A long roadtrip completed

I guess you could call me the traveling man. I got back Friday evening from my fall roadtrip to visit all of my weather stations in SW Arizona and SE California. I enjoyed this trip a lot more than previous trips because I was able to take my brand new work vehicle. My old vehicle was a Ford F-350 with a huge storage box on the back. It was a gas guzzler, did not have cruise control, and only had an AM/FM radio in it. This made for long, boring roadtrips where you got no radio reception unless you are fluent in Spanish, and my right leg and foot would cramp up because it was not equipped with cruise control. I inherited this beast of a vehicle from my predecessor, and it was a bitch to drive in the wind too. My new vehicle is a 2008 4WD Dodge Durango with cruise control and a CD player.

I stayed in Parker AZ the first night which is right along the Colorado River. My last stop of the day was at the Parker Dam on the California side. I had to replace an old Cotton Region Shelter there. I had brought a refurbished one with me. While I was taking the old one off of the stand, it slipped out my grip and one of the metal parts sliced my hand open on the palm right under my right index finger on my right hand. That's a helluva way to start a work trip. It bled like crazy, which was actually good I think because it cleaned the wound out better. I cleaned it real good when I got back to the hotel and flushed it out with peroxide. Boy did that feel good. Ouch! It foamed up and burned like hell. Here it is a week later and it looks a lot better, but it keeps opening up every time I open my right hand due to where the cut was located.

I stayed in Blythe CA Tuesday night and hit all of my sites in Eastern Riverside County on Wednesday.

Wednesday and Thursday nights I stayed in Yuma AZ and hit my sites in Imperial County CA and my only remote site in The Kofa Mountains of SW Arizona. It is about 35 miles into the Kofa Mountains off of Highway 95. It is the only location that I need to put the vehicle in 4WD.

A quick story about my trip into the Kofa Mountains. About 20 miles into the area I thought I saw movement about 300 yards to the South. It looked to me like about 15 illegal alien border crossers. When they saw my vehicle they all kind of ducked down and tried to hide behind the mesquite and joshua trees that dominate the terrain. I did not see them at all on my way back out.

I also drove completely around The Salton Sea which is a very unique area. You can read about it in the link. It looks and smells like a toxic waste dump if you ask me. But it was a very interesting area to look at.

I also was able to get the majority of my observers set up with the online weather reporting program which will make everything paperless and easier to maintain and use the data. I conducted a training session on Tuesday and the Hayfield Pumping Plant in CA which was fun.

Overall, the trip was good and I enjoyed getting out and seeing and talking with all of my dedicated volunteer weather observers. They are a large part of the National Climatic Database that supplies the climate info for the area.

While I was gone, Patty's great aunt passed away. It was her dad's aunt and he was very close to her and he was the person that arranged for the funeral services. Also, Patty's stepmom Dee's sister passed away the same week.

Some good news to report though. Remember when I posted about my good friend Barb a few weeks ago? Well the biopsy report came back as negative for cancer and this is fantastic news and an answer to prayer.

I am just now getting caught up on my personal and work email and will now catch up on some of the blogs I follow. I was happy to hear that my friend out in PA, Jeni received the copy of The Shack I sent her. I hope you enjoy it Jeni. Please do a book review with your thoughts on your blog so that I can read about what you thought of the book.

We are going to our first counseling appointment this Thursday for the issue involving my daughter Shannon. Please pray for healing, both physical and emotional. I believe that we will all get through this difficult time. Like I said earlier, I do not know why God allows these things to happen, but they do and we will get through it.

After driving nearly 1500 miles on my work trip, I immediately drove to Tucson Friday evening and spent the night at my cousin's house. I left bright and early Saturday morning to meet with our attorney in Nogales at 9 am and then turned around and came home, arriving about 1 pm. Needless to say, we did not go to church this morning. It's been a long week. I slept really well in my own bed last night too. I do need to go by the church though and drop off some paperwork for the Children's Pastor. We are going to teach the toddlers on one Sunday a month and need to get a background check done. Sad that you have to do that, but in this day and age you need to know who is working with your children.

So tomorrow at work I will have to do my trip report, and that will take up most of my day. I also need to get out to Roosevelt and Bartlett lakes in the next two weeks to make some repairs to some equipment. It's a tough job man, but someones got to do it. It's tough getting out to a lake in AZ in the Fall. Temps in the 80's, a nice warm breeze. Tough I say, really tough.

I need to set a lunch or something up with a friend from church. I'll email him and see if we can hook up this week.

That's all from here folks. Encourage someone and help someone this week. Be kind to all. Even if they are rude and onery. You may not know what that person is going through, and an encouraging and kind word or deed from you may be just what the doctor ordered.

Peace!