Oh Deer!

 
 
 
    
 
 
   Big Black Bear  Big Black Bear  We started the day in Tennessee, went through West Virginia and ended the day at the Super 8 Motel in Front Royal, Virginia. We traveled 532 miles today for a total mileage so far of 1084. Our last hour of driving was in the dark along Skyline Drive, east of Front Royal. It seemed like around every corner was a deer in the headlights. Laura kept saying, "Oh Deer"! The motel cost $83.81. 

Caching In Tennessee

 
 Of course we had to get a few caches in Tennessee. This is one of the caches called Big Bolt II. We discovered this NASCAR track very close to this caches. 

We Saw Lots Of Highway today

 This is what we saw most of the day today. We left Little Rock about 10:00 a.m. this morning. This was a big driving day. We pulled into the Super 8 Motel at exit 398 in Knoxville, Tennessee about 10:45 p.m. tonight after driving 552 miles. The motel cost $68.50 with tax. 

Packing For The Trip To New York

Today is my first day of vacation. I spent the first part of the day working on the lawnmower. I sharpened the blades and replaced the idler pulley on the mower deck. This evening we’re finishing up packing for the trip. Scott called and said he is off tomorrow so we’ll be leaving for New York in the morning.

Another New Laptop Table

 This afternoon we went over to Scott and Laura’s to build a new laptop table for their Suburban to use on our upcoming trip to New York. In less than an hour we had it built. I think it looks better than the one I spent hours building for our Kia. They fixed us some wonderful steaks on the grill for dinner.

We also got our two laptop computers working between the two vehicles so we can both see the gps on the map from one gps. 

Rip Roaring Good Time With Grandkids

All the grandkids, Bradley, Ashley, Preston, and Drew are spending the night with us tonight. We are having a rip roaring good time.

Honda Fit Gas Usage

HondaFitGasUsage.htm

Mary and I celebrated Our 41st Anniversary

 We celebrated our 41st anniversary today. I hung a couple new light fixtures for Mary in the kitchen. This evening we met Scott, Laura, Bradley, and Ashley for dinner. We went to Lee and Angela's and enjoyed some fresh caught bass that Drew and Preston had just brought home from Lake Jabo. They caught 9 bass and 1 big brim. 

Our John Deere Is In Bad Shape

I took the mower deck off the tractor today and took it apart. As I was removing the housing some ball bearing came rolling out. I thought, that's not a good sign. When I got the cover off I discovered that the bearing in the idler pulley were all gone. I can not seem to find this part anywhere on the John Deere parts website. I sure need to find this part somewhere.

Finally Got Around To Mowing The Grass

 It's been about a month since I was in Arkansas to mow the grass. It was looking pretty ragged. After mowing for several hours the mower quit on me. The blades just quit turning. Not sure what's wrong. The belt looks good and is turning the pulley into the mower deck.

The kids came over for supper and we enjoyed watching the grandkids shoot some fireworks. 

Mary Picked Up My New Car

 Mary picked up my new car and brought it home this afternoon. So far I love it. I'll love it much more when I find out how much gas mileage I get with it. 

Mary's Choice Rose

Mary picked this rose for my work area today. I'm working from home in Arkansas. This is my first blog from my PDA.

Mary Bought Me A New Honda Fit Sport

 Mary bought me a new Honda Fit Sport today. We can't pick it up until next week. It sounds like the car I've been looking for. High gas mileage. Automatic transmission and cruise control. 

EMBARQ Celebration

 
 Today at noon we enjoyed a huge BBQ feast to celebrate our splite from Sprint. The pictures are my peers at work. Andy, Chris, and Lisa with our CIO, Valer. 

No More Caches In My 100 Mile Circle Again

I'm sure it won't last long but for the moment I'm all caught up again on my 100 mile circle from my recliner. This afternoon I located two cache over at Perry lake north of Lawrence, Kansas and two more here in town.

Geocaching Missouri and Kansas

 
This afternoon I had the privilege of caching with Brian Yonke. We traveled about 450 miles across Missouri and Kansas chasing caches. This is one of the caches that we found called Big Mouth. It's from an old coal steam shovel. 

New Laptop Table For Van

 
 
 
 Today I made my second attempt at building a table for my laptop in the van. Since Mary is in Arkansas so much now I need a place to more easily use the laptop while caching. I think this is the answer. It will really help out on our vacation coming up in a couple weeks out east. 

Mary Drove Up From Little Rock Today

Mary decided to drive up and be with me for father's day.

We opened a new bank account with US Bank this afternoon while we're both together. This way we have the same bank in Little Rock and here in Kansas City.

After the banking business we met a few geocaching friends at the Peanut downtown. We had a great time with them.

Andy Helped Me With My New PocketPC

Andy encouraged me to keep the new PocketPC and helped me figure out a few things. I think I am actually getting more comfortable with it. I have outgoing email working now and text messaging is also working. I may keep it after all.

PocketPC Giving Me Fits

I think I'm about ready to take this thing back to Cingular. It's got more stuff than I can seem to figure out. I have to stop and think about how to answer the phone when it rings. I can't figure out how to send email. I'm just pulling my hair out over this thing.

New PocketPC

 
 Cingular has been after me for a while to update my phone so I decided today to take them up on their offer. I now have a new Cingular 8125 Smart Phone running Windows Mobile OS. I'm really struggling to learn all these new features it offers. 

Meeting At The Sprint Campus

We had to drive over to the Sprint Campus for a meeting this morning with our Director. Seemed like a waste of time and gasoline to me. I guess we needed some face time with management.

Geocaching Around KC

 This is one of the 10 caches I found today while caching around Kansas City. 

150th Anniversary 6th Principle Meridian

 
 Today I attended the celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the 6th Principle Meridian with Brian and Carlin. There were surveyors from about 5 states that showed up for the celebration. The mounument for the 6th Principle Meridian is about 2 miles northwest of Mahaska, Kansas. 

Travel To Marysville, Kansas

This afternoon I picked up Brian and Carlin and headed to Marysville, Kansas. We stopped off in Atchinson, Kansas to grab a new cache on the way to Marysville. After dinner Brian and I went after a cache about 10 miles south of Marysville.

Preparing For Trip To Mahaska, Kansas

This evening I downloaded a bunch of waypoints for geocaches around Mahaska, Kansas in hopes of grabbing a few caches on the way to the 150th Anniversary of the 6th Principle Meridian.

Mary Headed To Arkansas

This morning Mary headed back to Arkansas. It sure is lonesome around here this evening.

Grave Hop Planning Meeting

Mary attended the Grave Hop Planning Meeting today at the Classic Cup Cafe. Everything seems to be on or ahead of schedule for the big Grave Hop event scheduled for October 14th.

Car Shopping

This evening after work we went to the KIA dealership in Olathe to check out a Rio. They had a couple that we liked but neither had cruise control. Dean, the salesman, said he would find us a car and email me. We settled on a Rio 5, which is a little hatchback that gets 38 miles per gallon on the highway with automatic transmission.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
4114 Steps Today - 2.14 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
208 Calories Burned.

Grave Hop Elimination

We did a very hard job this afternoon. We had to narrow down our 65 Grave Hop Pages to 15 of our first choice pages. When Mary first went through it she could only get it down to about 30 pages. She wanted to use them all. She cried big tears when I had to help her get it down to 15. Each of 4 ladies get to use 15 of their best pages for the book that will have a total of 60 graves.

Kansas City Grave Hop

We spent our day today with Brian and Carlin Yonke checking out graves that will be used in the big event in October. We enjoyed a beautiful day and great company. We were able to grab a few caches along the way. We ended the day at a nice little Mexican place in Liberty.

Today's Stats:
4 Geocaches.
8892 Steps Today - 4.63 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
442 Calories Burned.

Mary Traveled to Kansas City

Mary drove Scott and Laura's Camry up from Little Rock today. I continued to work on Scott and Laura's computer this afternoon. I received enough help from Jon Franson, author of GpsGate, that I was able to get it installed and working. That's a big relief.

Problems With Scott & Laura's Computer

I brought Scott & Laura's computer home with me last weekend to get it ready for our July trip to Maine. I spent the entire evening trying to get GpsGate loaded and running. It ran for a minute and crashed. No matter what I do now I can not get it to run. I'll have to try another day.