Tooting Your Own Horn

Sometimes you can't help it.  It just happens and before you know it, you are tooting your own horn.  I've thought about the whole idea many times and usually it is not a good idea.  Or at least the best option if you have a choice.

I know what you are thinking...

Or at least I think I do.

But there we were, moving down the highway in Massachusetts, heading west toward Albany.  We were on I-90 had been passed by a couple of long I-beams being escorted with flag cars and State Police.  It was about 1:00 PM and we were cruising at about 62 mph with the Speed Limit posted at 65.  All was well.

We caught up to an I-beam convoy (the I-beams looked like bridge or overpass replacements) that was in the left lane.  The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  For some reason, the left lane looked like it was a little wider than the right, and merging traffic was less likely to impact their movement.

So there we were, and we approached the last State Police car.  We were about to go even with him and our calm setting developed into a bit of a crisis.

Our air horn went off!

Yikes!

Talk about being a little un-nerving!  I thought maybe I was a bit too casual in my driving and had lapsed into a fog and let my elbow rest on the horn.  Nope!

Wow!  I was thinking, that was rude!  Oh wait...it IS still rude--- this is not over!  I pounded the horn (the space in the middle of the drivers wheel) to get it to turn off, thinking it was stuck.  --- Nope!

It continued to blare away and I was passing the State Police and escort car on the left.  Hmm--need some quick thinking here...

Nothing came to mind-- no such help at the moment.  I pounded and lifted, cajoled and nothing-- it was still screaming away.  Hmm---

Next thought I had was to put on the flashers so the convoy on the left (that I-beam seemed as if it was 100 yards long)  might be able to figure out this was not what I intended.  I didn't mean to be honking at them.  There was no one in front on me and a quick check on the mirrors revealed quite a few vehicles behind me...

Oh great!  Nothing like a little pressure!!

What was causing this??!!!

I was quickly out of ideas of what to do, and about that time (we were probably into minute 2 of this little adventure...) Pam got out of her seat and reached over me to flip the switch on the driver side console (the row of switches including one that said "HORN").

That complicated things.   Now, I couldn't see much as I was driving down the highway.  Oh man!  I calmly told her, (I wish) that I could not see very well and that I had already checked to see if the switch was the culprit.

It was not.  

Yikes!  By now we about mid-way along the right side of the I-beam convoy.  With flashers going and no satisfaction in pounding the horn, or flicking the HORN switch, I decided to speed up and pass everyone.  That way people could move around us.

As I went passed the front of the convoy on the left, the State Police car at the head of them slowed down, thinking ...  ?  who knows what he was thinking?  Meanwhile, I was beginning to surmise this horn was going to blast away forever.  On to plan B.  Or C, or where ever we were in this daytime nightmare...

Thankfully, there was no smoke or fire or any other safety issues that we could see.  Except for the fact there was no shoulder on the road where we could pull off.  By now, we were probably into minute 3 or 4 and we looked for an exit.   We found one a little over a mile away.

Gladly we took it.  My mind was a bit flustered so-to-speak and I was thinking maybe we could find a fuse to pull and turn the thing off.  Hmm,  next question was where was the fuse for the horn?

Meanwhile, the horn was not giving up.  It continued to blare and blast! Oh man...

About 100 yards from the exit, we came to a stop and turned right.  We saw a T-intersection with a turnout about 200 - 300 yards up the road were we pulled off and parked.  I double checked the "HORN" switch on the console again, and I pounded the wheel again hoping it was stuck or something.  No help.

Wow!  The horn was really loud and a bit annoying.  Did you know how badly a loud horn interrupts one's piece of mind and ability to trouble-shoot/execute analytical thinking?

Man - OK, let's see, there is a bay door underneath the driver's seat I could unlock and take a look at. Maybe there was a fuse there that had something to do with the horn.  I opened her up, we both took a look.  No help.  Nothing labeled anything that related to the horn.

We knew there was a fuse box under the middle console, hidden on the floor under the two drawers.  We took those out, shined the flashlight (that horn was really irritating by now and we were a bit on edge) and could see the scheme of things on the inside of the fuse box cover.

Sure enough there was one labeled "HORN".  Yay!  Maybe success was just around the corner... I had gotten a pair of needle nose pliers from the car and Pam pulled the fuse.

No cigar.

What??

Maybe we got the wrong one? ... check and double check... No, that was the correct one.  She tried pulling and replacing a couple other ones with similar results.

WOW!  This is not going well!

Last resort was to call the Tiffin Service Desk.  I semi-calmly (we were probably into 10 minutes of this deal at that point), spoke to the lady on the other end of the phone and she politely asked if I needed the Parts Department? or Service Department?  I asked her, "Can you hear that horn blaring away??--It is stuck in the on position and I need to speak with a tech in Service please"!

Next, there was complete silence on the phone.  After about thirty seconds, the recording said, "There are four calls ahead of you".  Oh my.  I put the phone on speaker and we waited.  A couple of minutes later, the recording said, "There are two calls ahead of you...".

We waited about four minutes and Jonathan answered.

I asked him if he could hear the blaring horn, Yes, -- yes he could.  I may have been projecting a little concern or something there, but I distinctly noticed a difference in his tone of voice as he tried to help.  He asked what year make and model of the coach.  Then he said, "Wait a minute, while I pull up the diagram for your coach".

Yikes, this was going to take some time.  The air horn was still blasting away.  Then things changed.  There was a motor sound or something, but the air horn quit.  To my surprise, the regular horn was working fine and was blasting away.  I flipped the "HORN" switch on driver side console again.  No change.

Now we had a new concern.  We noticed a bit of a 'hot' smell and the motor was whining away against the backdrop of the horn going off.  I was hoping we weren't progressing toward more serious issues...

Jonathan got what he needed and came back on the line, then told us to pull the fuse.

Check.  Did that.  Horn still blasting.

Hmm, he said, "Well I guess the only thing you could do is pull the wiring".   Sounds good to me!  I asked him how I do that?

He said, pop the generator toggle switch under the front driver side bay door (where we had just been), pull out the generator as far as it will go.  Next,  look on the firewall for something that looks like a horn.

Pam reached inside with the flashlight, found the horn,  saw a wire leading to it with a white plastic connection piece in the black plastic housing, unhooked it and SUCCESS!

Our nightmare was over!  Phew!  We pushed the generator back in and secured it.  We locked the bay door and went back inside, put the cover on the fuse box, and put the two drawers back in.

Wow!  Another bizarre and strange deal in the life of an RVer!  Still don't know what may have caused the horn to go off.  Pam was speculating, maybe some of the rain we had been going through earlier in the day had caused a short in the system?  Don't know.  We've been through a lot more rain and that never happened.

We waited for things to calm down some and then continued on our way.  One more item to add to our repair list.  And to add to our list of adventures.  We drove through the little town at our exit to find an access point to I-90 and had no further incidents.  That was enough for one day!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner Reflections: Our Travels in 8 Years on the Road

After eight years on the road, things run together a little bit.  We launched the Roadrunner about this time of the year.  We have covered a lot of ground over that time.  We can usually remember if we've been to a place and sometimes remember the year -- but often times it is a guess.

I have wanted to put a map together showing our travels for some time but it was only recently that I learned how to use some of the map overlay features in My Maps (Google).  I am limited in entering only 10 locations per overlay.  Once I put a couple of overlays together, i have a couple of sets of locations A-J.  It's a little bit confusing on that point but it conveys the general idea.

If any of you out there have a better way I can represent this on a map, please advise!

First six months:
May to December 2009:

It was only seven months, but we went coast to coast, border to border.
Some notable places we saw in our first six months on the Road:

1. Home of Chet Atkins, Kenny Chesney and Pam's sister and brother-in-law.  - Maynardville TN.  Their place became the location of the Roadrunner RV Resort and Campground (private).
2. Lake Huron/Bruce Peninsula/Tobermory Canada - Beautiful summer cottages on Lake Huron and Miller Lake Campground
3. Mackinaw Island, Michigan - most popular tourist attraction in all of Michigan
4. Winnebago Factory Tour - Forest City IA
5. Mount Rushmore/Crazy Horse Monument/Black Hills - SD
6. Badlands of South Dakota and Wall Drug Store
7. Habitat for Humanity build - Santa Fe NM
8. Volunteering with NOMADS - Pontiac IL and Galveston TX
9. Tiffin Motorhomes Factory Tour - Red Bay, AL
10. Desert Trails RV Park - Tuscon AZ
11. Tombstone, AZ
12. Christmas in San Diego Area

June - December 2009

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1st Full Year on the Road:
2010 January to December

We also went coast to coast, border to border again for the second time.
Here's some highlights:

1. 29 Palms / Joshua Tree National Park - stark beauty
2. Boondocking in Quartzite AZ and La Posa Bureau of Land Management - got to do it at least once.
3. Crossing the border into Mexico at Yuma AZ - Dental work and interesting place
4. NOMADS Disaster Relief in Galvestion TX - Katrina followup still
5. Haas Lake outside of Detroit MI - nice place to spend a few months

It was a tough year with the passing of our daughter-in-law Meghan, at the age of 28.  She lived in Petrolia Canada and our son moved to Michigan to be with her during her last few months.

January - December 2010

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2nd Full Year on the Road:
2011 January to December

In our third coast to coast, border to border year, we went from Key West to Vancouver, British Columbia.  Here are some other highlights:

1. Moss Point MS - More NOMADS Disaster Relief Volunteering
2. Big Bend National Park - Long way to get there but a beautiful place
3. Habitat for Humanity Volunteering in Santa Fe NM - my hometown
4. Salt Lake City UT - beautiful town and state capitol
5. Glacier National Park - need to spend a week there at least
6. Pacific Northwest: Vancouver BC - Stanley Park is great
7. Victoria BC - fun ferry ride and beautiful
8. Mount Rainer National Park - picturesque
9. Spokane WA - Reunion with my brothers and wives 
10. Key West - can't beat the Sigsbee Campground at the Navy Base for a few weeks.  Lots of history in KW

January - December 2011

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3rd Full Year on the Road:
2012 January to December

Once again we went as far south as we could, but this time, we went to Northern Maine and into Canada.  Some highlights:

1. Savannah GA - great place to see and the best shrimp and grits I've ever had!
2. Boston MA - so much history
3. Bar Harbor ME/Acadia National Park 
4. St. Augustine FL - the local bus trolley tour was great!
5. Habitat for Humanity Build - Macon GA
6. Everglades National Park FL

January - December 2012

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4th Full Year on the Road:
2013 January to December

1. Savannah GA - 
2. Augusta GA and the Masters Golf Tournament - lifelong dream
3. Florida Gulf Coast - Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Destin
4. Texas Hill Country - Fredericksburg TX/LBJ Ranch
5. Monterrey CA - Aquarium, nearby John Steinbeck Museum
6. Redwood National Park CA
7. Pacific Coast - California/Oregon
8. Cheyenne WY - Frontier Days - 

January - December 2013

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5th Full Year on the Road:
2014 January to December

1. Quartzite AZ - Gathering of thousands in BLM  
2. Organ Pipe Cactus National Park - magic of the Sonoran Desert
3. Tucson AZ - hiking Sabino Canyon / Catalina State Park
4. Sedona AZ - more Arizona beauty
5. Phoenix Botanical Gardens - wonderful Chihuly glass sculptures
6. Grand Canyon - still the most scenic of them all
7. Fort Worth - reunion with my brothers and wives 
8. Mt Airey NC - Andy Griffin's Mayberry
9. Monticello VA - seeing Jefferson's plantation home

January - December 2014

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6th Full Year on the Road:
2015 January to December

1. Lancaster PA - Amish Country
2. Myrtle Beach SC - golf 
3. Charleston SC - lots of history here
4. Nashville TN - State Capitol and Country Hall of Fame
5. Mesa Verde National Park - Cortez CO
6. Monument Valley UT - Fantastic setting of scenes from the Old West/ Gouldings John Wayne Museum
7. Zion National Park - hiking and biking
8. Bryce Canyon National Park - hoodoos and pictures
9. Capitol Reef National Park - beauty in the canyons
10. Arches National Park - arches and formations near Moab

January - December 2015

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7th Full Year on the Road:
2016 January to December

Some highlights:

1. Cedar Keys FL - quaint fishing village with history
2. North Fort Myers - Another memorable Habitat for Humanity build
3. Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks - 
4. Arnold CA - Reunion with my brothers in the Sierras  
5. Big Trees State Park - giant Sequoias
6. Oregon Coast - scenic to say the least
7. Lewis and Clark encampment - Astoria OR
8. Columbia River Gorge/Multnomah Falls OR
9. Little Bighorn National Park - Custer's last stand
10. Memphis TN - Graceland and Gibson Guitar Factory

January - December 2016

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8th Year on the Road
2017 - January to June

So far in 2017 we've spent our entire time in Virginia Beach.  This makes the longest time we have stayed in one town.  We've moved campsites and campgrounds a couple of times to be here with our daughter, son-in-law and two grandkids.  The second grandson was born in January and we stayed for  post birth surgery our daughter needed to remove a tumor.  Thankfully it was not malignant and she is fast on the mend.

We'll be hitting the road toward the end of June, stopping in Red Bay AL again for some upgrades and repairs.  Then on to see some state capitols and participate in a couple of Habitat for Humanity builds.  One is in Lansing MI and the other is in Sioux Falls, SD.

Thats a quick summary of some of the places we've seen over our travels.  It took 1200 blog posts so far to describe our life the last 8 years, with another 100+ posts I started and haven't finished.  At any rate, the maps give an idea of the routes we've taken.

Those of you that have been along for the entire ride - Thank you!  And those of you that recently found the Roadrunner Chronicles, hope you find something useful or entertaining or interesting.  Or all three.

Thanks again for joining us as we begin Year 9 in the Roadrunner.

Reunion Day 2: Spokane, Garfield and Moscow

We started out our day on base at the Fairchild Inn

and went back over to the chow hall for breakfast.

The first item on the schedule was to go downtown to the Spokane County Courthouse where mom and dad took out a marriage license on marriage license.

They were married the next day in 1942.  We wandered the halls for a little while and looked at the cool architecture of the courthouse.  Brad is an architect in Fort Worth so we thought the building would be interesting.

From the courthouse we headed to where Almadean's (our mother) grandfather lived.  Eastern Washington is a beautiful part of the country.  It has miles and miles of rolling hills.  Wheat country.

Asa Overby moved to the Garfield area in 1879.   He homesteaded 240 acres of land.  He married the same year and was active in the local church.  His father-in-law started a bible study that evolved into a Baptist Church that was built in Garfield.  Opening day and dedication for the church was December 10, 1899.

We drove into the town of 600 people and started talking to people.  The first person Reid talked to was Shelly in the town bank.  Larry was out for a walk and Marty and Reid talked to him.

Then we went down to the Community Church that had strong similarities with the picture of the church in the dedication brochure.  There were people outside and we went over to talk to them.
Denise was very friendly and showed us around inside the church.  We looked at the windows, steeple, additions and determined it was in fact NOT the church we were looking for…  We left without locating the church.

We drove onto a dirt road on the outside of town for a couple of miles and found the farm Asa Overby's farm.  Reid and Amy had actually spoken to the lady (Eva Mae) who lived here 6 or 7 years ago when they came out here on a prior visit looking for some family history.

When we drove into town, Reid had talked to a lady at the bank who knew Eva Mae's son.  She called him and asked if it would be ok to go by and see her.  He gave us permission and we drove up to the house.  Reid and Amy knocked on the door and we were invited up to the house.

After introductions, she invited us all in for a few minutes and told us what she knew about the house.  Then we took a quick look outside and got a group picture.

Wow - our 20 minute visit revealed she has lived here since 1947.  She showed us around and showed us the different additions that had been made. What a nice lady.  She was pretty excited to talk to us but we were even more so!

Then it was lunch time.  We heard they had pretty good hamburgers at Grumpy's Tavern.  Since it was the only place in town, that is where we went.

From Grumpy's we went to the cemetery outside of town.  We wandered around for a while and found Asa Overby's grave.  We found the grave stones of some of his 8 children.

We had some unsigned letters from a woman addressed Asa as her 'loving husband' who was away a  lot.  She pleaded for him to come home… Asa was a busy business man and travelled a lot.  We knew he was married to Alma Overby who died in 1907.  Pam noted these letters were postmarked in 1909 and 1914 from Moscow Idaho.

Who was this mystery woman we have never heard about?  We drove over to Moscow Idaho.  Our first stop was the Latah County Courthouse.  After getting some help from Stacy, we found a marriage certificate in the  auditor's vault for Mary Hunter and Asa Overby.  Aha!

We found they were married November 24, 1908.  Hmm.  Alma died in March 1907.  

Then we went over to the Latah County Historical Society in Moscow.  We weren't sure what we were looking for but now we had a name.

And found that Mary Hunter was on the 1910 census that listed her as married with property holdings of $10, 228.

The Historical Society folks were great.  Dan- the director, Christine and another volunteer were very interested and asked probing questions so we could find out some things.

We saw that Mary was later listed as head of household long before Asa died, so we are trying to find out if she and Asa ever divorced.

More detective work ahead.  Mary's address was a couple of blocks from the Historical Society.

By time we saw her house it was about 5:00 and we had reservations at the Best Western in Colfax.  It was almost 7:00 before we checked in.

Then wewent to eat at Eddies Chinese / American Restaurant in town.

It was a long and interesting day.  We found some answers, learned a lot, saw some great countryside in Eastern Washington and enjoyed each others company.

Now on to day 3!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

2 For 2

We felt like we have hit it twice in a row.  Yesterday we went to another great museum.

This one was in Oil Springs, Canada, right across the border.  Pam and I decided to take a different route over to the Petrolia area (which is near Oil Springs) and we took the little ferry across.

We took this route on our 220 mile day trip 

A,F:  Starting/Ending point - New Hudson, Michigan
B:  Border Crossing Ferry at Algonac, Michigan to Walpole Island, Ontario, Canada
C: Museum at Oil Springs, Canada
D: Petrolia, Canada
E: Border Crossing at Port Huron, Michigan

Just before we boarded the ferry at Algonac (B on map) we stopped at an empty restaurant with a little grass lawn on the shore of Lake St. Clair.  We had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the beautiful and cool day.

From there it was about a 15 minute drive to the Ferry at Algonac.  I asked the lady behind me for directions after we got off on Walpole Island.  She and Ron (the security guy and operator of the ferry) gave us some good instructions to Oil Springs.

Our drive to the museum (C on the map above) was uneventful and took us about 30 minutes from the ferry.  The Oil Springs Museum brings to life one unbelievable fact:

Oil in the North America was discovered first here, at this location in 1858.  

I was blown away by this.  Did you know it all started here?

The entrance to the grounds shows a number of outdoor displays and this first commercial oil well.  Owner James Miller Williams dug a hole 6 feet by 8 feet.  At 14 feet down, oil began seeping into the hole.  He put a pump over the hole and this 3 pole derrick to lift heavy tools and equipment.

Inside the museum, we listened to an informative video and then a short geological talk by one of the museum docents.

Inside, there are many displays on the ground floor.  It contains a wealth of petroleum industry artifacts, working exhibits, fascinating stories and a kerosene lamp which was an early by product of the oil.

In the latter part of the 19th century, Canada exported oil drilling expertise all over the world.  Canadians were drilling in Peru, Malaysia, Saudia Arabia and Europe and elsewhere.  Technology export and oil workers from Canada spanned the globe beginning in 1873.

The Oil Springs blacksmiths made all the tools and bits for drilling there.  They also made wheel rims for the wagons, barrels and shoes for the horses that hauled the oil to railheads in nearby London (Canada) and Sarnia.

One interesting invention during this era was jerker lines.  These wooden rods moved back and forth to relay power from the pump house.

We could have spent a long time there.  We didn't see all the outdoor displays and will have to go back another day.

From the museum, we went to Petrolia (D on map above), then to the bridge and Port Huron.  We stopped at the Vistor's Center for some information on the new HST tax in Canada.  The national tax goes up from 5% to 13% on July 1.  I don't know anyone who is very happy about that.  We will be paying that tax for our campsites in Canada in the next 5 weeks.

Then the worst part of the day.  The looong wait on the at the border getting backing into the USA.

It took us over an hour to go through the line.  But at least there were some good sights to see.  On the top is Port Huron Michigan.  The picture below is Sarnia, Canada.  The water in Lake Huron is about the bluest I have ever seen...

We arrived home in the early evening and had dinner along the way.  Atferwards, we spent some time with our friends Roger and Joyce.  They are leaving today for Hillman Michigan to see Howard and Linda and some other RV-Dreamers.

Many thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  And special thanks to our newest Followers:

Flo and Jerry

We appreciate it!

See you all next time and BE SAFE during the 4th of July Weekend!

Roadrunner Financials - March 2010

First a big milestone:  We welcome followers #100 and #101 today!

Carol K and

Robert

Thanks for joining us!  Now on to the #200...

We spent a two days traveling the first of March from Deming, NM to Floresville, TX where we stayed with Pam's aunt Linda.  She has a nice big ranch and we were able to park the Roadrunner two days there before we left for Galveston TX.  We spent the remainder of the month volunteering for NOMADS and our campsite was free.
Good news are areas where we are under budget- 

- RV Diesel.  This is an obvious area that we will adjust the end of May in our budget
- RV + Car Maintenance.  Gladly their were none for the month so we were a full $100 under budget on that one.
- Campgrounds.  When you can stay with friends and/or family it helps.  We did not have to pay for our site while we volunteered with NOMADS in Galveston for almost the whole month of March.

Biggest expenses for the month - 

We were over budget this month on three big items:

  1) Our unrealistically low food budget. 

  2) The quick trip to Detroit.  We flew there, stayed with friends and drove over the Canadian border to Meghan's parent's house where she and Adam got married in a civil ceremony.  The bigger wedding is scheduled for July.  

  3)  Blue Ox Braking System.

Large 'One Time Cost Item(s)' - 

- Blue Ox Patriot, proportional braking system for our car when we tow it behind the RV.  This is an item we would have bought when we started and it would be in the 'Start Up Costs' area.  We bought it in Quartzite in January and they were on back order.  Blue Ox did not charge us for it until it was shipped in March.

Monthly average since we started tracking in June 2009 - 

We are leveling out at about $4280/month which is almost $960 over what we budgeted.  I think trying to live on this budget is a lot like trying to make a diet work  :)  

I think if we were more serious about it, we might be more inclined to hold off on some items and cut way back on our groceries.  But, at the moment we are OK with where we are in the process.  We are feeling more and more like we have a routine of sorts, though each month brings new surprises.

That's what the numbers looked like for last month.  It won't be too long before it will be time to finish up and send out April's.


Hope this helps someone out there trying to figure out how much this lifestyle costs.   Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner Financials - February 2010

During February, we spent the majority of our time at Agave Gulch FAMCAMP.  We love Tucson and have some friends there and in the surrounding area so it was the perfect place for us to stay for a while.

The highlight of the month was seeing so many friends in Tucson, Maricopa, Scottsdale and Tempe.

While in Tucson, we also went to a number of museums, National Parks, hiking trails, played some golf and worked out a few times.  The weather was pretty good although it rained a few more days than I expected.  Surprisingly, we could see the snow in the surrounding mountains at the upper elevations.

Overall - it was our best month for expenses since we began full-timing in May of 2009:

Overall, we where a whooping $1060 under budget.  It helps when you have a $1000 budgeted for diesel and you don't drive it anywhere during the month.

Good news are areas where we are under budget- 

At Agave Gulch, our campground fees were $6/night in the overflow area and $17/night in the full hookup sites.
The other area we did well in was medical.  Also - not budget related but significant for us was that we changed from Tricare Prime to Tricare Standard.  That allows us to find a doctor that takes Tricare insurance anywhere in the country.  We have additional co-pays (up to $300/yr) and a deductible limit of  $3000 per year.  That gives us additional flexibility instead of being tied to a doctor and facility in a specific area of the county.

Biggest expenses for the month - 

- We played golf three times at the Davis-Monthan golf course and spent $140.
- We continue to spend more than we budget of food and were $130 over our $400 budget.

Large 'One Time Cost Item(s)' - 

- I got Pam's MacBook fixed and took the technician's advice to purchase a separate external hard drive for my backups ($118)
- We bought a small standup vacuum ($90)to clean the large areas of the Roadrunner. 

Monthly average since we started tracking in June 2009 - 

The monthly averages shows a lower monthly average than in January.  The average is down $237.  We still are a considerable amount above our target, but are confident we can get closer to our average number of $3320/ month.

Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles today!

Friday at the Tucson Rodeo

First - a BIG hello! and Welcome to new Followers:

Ken and Nanette!

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.

Yesterday was a fun day - In the afternoon we went to the biggest rodeos I have ever seen: The Tucson Rodeo aka La Fiesta de los Vaqueros. It started in 1925 in the middle of Prohibition and in its 85th year, now is one of the top professional rodeo events in North America with over $200,000 in prize money.

The rodeo was advertised as 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM and we arrived about 1:30 PM. Once we got to the rodeo grounds, we bought our tickets and made our way past numerous booths to our bleacher seats.

In the arena, a tractor was still ploughing up and smoothing the ground for the competition that was about to begin.

The first event was the bareback bronco riding.

Next was the steer wrestling

Then the calf roping

And the saddle bronc riding

The announcer dubbed this calf "Toyota" because he ran away like a Toyota that had its accelerator stuck....

And the men in black hats waiting for their chance at it

And the barrel racing

The last event of the day was the bull riding. We did not have the best vantage point but we could tell that the bulls were having a good day.

But so did we! We had a great time watching one of the largest rodeos in the country.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles! Hope you weekend is going well.