tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338854012024-03-05T20:36:37.025-07:00O. B. Sirius: A Not-So Serious Sort of BlogA chronicle of life on the road from O.B. Sirius (Zoe) and Sundog (John)O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.comBlogger539125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-9205979208833277372016-07-30T16:55:00.001-06:002016-07-30T17:03:13.070-06:00A Week On the OBX
By Sundog06
OBX - the Outer Banks of North Carolina - are large sand bars off the coast that people actually live on! Lots of people! And during the summer, lots and lots of tourists, including us. If it weren't for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, protected by the National Park Service, I'm sure every inch of these sand bars would be covered by four-story monster housessundog06http://www.blogger.com/profile/04404210749585813437noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-47427594979652182552016-07-17T21:02:00.001-06:002016-07-17T21:02:31.321-06:00We Visit Elvis’ Birthplace So You Don’t Have To<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-7016514125998658872016-07-12T19:10:00.000-06:002016-07-12T19:12:45.830-06:00Life on the Mississippi - Memphis Style
It's almost like going home again! Having grown up along the banks of the Great River in Muscatine, Iowa, I feel the memories flying back. The River is an integral and sometimes intrusive part of all who live along its banks. (See photo of one of its intrusions.)
BIG Intrusion
My original plan was to sundog06http://www.blogger.com/profile/04404210749585813437noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-79802485186204740112016-07-10T18:15:00.000-06:002016-07-12T15:19:09.691-06:00A Tale of Two Rivers<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]-->
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O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-27079335826607234772016-06-21T16:39:00.001-06:002016-06-21T16:39:32.260-06:00The Cadillac Ranch<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-82260043996230786962016-06-16T22:21:00.000-06:002016-06-16T22:21:10.054-06:00Lowell Observatory and the Grand CanyonWe have been staying in Flagstaff for two reasons. First, we have an overheating issue with the rig, and found a mechanic here that has received ALL 5-star ratings on Yelp. He is a Yelp God. He thinks he knows what the problem might be, but could not get the rig in for two days. We decided to wait. Second, it is very, very hot now, and Flagstaff is relatively cooler at ~O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-17343898472586902432016-06-12T20:57:00.000-06:002016-06-12T20:57:45.487-06:00We Finally Leave Aguanga and Make It to North Ranch<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-43596503803104998562013-05-18T16:25:00.000-06:002013-05-18T16:43:10.351-06:00WWII and BioBlitzOur next stop along the historical tour was the World War II museum in New Orleans. Originally dedicated only to D-Day remembrances, it is currently in the process of expanding -- enormously -- to encompass all of WWII, and much is still under construction.
The high point of the visit was the excellent "4-D" movie, "Beyond All Boundaries," narrated by Tom Hanks. 4-D means non-film effects O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-51984636379305055102013-05-14T21:09:00.000-06:002013-05-15T08:27:20.363-06:00The Battle of New Orleans
"Well, in eighteen and fourteen we took a little trip
along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans,
And we caught the bloody British near the town of New Orleans"
This battle, that we learned to sing about in grade school or at camp, was fought on January 8, 1815 at what is now the Chalmette Battlefield just outside New O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-91781121413445089252013-05-10T18:11:00.000-06:002013-05-15T08:29:05.079-06:00Tabasco on Avery IslandWe first noticed the humidity yesterday as we headed into Louisiana. The air was hot, still, and wet, so different from the desert we have become used to. We were only on the road a little over 200 miles, but we were both tired and badly in need of showers by the time we got settled into Betty's RV Park in Abbeville.
The heat was a precursor for a huge series of thunderstorms heading our wayO.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-20018813839891695592013-05-05T15:30:00.001-06:002013-05-05T15:30:33.753-06:00Visiting Donna, Visiting BushHave you ever discovered relatives you didn't know you had? Probably not. But John did, and we met her this weekend!
John and I have both done the DNA test through Ancestry.com. It is very easy to do -- you just pay them about $100, spit into a tube for a while, seal and send the tube in, and then wait a few weeks. The first result you receive is a breakdown of the parts of the world your O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-74701771934197987272013-04-30T19:30:00.000-06:002013-04-30T19:35:07.583-06:00Did Wile E. Coyote Finally Win?The Roadrunner is gone.
The logical suspect is Wile E. Coyote, but there is good reason to believe our favorite cartoon villain is, in this case, totally innocent. We have it on good authority that no Acme safe, dynamite sticks, knives, cannons, or any of the Rube Goldbergish contraptions so favored by Wile were used in this disappearance. Instead we must blame....... the government (cue theO.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-75628062056275800422013-04-28T19:51:00.004-06:002013-04-28T19:51:57.924-06:00Five Years and Thirteen Days
Seemingly lifeless, hot, silent, and dry. The predominant colors are brown, tan, olive, and sage, with shades of gray and purple filling in the contours of the distant hills. The ribbon of highway slices through it all, mile after mile.
This is what the drive from Benson, AZ to Deming, NM is like. There is little that occurs to change this view of the desert. Other than the occasional small O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-51663321677671444982013-04-27T15:05:00.000-06:002013-04-27T15:11:10.770-06:00The Great Adventure of 2013Hello, again!
This blog has been on vacation for a long time, but now that it is time for us to go on "vacation" again (it's hard not to think of life itself as being a vacation when you are retired), it is time for the blog to return, all dressed up with a new look and feel.
This summer, we will be traveling through the southeast, up the east coast, and then back to the west. We no longer haveO.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-16993808472860997412011-11-06T17:34:00.000-07:002011-11-06T17:34:21.746-07:00Halloween 2011Not many "blog worthy" events have been happening lately, so I apologize for being a bit neglectful in my writing. We are settled into our winter quarters in southern California, one day enjoying a 75-degree sunny day, and the next waking to a 50-degree one with cold rain. But in the middle of all this changeable weather came my favorite holiday: Halloween.
Jojoba Hills had a party, of course.O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-33740645216551949382011-10-10T20:06:00.001-06:002011-10-10T20:15:50.133-06:00Blue AngelsOur plans for last Saturday -- a "perfect" day of 74 degrees with sun and a light breeze -- were as follows:
Drive from south of San Jose to Sausalito via the Golden Gate BridgeGet supplies at the store: wine, cheese, bread, maybe fruitTake it to the Golden Gate overlook on the north side of the bridge for a "sit on a blanket" real, honest-to-dog picnic
It almost went like that. We did, at O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-15202263035164046702011-09-29T18:18:00.000-06:002011-09-29T18:18:34.036-06:00Cheese and Carrots"A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be over sophisticated. Yet it remains cheese, milk's leap toward immortality."
--- Clifton FadimanTillamook, Oregon is a cheesy kind of town, and they'd be the first to proudly tell you that. The countryside is surrounded by fence-to-fence dairy farms -- enormous dairy farms with fields and fields of bovines, medium-sized dairy O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-31263510165175644732011-09-28T11:32:00.000-06:002011-09-28T11:40:59.070-06:00Images from the NorthwestMount Rainier in Washington State is a part of a string of active volcanoes called the Cascade Range, a 700 mile line of mountains that runs from British Columbia to California. It is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. It last erupted in the 1800s, but when it erupts again it will most likely be much bigger than the deadly Mt. Saint Helens' eruption -- and Seattle is inO.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-7246354093019881272011-09-19T19:13:00.000-06:002011-09-19T19:39:36.355-06:00John Searches for a PonyA Story For Our Times:
A group of psychologists were testing the most pessimistic and optimistic children they could find. They finally narrowed their search down to two 8 year-old boys. They set up two rooms: one with every toy imaginable, the other with a pile of horse manure.
The first boy, the pessimist, was put into the room with the toys. No sooner was the door shut when he began to throwO.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-87276310449960292672011-09-18T21:12:00.000-06:002011-09-18T21:26:52.580-06:00Port Townsend, WashingtonI've had a bit of trouble getting into Blogger the last few days -- I kept getting a page that told me I had to have Cookies enabled (they were) and then listed several tweaks to play with to try to fix the problem. I fiddled with settings and the cache. Nothing. So I decided to delete all my google cookies, and voila! Access again. I did notice that I had a cookie from Google.CA (Canada) O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-19537040195336232172011-09-07T21:36:00.000-06:002011-09-07T21:36:06.180-06:00Bears, Smart; People, Not So MuchBears rule in Hyder AK. They fish for salmon in the river, they forage along the roads, and they are master thieves when it comes to garbage cans.
We were in Hyder for three days, during which it rained every day. Days one and two were showers; day three was an unending downpour that extended all through the night. Our trip to see the bears feeding on salmon was during a relative dry spell. The O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-82790669414899899002011-09-05T01:55:00.000-06:002011-09-05T01:56:06.422-06:00Hyder, AlaskaHyder, Alaska, sits at the end of nowhere. From the British Columbia town of Stewart, it is a spur off the main road, a 10 mile-ish trip into the United States that goes so far into Nowhere that the U.S. doesn't even bother having a customs station. It is called the "Friendliest Ghost Town in Alaska," and it has only two sources of income: tourism and a water bottling facility.
Hyder is O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-60771684135281861902011-09-03T22:27:00.000-06:002011-09-03T22:27:50.916-06:00Sourdough CampgroundSourdough Campground in Tok, Alaska is one of those "must stop" places on the Alaska Journey. In June and July they have nightly shows, but we arrived too late in the season to see them. We did, however, get to experience the infamous "Pancake Toss."
Dave of Sourdough Campground explained the rules as he set down a fresh batch of sourdough pancakes that smelled, well, yummy: Everyone gets O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33885401.post-70526323517269859362011-08-31T01:16:00.000-06:002011-08-31T01:16:56.226-06:00Columbia GlacierWe took a day trip out of Valdez to the Columbia Glacier on another rainy day. It turned out to be anything but dreary -- we saw bald eagles, sea otters, sea lions, and seals, but most importantly -- the glacier, up close and personal.
On the way to the glacier, we had to pass to the outside of a restricted area (marked by buoys and their resident sea lions) for the terminus of the Alaskan O.B. Siriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094731615622053233noreply@blogger.com2