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I really can't comment on today. Maybe you can help me out.

It was a very taxing day!

I got up at sunrise. I dropped everything and started working on my taxes for 2007.



Next thing I knew it was sunset and I hadn’t eaten, dressed, or done anything else.




Actually, I’m just kidding. That sunrise picture was the sun coming up over the Chiricahua Mountains and the sunset was directly over the Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains What really happened (no kidding) – I had a leisurely morning getting all of my accounts in order using my paperless internet access. Then it was time for lunch. I finished the dishes at about 12:45 and fired up the computer to do the taxes. I used http://www.taxact.com/ freeware. I had e-filed the completed, double and triple checked return at 2:20. At 2:31 I had an email acknowledging receipt of the return. No where was there any fee involved. It was totally free! The software was a lot more user friendly than the “box” products I have used in the past. If you have issues with the questions they ask, you can go to their pay-for program, which is still a lot cheaper than the “box” programs at WalMart, etc. I highly recommend this program for any of you out there that still haven’t gotten with it.

After my mission for the day was accomplished I wrote out my “hunt lists” for geocaching the first four towns of Arda’s Bike4Cancer trip. Reminder: you can see her in training by going to her journal entries on http://www.bike4cancer.com/. And from there you can click on her husband Dave’s blog and see what he is up to at the King Ranch. By the way – I’m expecting you to comment on my postings – otherwise I’ll think no one is reading them. Gee, maybe no on is…..

They’re everywhere!!!

Today Arda and I went to the King Ranch (in Cochise, not Texas) to see what Dave is learning. We watched as Bob King roped and handled a mustang. It is truly a fine art and takes a lot of patience.

After that I went on a geocaching safari, over rocks and around cactus and at the bombing range wildlife preserve. I found two travel bugs: an airplane that has finished it’s race with other plane type TBs and an Intrepid Insect which memorializes a 3 year olds life. He died of brain cancer and the TBs that his parents have put out draw others to Ben’s site. You can see Ben at http://www.benjaminsbugs.com/.

Thar’s gold in them thar fills

We are staying at Goldminer’s RV Park in Pearce (aka Cochise) AZ. Pearce was the location of the old Comstock mine which was closed after it collapsed and filled with water killing most of the miners. About 40 miles away is the Chiricahua National Monument. Today Arda and I went to see the monument. It is mountains of rock formations and trails and an old farm. We went to the very top of the road and then Arda left me there and went biking back to the RV park. Here are some pictures that I took after she left. Can you see which one is called the “Ship’s Captain”?

It’s kind of scary when you look up from the road and see a balanced rock right above you!

Arda made good time on the road back, although she said that the mountain part was "white knuckle". Much of the ride was rolling hills with the wind at her back and side. Here she is passing me up - of course she stopped long enough to say "hi" to the camera man. She got back to the park before me because I stopped to make an unsuccessful search for a geocache on the road to Tombstone.

Incidentally - the picture of Cochise Stonghold - Cochise and Geronimo were both Apaches from the stronghold area, which is just down the road from our campground. The jagged rocks in the saddle of the way far off mountain in the picture is the actual stronghold where they held off their bad enemy, the American soldiers. Cochise is crevice buried with his horse in the rocks somewhere nearby according to the indian custom.

I thought I was going to change my name to Prospector Tom when I bit into a piece of candy and found a gold nugget. But, alas, it came out of one of my teeth. I’ll have to see if I can find some super glue in town. I'm falling apart and starting to show my age - but I don't look as old as this tree stump I saw as I left the park.

Really, I wasn’t loafing!

I never shaved or put my contact lenses in today. I spent very little time outside. I look like a bum – but I’ve been hard at work. All day was spent preparing for the trip. It’s a time consuming task to set up the geocaches that you want to do from coast to coast. Since we may not have internet access while we’re on the road, I have downloaded about 700 web pages of the caches that we may want to visit and also the downloads for the GPS receiver that I carry with me. And I have them sorted by days of the trip from March 6th to May 2nd. Anyway that and my routine meals, etc. took up my entire day from 5:30 AM ‘til 9:45 PM and I think that’s enough for today. Oh yes, I also opened up my blogger setting so that all of you can add (and see each other's comments. Tomorrow I’m planning to relax and geocache.

Beam me up!

This weekend was a very relaxing and yet profitable. I finished the Dri Wash detailing of my trailer inside and out. Now it shines real pretty. Mail came and I processed it. I started working on the files for geocaching across the country, while I accompany Dave and Arda. I’ve captured all of the caches that I will do on the way through California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

The biggest accomplishment was to put in an application for a portal on the Stargate Network. This is a network that transports travel bugs all across the world (soon to be universe). There are already 31 portals in 15 States and 16 countries and hopefully my bid for a portal command will soon be accepted. If you are interested in being one of my operational lieutenants please contact me. The portals are planned to be 500 miles apart, across Earth.

At present, the following Stargate TB Cache sites are known to exist in the geoworld:Stargate P4079 TB Cache (Western PA)Stargate P3898 TB Cache (Central KS)Stargate P4271 TB Cache (East/Central MA)Stargate P3097 (Central Texas)Stargate P2681 TB Cache (SW Florida)Stargate P4492 TB Cache (SE Minnesota)Stargate P31106 (West Texas)Stargate P61149 TB Cache (Alaska)Stargate P38120 TB Cache (Northern California)Stargate P4573 TB Cache (Quebec Canada)Stargate P34117 TB Cache (Southern California)Stargate P21158 TB Cache (Hawaii)Stargate P3283 TB Cache (Georgia)Stargate P47122 TB Cache (Northwest Washington)Stargate P4664 TB Cache (New Brunswick Canada)Stargate P40111 TB Cache (Utah)Stargate P5360 TB Cache (Newfoundland)Stargate P44116 Shebear's Lair (Oregon/Idaho)Stargate P51114 TB Cache (Calgary Canada)Stargate P3494 TB Cache (Arkansas)Stargate P43079 TB Cache (Toronto Canada)StarGate P5213 TB Cache (Berlin, Germany)*StarGate P31115 TB Cache (West Australia)*StarGate P40175 TB Cache (Kapiti New Zealand)*StarGate P51004 TB Cache (Netherlands)*StarGate P53006 TB Cache (Ireland)*StarGate P46006 TB Cache (Switzerland)*StarGate P60010 TB Cache (Norway)*StarGate P51000 TB Cache (United Kingdom)*StarGate P43010 TB Cache (Italy)*StarGate P2628 TB Cache (South Africa)*Stargate P38009 TB Cache (Portugal)*Stargate P26127 TB Cache (Japan)*Stargate P9820 TB Cache (Belgium)*Stargate P60025 TB cache (Finland)*Stargate P12130 TB cache (North Australia)*

Paperless - is it worth doing?

Communications for us folks on the road is a challenge. Since I have a PMB address, all of my mail is forwarded to me (unless I am in Livingston TX). When I know that I have something important in my mail – or about once every 6 weeks, I have my mail forwarded. In order to do this I have usually used “General Delivery” addresses. Now the USPS is cutting back on that service. Anyway, I have become convinced that receiving my mail electronically will cut down on my waiting time, and prevent lost information, since I will be a lot more attentive to doing electronic filing than I am with the paper stuff. I spent a good portion of yesterday and today setting up my accounts to all allow electronic communications instead of hard copy. I feel that I have improved my life and also my suppliers by doing this. Of course I have become more of a slave to my computer and my new gmail account. By using gmail I will be able to retrieve my email wherever I am by going to a library. What this means to you, my friends, is that I will no longer be as responsive to your handwritten cards and letters; and if you really need to send something to me you will need to let me know online at vagabondmarlatt@gmail.com or I may not get it in time. All this effort goes to prove “Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks!”

Other than spending hours on the computer today, I did get my tires repaired and in the process dumped and filled my trailer. I have been practicing on the trailer with my Dri Wash and it is really cleaning up nice – inside and out! The Toles will be gone the next couple of days. They are taking Petra to the airport to return to New York (hopefully) and then they are going to visit some friends. I’ll miss them, but I have plenty to so and books to read.
Two more weeks until the first day of the cross country ride.

Happy Birthday to Arda!

Maintenance day today – cleaned the bedroom and kitchen, cleaned and backed up the computer, washed clothes, showered, took one tire for repair, and did my banking. The fun started in the evening. Today was Arda’s birthday and the four of us went out to a barbecue place that was recommended by one of the women at church. It was very good. The bar is built around a natural rock formation. We all got ribbed and a good time was had by all.

Another day - another dollar - spent, that is!

When I was at the gypsy journal rally last week I renewed my distributorship for Dri Wash waterless car wash. I was a distributor back in the mid-90s and really liked the product, but it was hard to deal with the company for shipments due to my lifestyle. Well, they have upgraded their systems and in today’s world with computers and UPS Stores that problem seems to have been solved. Today I checked on an order that I put in online and there was good news and bad news. The good news was that the order had been processed and shipped – very promptly. The bad news is that the computer operator on my end (who me?) goofed up and the order was shipped to Livingston TX instead of Pearce AZ!
After a brief training session with a very friendly service rep I submitted another order to be sent to Pearce. Later in the day I got a call saying that she had intercepted the shipment and that it will come in fact to Arizona. Now I have twice as much to sell!

Arda and Petra were headed to the Family Dollar store and I tagged along for 2.5 miles. Not only does she bike fast – she walks fast. Dave says walking with her is like being on a forced march. I think maybe I have gone into training – aerobic. Oh well it is good for my heart and I probably need it.

When we came back I found that my spare tire on the trailer was flat. It is the third tire to have a valve rot out on a trailer that only has three tires. Tomorrow I am going to get metal valves in all three and hopefully that will fix them for good. Viewing was intermittent for the lunar eclipse tonight but I did get a few good views. However, I learned that my little digital camera won’t do low light photos – so I can’t share what I saw. Anyway we seem to have proved again that the moon goes around the earth while the earth goes around the sun. And once in a while the lights go out and I think now is the time!

It was a cold day in...

Yesterday, at about 5:30 I poked my nose out of the sleeping bag and decided that it was too cold to get up. A little after 7 I still felt it was too cold, but nature called. When I got up I discovered that it was only 35 degrees – and that was inside the trailer. The gas was off and of course I heat with gas. Quickly turning on the electric heater (I’m glad I have lots of batteries!) I soon recovered my wits and realized that I hadn’t opened one of the propane valves when I set up a few days ago – and I left the roof vent wide open. Arizona is not all warm. The outside temperature was 28F. After having coffee with the Toles we discovered that their gas was low too. The forecast is that this winter spell is at an end and things should warm up soon. I sure hope so for Arda’s sake – it will be chilly biking over the mountains even if it warms up.

Today after several hours spent on the DSL WiFi and trying to get Arda’s computer fixed, Petra, Arda and I went on a very successful geocaching trip. Here the Girls are at the Wildlife Viewing cache. We found 3 micros and another cache with a Travel Bug (TB) in it. The TB want to go to the Atlantic Ocean. Hey! I’m going there and going caching along the way

The TB is called The Hermitage and every cache that it is placed in the owner says he will donate $5 to the Hermitage Cat Shelter. I emailed him that I could make it expensive and explained about Arda’s trip (see http://www.bike4cancer.com/ for details) and how this could really get expensive for someone. Maybe I will be on a fund raiser too!

I had another technical breakthrough today – I sent my first fax from my computer using a really neat site http://www.faxzero.com/.

Techie, Geekie stuff going on here.

Now that I've created this blog thing, I have gotten all involved with other little "neat" things that I am learning to do. Seems like most of the day was spent at the computer - doing the email changeover and learning little refinements, and playing with all three of our GPS units. They did get us to a Mexican restaurant and the airport, without too many wrong turns. I'm glad Dave Tole is here and able to get me out of my self induced jams! I have learned a lot. Petra came in from NYC to go on the training rides with her mother this week. Since the Toles will be gone most of the day, maybe I will be able to get some of my regular routine stuff done.

Getting Started

This is the first entry in my blog. Hopefully I will be able to update it frequently. For those of you that have not seen a Google blog before – it is real easy to start, and it’s free because Google makes their money from advertising. Last entry will appear first. So here goes – an update on my recent travels.

After the fall Escapade in Goshen Indiana Cathy and I went quickly to her house in OK, so that she could have surgery on her breast cancer. The surgery was a success and there was no indication of any remaining cancer in the post-operative pathology. Thanksgiving time I went to Rainbow’s End Escapee RV Park in Livingston for my doctor visits and a Red Cross meeting in Houston. Following that I headed west. Since I am going to accompany Dave and Arda Tole on a trip across the country (Arda on a bicycle!) starting on March 6, I took the back-road route to my Christmas destination. It’s a lot nicer traveling the slower roads – I went through Navasota, LaGrange, Bastrop, and Blanco on my way to Ricardo Texas and my long time friends the Williams’ ranch for the holiday season. As usual Kingsville (next to Ricardo) offered a lot of activities including bowling, geocaching, and just plain hiking. The time spent with Frank and Eloise and our mutual friends, Delmer and Phyllis Stetzel was great. Hopefully the Stetzels will be better able to geocache with the instructions that I gave them.
Here’s a picture of the Christmas dinner with (l-r) Frank, Maxine and Bill Wiggins (Eloise’s brother) and the Stetzels (at least I got Phyllis’s back)

There was a family of owls in the barn and we all enjoyed watching the progress of the seven young ones.
(Picture of seven owls)
They had not fledged when I left on 12-28 to continue my trek west. I went by way of Hondo, Kerrville, Vanderpool, Camp Wood, Brackettville, Amistad (Del Rio),

(Picture of Texas’s highest bridge, near Langtry)
Sanderson, Marathon, Ft. Davis, Van Horn, Fort Hancock, El Paso, La Mesilla (Las Cruces), Kingston, Silver City, Lordsburg and Safford and checked out some more of the back country. You will not find me using I highways again unless I have a lot of miles to go and limited time – they are great for making up time. I visited the Escapee parks in Deming, Benson, Casa Grande and Aguanga also in my travels.

(Picture of “Happy Hour on the desert in Quartzsite)
I spent a few weeks in Quartzsite, Ehrenberg, and Yuma geocaching and visiting with other SKPs. While in the California area I also went to and checked out Blythe, Brawley, Jacumba, and Alpine on the bike route. I attended the Gypsy Journal Rally last week and now am in Pearce AZ at Goldminer’s RV Park until the bike trip. Dave and Arda arrived yesterday and Arda will start mountain training Monday. Dave is going to spend a month here to get trained on horse handling. To find out more about Arda’s ride you can go to her website http://www.bike4cancer.com/ where there will be up to date information posted. Come back and visit my blog any time you wish to see what I’m up to!