the downtown area. The surrounding golf communities, while very upscale, all looked pretty much alike.

The next day we headed home and instead of retracing our steps, we decided to take a detour and head home via Bishop, CA....one of our new favorite towns. Bishop sits in the heart of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the beautiful Owens Valley. After taking Tuck to the local city park for a swim in the creek which runs through town, we grabbed some barbecue and a beer and started charting out the next day's trip. Our drive from Bishop went right by Yosemite, so why not revisit one of the most beautiful parks in the country? Claudia realized as we got closer, that the park rangers had just reopened the Tioga Pass road into Yosemite....so off we went. Since this road had just reopened to the public, the tourists hadn't figured it out yet and we were able to drive all the way into the park and explore some new areas. Very few cars on the road and not a tour bus in sight (note....a lot of these roads are too steep and too narrow for buses anyway). We had a great afternoon and Tuck got in another swim in beautiful Tanaya Lake, which had just thawed.

I've mentioned in a post a while back that everyone who visits our national parks should make it a point to watch the Ken Burns documentary about them. Just do it...you'll be glad you did. Anyway, I was re-watching one of the episodes tonight (part 4) and this episode dealt with the increasing popularity of the parks going all the way back to the 1940's...and how this popularity led to many confrontations between the parks department and environmental groups such as the Sierra Club. Confrontations about too many lodges, too many dams, too many visitor centers that looked like giant Dairy Queens and....too many new roads cutting through the wilderness. areas.  And guess what....one of the most historic struggles between the environmental groups and the parks department dealt with...The Tioga Pass road that we had just driven last week. Who knew? It was a monumental battle in court and out in the park itself, with demonstrators blocking bulldozers attempting to carve the very road that we drove. Eventually, after a decade-long struggle, the road did get built. I have to tell you, it's one beautiful road...but I also have to admit that it does cut right through one of the most beautiful valleys in Yosemite. Knowing the full story of this road, I'll never take it for granted again. 

Cheers,

Wayne, Claudia & Tuck

I'm a lucky guy!

This post has absolutely nothing to do with our travels, but everything to do with the two people who travel with me. It's Father's Day and a good time to reflect on life.

Claudia and Katie are the two most wonderful gifts I've ever received. They are always there for me, always cheerful, always encouraging, always supportive, always leading me on to the next "adventure" and always sharing their love. Life without them would be very empty indeed and I'm blessed to have them in my life.

Love you girls!

Dad