yumatrip2010

Howdy Y'all! Well, all went well with my trip south today. I arrived at John and Jan's about 10:15 AM - way ahead of schedule! Yes, I did leave a bit earlier than usual as well as did not have any slow downs along the way - so, we shall say it was an uneventful trip!

Here's a shot of Jan, KA9VQS and John, N5AAA

After visiting some we went to Joey's House Of Pizza for lunch. Yes, the IOOK does travel on it's stomach!

Then we came back here and worked on getting John's G5RV antenna back up in the trees. As you can see there is still some snow on the ground from last weekend's storm. We also did some work on their camper in preparation for their departure for points south. When I leave here next week they will be heading to Orlando for the big hamfest.

As you can see below, the day was beautiful. All the snow is gone from the front yard. You can see some patches of snow down by the barn on the left and behind the tower on the right.

This evening John and I checked into the IOOK 40 Meter Net and were glad to hear all who checked in. Yes, band conditions did change as the net progressed but because of those changes we managed to hear everyone on the net at one time or another.

As I have been working on the pictures and so on, John has been busy searching for memory for this laptop. By the time I get to Hoss and Margareth's next week, this thing will be maxed out and smoking!

Well, I suppose that is more than enough for Day One!

=====

Day Two...

Howdy all! Well I am enjoying the Southern hospitality here at John and Jan's! The photo below shows their workout room where I start my mornings.

One thing that these photos do not show is a TV in the upper corner of the room that can be watched while you are exercising.

Here are some wild turkeys in John and Jan's back yard that came around for a visit yesterday.

The photo below shows a bit of what we did yesterday. John is talking on speaker phone to the folks at Mountain Radio regarding the peculiarities that exist in John's RigBlaster. We managed to figure out all of the strange idiosyncrasies regarding the manner in which to connect the computer, RigBlaster and radio as well as the strange conditions regarding how the serial ports change state when the program is terminated causing the radio to go into transmit mode. I must say, it had both of us scratching our bald heads! However, we have made a couple of PSK-31 contacts and all looks good! :-)

In addition to setting up John's RigBlaster, we have been working on several computer projects. One of which is installing Xastir (an APRS program) on my Ubuntu machine. Yeah, we are in computer heaven here - all 5 machines you see in the photo below are up and running! Each doing a different task! Each connected one way or another to the Internet as well! Pretty neat stuff!

OK. Big Al, KB8FJB has been holding out on us. Here you can see he has opened "Big Al's Bar & Grill" here in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Check out the sign on the door..."DRESS CODE NO SAGGIN' BAGGIN' or DRAGGIN'"! Suits me!

OK - Today we are headed into Nashville for a doctor's appointment for John and then we will do some shopping. Day Three continues...

After posting the activities from yesterday, we went into Nashville and had lunch at the Pancake Pantry! I think KF8KK would have enjoyed the pecan pancakes that John had or the pecan waffles that Jan and I had, being the "pancologist" that he is! Har!

After brunch, John had a doctor's appointment. We spent the remainder of the day running errands.

We ordered additional memory for this laptop the other day and it arrived today. So this evening we will probably install the memory and do a few other computer chores.

This evening John installed the memory on my laptop. Now it is maxed out at 4 gigs of memory and with the other changes we have made it is "smokin'!"

Put things back together and reboot! Man, what a difference some more memory can make!

This morning while I was answering e-mail Jan told me that the turkey's were in the front yard.

I had made arrangements to meet a high school friend of mine, Richard Hoffman, for lunch midway between here and where he now lives near Huntsville, Alabama. We met at Legends Steak House in Pulaski, Tennessee.

Tuesday (2/9/10) was my long travel day. Here's a shot of John and Jan just before I headed out shortly before 6AM CST.

They left for Florida and the Orlando HamCation shortly after my departure. The roads were a bit sloppy as I left their place but by the time I got to the Interstate the roads were dry.

I met Max, K1MAX, for breakfast in Memphis, Tennessee. We had a delightful visit and a dandy breakfast!

After breakfast the sun came out and it was a beautiful day!

From there I drove to Tyler, Texas and met Tom, WN5TL and his family for Mexican dinner! I arrived about 5:45PM CST. We also had a great visit and a wonderful meal!

I arrived at the Lazy K Ranch about 10PM. Here's a shot of Margareth and Hoss, WA5ZAI.

Here's Hoss's buddy, Maxell, P. Karimi. We shall not discuss what the "P" is for! Har!

In this shot Max, Hoss and I are bundled up and ready to begin our morning walk! (2/10/10) Yeah, I know, we look like Nannook and his other brother, Nannook!

Tonight we head to the Bunkhouse BBQ! I can hardly wait!

Ricky posed for a "serious" shot this evening!

2/11/10 - Hmm, photos of today's activities? Well, look at my Facebook profile photo and you will see me on the end of the couch here at the Lazy K Ranch. that is what we did today with all the rain we got. Activities? Well, today I finally caught up on my e-mail. It took me most of the day as a lot of the "stuff" was lengthy movies that had been sent - you know - junque mail.

We had a delightful breakfast of Eggs Benedict and a fantastic dinner of Beef Stroganoff! All in all, a pretty relaxing day, so, there will be no update today!

2/12/10 - Yes, it snowed last night. The Dallas/Ft. Worth area got hit with lots of snow - some places with more than 10 inches. Obviously, all we got was a trace. Here's Margareth taking some snap shots of the morning snow on the trees and such.

Here's a shot of the circle driveway at the Lazy K Ranch with the house in the middle.

Here you can see that they have had so much rain recently that the water is running across the road.

Here's a shot of one of the neighbor's ostrich! OK - Hoss has corrected me - it is not an ostrich, it is an emu.

Here's Hoss's main tower looking from the north. In the background you can see a smaller tower near the house as well.

We had lunch today at the Crawford Coffee Station! My personal favorite is the jalopeno cheese burger.

Here is a collection of neat old fishing lures on display at the Coffee Station.

2/13/10 - Saturday - This morning Hoss and I headed south to Georgetown, TX to attend the hamfest there. Of course, Ron, AA5RT (the RT stand for Radio Trader) was there and had a couple of tables set up and was selling his wares.

As you can see, the hamfest was well attended.

We had a fun time and Hoss managed to find a couple of items he just could not live without. I bought a diet soda!

After leaving the hamfest, Hoss and I headed north to Salado, TX for a lunch get together at the Stagecoach Inn.

Here you see me with my high school buddy, Don Snoots, who lives near Elgin, TX. now.

We had a dandy visit and a great lunch as well!

Hoss and I ran a couple of errands in Waco, TX. on our way back to the Lazy K Ranch. One of the items we picked up was Valentine flowers for Margareth!

Happy Valentine's Day to Margareth, Marian and all the other YL's out there! We do appreciate the fairer sex!

Hmm, the Internet has been down here since we got back this afternoon, so this will get posted when the Internet comes back.

The sun was brightly shining and the temperature got up into the upper 50's before the clouds came in and things cooled off.
Here's a shot of the Lazy K Ranch without snow!

Here's Max out enjoying the sunshine and chewing on a stick that he chased down!

The Internet was up for a short while this afternoon but it is back down. So, if you tried looking at the web page this afternoon you probably could not find some of the most recent photos. That is because I managed to get the web page uploaded but not the photos before the Internet went back down. Hopefully soon things will be back to normal.

2/14/10 - Here are some photos from the Orlando hamfest....this batch are thanks to N5AAA!

In John's words - "Here are my pictures. You should get more from Dave K3CRF and Lew KC4US. We've had a blast. Was great seeing everyone. We did the IOOK proud eating our way in and around Orlando. hihi See you guys soon." 73, John

Miriam and Lew shot 1.jpg

Miriam and Lew shot 2.jpg

K3CRF,KA9VQS, N5AAA at Olive Garden.jpg

KC4US, Miriam, K3CRF, KA9VQS at Five Guys.jpg

=====

Howdy! The Internet was off for nearly 24 hours from yesterday afternoon until this evening just before we headed out to the Bunkhouse BBQ.

Yesterday afternoon after Hoss and I ran a couple of errands into town I came across this burro (donkey) and had to take his picture.

Pretty photogenic isn't he?

This morning Joseph, WA5FLT, arrived in time for breakfast. Joe came from near Dallas/Ft. Worth after visiting with his sister yesterday. Joe's home is Calumet, OK.

Here's Joe as he gets ready to experience the Bunkhouse BBQ for the very first time!

Yee haw! Another IOOK'er has had the Bunkhouse experience! Needless to say, we are now all fed up!

Early tomorrow morning Joe, Hoss and I head towards Yuma for the hamfest. Since I don't know how much Internet coverage I will have I will say that it may be a few days before I manage to update the page again. We are hoping y'all can track us on APRS and maybe we will be fortunate enough to be able to chat with a few of you on 7.185 on the hour as we travel.

Here are a few snap shots of John (N5AAA) and Jan's (KA9VQS) trip as they headed towards the Lazy K Ranch from the Orlando area on Tuesday, 2/16/10...

Early on Wednesday, 2/17/10 we headed west and south. Our first stop was in Lampasas, Texas for breakfast at the Country Kitchen!

Our next stop was in La Mesilla near Las Cruces, New Mexico at the La Posta restaurant for dinner!

Wednesday night we made it to Lordsburg, NM - about 850 miles for our first day of travel towards Yuma!

The next group of shots were taken at a rest stop on I-8 as we make out way west towards Yuma.

These rock formations are truly incredible after driving though many miles of flat desert.

Here is a truck full of pole pigs that we passed that Joe believes were on their way to the Yuma Hamfest to be used for amplifier building!

Yes, it is showing 80 degrees as we arrived in Yuma! It got up to 83 Thursday afternoon!

After checking into the motel, we went to the fairgrounds where the Yuma Hamfest is held. The Vice Presidential Air Cap was quite apparent!

Here are some of the folks that Make the Yuma Hamfest happen! They are a great and friendly group of folks!

Here's our buddy, Jack, KC7DUU. He is hoping to be assimilated into the IOOK at HamVention!

As is our tradition, Thursday night dinner was at the Cocopah Casino just south of town.

Ron, W6KJ arrived while we were out to dinner after a very long and trying day. He had car trouble on his way to the hamfest and ended up having to get the radiator replaced which greatly delayed his arrival.

Hoss, WA5ZAI has his items for sale set up and is ready for it to warm back up!

Here are some more shots of the folks who make the hamfest happen. Many thanks to all of the Yuma Hamfest folks for making our visit a happy one!

Imagine our surprise when we saw IOOK'er Brent, AC7H and the hamfest! We didn't even know he was coming!

Ah, yes, lunch was fetched by Ron, W6KJ from the "IN-N-OUT" near the hamfest! Thanks Ron! (Eat your heart out N5AAA)

Here are some of the hamfest folks who were working the inside registration, ticket sales and so on...again, Many Thanks!

The weather forecast for Saturday was iffy, so we decided to take our group photo Friday afternoon.

Friday night dinner was at the Village Inn Pizza near our motel! Great pizza! Tasty beer! Wonderful visiting! Truly a fun time!

The flea market booth is all set up and you can see that we have overcast skies. It did rain overnight although I told them that the pavement looked like a heavy Ohio dew!

This is Ralph, K7YUM. Ralph has the UHF repeater we monitor while at the hamfest because it has EchoLink on it and has great coverage of the flea market area. Many thanks to Ralph for his kind hospitality for our group using his repeater and EchoLink system!

Below are John, N0NEV and Ora, W9DJ. John is Jim, W5JCS's brother and Ora is a close friend! They are planning on attending the Dayton HamVention as well!

Here is a rare shot of Keith taking a picture of Hoss talking on his cell phone.

This is just one of the operating positions in the HUGE Yuma County Communications Trailer.

Menchie won a door prize! It is a two meter HT that with the addition of a board will also do D-Star!

Joseph also won a door prize! It is a crank up or solar powered radio that can also charge a cell phone!

Joe bought a keyboard for his granddaughter! This is supposed to keep her off the Baby Grand!

Kristen enjoys the sunshine and reads a book to pass the time while the guys talk ham radio....Yes, it warmed up nicely after the morning overcast cleared off.

Ron, W6KJ won a door prize. Why is he laughing so, you ask? Well, it is the door prize that Hoss donated in the name if the IOOK - a digital name/call badge!

During our EchoLink conversation, El Presidente, KBob told Ralph, K7YUM, that he keeps asking the group to buy him something and then send it to him. So, we all chipped in and bought something for KBob. Johnny, KF8KK, volunteered to mail it to KBob since he is always sending things in the mail - he runs an Internet mail order business.

Here's KBob reply to receiving the gift: "I would like to thank the IOOK peeps who were at Yuma for the fine piece of electronic gadgetry that you all bought for me. However, there are no directions. Could someone please tell me how it works? Thanks! kbob"

Here's Johnny's reply to KBob's query: "KBob, Nothing but the finest for our President! Sadly, the vendor that had the device had run out of the instruction sheets. I was told that he'll be at the HamVention. I'll look into it and one of us will get some instructions headed your way, but I suppose we'll have to wait until mid May. We peeps were led to believe that the device was 'so easy to use a caveman could use it'--- but, as it was that none of the IOOK VP's were cave men, we could at best just scratch our heads.... and hope that the wisdom of El Presedente would find a way to bridge the knowledge gap between cave men and the IOOK. Enjoy the souvenir of the Yumafest. There's nothing grander than the knowledge that you have some fine pieces of yesterdays technology on hand for your future use! 73, IOOK VP KF8KK"

Wil wins another door prize - he put his name and call on both his and his XYL, Gail's, tickets!

Golly, what a great day and a fun hamfest. The van is loaded and Keith pretty well emptied two tubs of the five he brought of flea market items that we sold over the two day period! There were more campers and flea market spaces sold than in past years. Also attendance was up as well! Our sales were quite good too! We all hope this is a sign that things will be BIG at the Dayton HamVention!

After breakfast KF6BFI, KG6WNV, W6KJ, WA5FLT, WA5ZAI. and WA8ZWJ headed towards San Diego. The variety of scenery along this trip it amazing! First were the dunes...

We arrived at Charlie, NN3V and Eli's in Poway, California for some quality time with them since Charlie was unable to come to Yuma for the hamfest.

As you will see in the following series of photos, a FUN time was had by all!

On our way back to Yuma, as we got to the dune area in southern California, we spotted the barrier at the southern US border. That snake looking item in the sand is the barrier.

We headed back towards Texas early Monday morning. Here's a scenic view Joe took...

After 12 hours on the road we made it to Ft. Stockton, Texas. After checking into our motel we headed the short distance up the street to KBob's Steakhouse for dinner!

On our way back to Valley Mills, Texas we stopped for breakfast in Menard, Texas. This print of the dreaming hunter caught our eye.

John and Jan had arrived from Florida the day before - hence the snow pictures of their camper out front from Tuesday morning. Here's N5AAA...

Wednesday afternoon the guys headed to Waco to visit the Texas Ranger Hall Of Fame and Museum. This was Joseph's (WA5FLT) first visit to the museum. Didja know that law enforcement officers get in for half price?

Seeing the taped outline on the floor, Chief of Police Garland places his feet in the position of the deceased's feet in order to attempt to reconstruct the crime!

After returning to the Lazy K Ranch, Joe heads out towards home in Calumet, Oklahoma.

By the way, the snow was all gone by noon.

Beautiful blue sky and sunshine showing on the flag and front of the Lazy K Ranch...

The gals went shopping and errand running today. The guys went to the Bunkhouse BBQ for lunch and a stop at the hardware store. :-)

Here's the "after breakfast" group photo before I headed out for Oklahoma.

Many thanks to Hoss and Margareth for their warm HOSSpitality!

As I headed north, in addition to several other short radio and cell phone conversations I had two pretty nice cell phone visits with Stan, N5JFQ as I passed through Oklahoma City. It turned out he was in class so I was safe from some devious manner for him to play "Gotcha" with me for this trip! It is too bad that the timing did not work out for us to have an eyeballs QSO.

I arrived at Jim, W5JCS, and Carolyn's (Jim's mom) in Stillwater about 5PM. Jim pulled in the driveway almost right behind me! Here's a shot of Jim!

We went to dinner at the Hide-A-Away. L to R below are Jim (W5JCS), his friend, Kathy and his mother, Carolyn.

While the gang was at the Hide-A-Way, Stan, N5JFQ is at the pro basketball game. He says that sometimes they let him run the camera!

After dinner some of the gang went back to Jim's. Here are Tad and Jim in Jim's ham shack/computer room.

This is Jim's incredible HT collection. When Keith snapped this shot Jim said "Wait a minute! Let me get the rest of them!" But alas, it was too late! Har!

A fun evening was had and we also managed to get all fed up! I feel sure that Tad, KC5DPT is being "groomed" for assimilation into the IOOK.

Here's the main hallway in the International Studies Building where Jim, W5JCS works.

Here's Jim at his desk picking up a couple of items he needed for later in the day - yes, it is Saturday!

After lunch, Keith headed towards Nevada, Missouri for a visit with his cousins.

Last night Bob had made reservations for us to eat at the Gobbler's Roost - an incredible "reservations only" restaurant that is normally open only on Friday and Saturday nights. The owners are close friends of Bob and Sue, so, the portions are large and the service impeccable! Our five course meal was truly a delightful dining experience!

We have sunny skies here in southwestern Missouri and a forecast high in the 40's. We are relaxing and watching the Olympics. Later this afternoon the kids will come over so we will have a big family visit.

Bob was cleaning out the camper and this was a fourteen point buck he had picked up last fall!

The reason he was cleaning out the camper was because today was the first day of the season to take the camper to the lake.

Keith left Bob and Sue's south east of Nevada, MO at 6AM Tuesday morning. He met Bob, N0BIX east of St. Louis a little after 11AM. We met at Ruby Tuesday's.

Bob says "Yeah, I know it isn't sunny, but, I like wearing sunglasses because you can't tell where I am looking!"

The waitress took a photo for us as we started our soup and salad bar lunch and downloaded Yuma Trip photos onto a thumb drive for N0BIXie.

Keith arrived at home and picked up Marian (WD8CJD) at about 6:30PM and took her to dinner at the Toll House Tavern.

I am happy to be home and Marian (WD8CJD) seems happy to have me home!

Many thanks to Charlie (NN3V) and Eli for their kind HOSSpitality during our visit in California.

Many thanks to Max (K1MAX), Tom (WN5TL) and Bob (N0BIX) for making the effort to meet Keith along the way for a meal and a visit.

Many thanks to John (N5AAA) and Jan (KA9VQS); Hoss (WA5ZAI) and Margareth; Jim (W5JCS) and his mother, Carolyn; and Bob and Sue Hughes for providing deluxe accommodations for Keith during his month long trip.

Many thanks to KC4US, NN3V, N0BIX, N5AAA, N5JFQ, WA5FLT, W5JCS, W6KJ and WA8ZWJ for their photo contributions for this page.

A very special thank you goes to Marian, WD8CJD for being so understanding and letting Keith go on these long trips while she continues to work, volunteer and care for her furry friends.

Here are a few interesting facts about the trip. A total of 5,462.3 miles were driven. The total driving time was 86 hours 50 minutes and 57 seconds. The average driving speed was 62.9 miles per hour.

The IOOK Salute!

As Keith was looking through shots on the IOOK web site, he came across this one of President KBob demonstrating the IOOK Salute! Notice the knuckle in ear?

Yuma Trip 2010

"Salute!"