Ramada Limited Tempe Az

Not our usual 8pm activity, tonight was date night and we did it up fine at the Howdy Dinner Extravaganza. Billed as "A Rib Ticklin', Knee Slappin', Hand Clappin', Tummy Fillin', Gall-Darn Good Time," and boy was it.

We had great fun at this dinner theater in the coolest little old west town. You'd never know it was smack dab in the middle of Mesa as you wend your way through a cave-like entrance complete with stalactites and dripping water walls.

We ...

... in the world. IN THE WORLD. It's still the 3rd largest--that's what they claim. That's really big, isn't it?

During the summer so much water is taken out of the lake for irrigation, and to supply the lakes further down, that it can be a half mile from the campground to the water. But they let you camp on the beaches that surface, so in places you can still get near the water--if you can find a flat place that isn't muddy. After all, this is desert and water can't be wasted on ...

Here are some basics facts about Ethiopia:
- Located in Northeast Africa; it shares borders with Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Kenya and Djibouti.
- It is the tenth largest country in Africa - about twice the size of Texas.
- Climate varies by region, from temperate highlands to hot lowland desert.
- Geography is very diverse. Ethiopia has altitudes that span the lowest point in Africa in the Danakil Desert, where Luci, and the more ...

... a poor salmon swimming upstream – an extremely bulky salmon who couldn't see too well because of the piled high trolly – trying to collect a few other goodies, but just amazing how quickly the specials were stripped off the shelf. Spent ages in a line to the checkout, so didn't actually get to leave Walmart to the sun was rising at 6.30! After a couple more shops we staggered home at about 8am.

Hopefully today we'll get a Nana-nap in!

... it'... after following some yellow footprints through two big sheds out the back with some weird ,
quirky, interesting and just plain odd exhibits (like life-sized carved wooden people in a torture chamber...) we finally found it...an old mummy/skeleton (not sure if genuine, ewww) in a glass box.
Still, right up our alley and glad we stopped.

Once nearing Tuscan we ...

We leave for Ethiopia on December 15th and are getting very excited. This is one of the first steps
towards keeping friends and family updated while we are gone.
This is our first trip to an African country so we are extra excited for a completely different experience.

... Enough rain to interfere with the TV picture. Tonight was Obamas talk-telling us how bad of shape we are in and Bush may have made it so bad we will never recover---but we know with his stimulus program there can be no recovery. It is set up to fail and we will just be in worse shape than ever-but he has set it up to blame the Bush regime, even though the Dem congress is how we got into this mess. End of soapbox! Feb 10th - Tue-The rain is over-and the sky is mostly blue, but ...

... of so many online translators, but it was fun to read through it and tweak it - and today I met a woman from Montreal at the pool with whom I attempted a bit of a conversation with my rusty "Franglais"! Of course, a job like this does not have much in the way of pay involved, but the great benefit is having a site and utilities paid - and of course, not moving = not spending, which is a very good thing! We will be moving a ...

... A real Tough Guy. Surely, I could do what these guys wouldn't attempt - do the trip twice as fast, and do it in June. WRONG. I probably never wore a hat when my mom told me to, either. It occurred to me today that this journey is not living up to it's original purpose. If you read the opening statement you may remember that I was going to travel from coast to coast, thinking deeply about my first 50 years, planning the next however many ...

... the line we realized that we had also never been on a vacation with his parents. In fact, as events stood, we weren't likely to EVER vacation with his parents. They have four huskies that they can't leave alone and there isn't really anyone who can stay in their house for four days. We started bugging them to go with us, thinking that they would HAVE to find a way to board the dogs or get a dog sitter. Either way, they just couldn't be hostages to those dogs anymore ...