COLORADO

COLORADO

HEADING HOME! We drove away from Branson, MO early Tuesday morning and headed West. We spent the night in Colby. KS. It was 21 degrees this morning when we headed for Colorado Springs.

Flat Stanley wanted to visit the headquarters of FOCUS ON THE FAMILY. There was still snow on the ground but the temperature had warmed to 42 degrees and felt much better than the early morning chill I had while filling my gas tank in Colby, Kansas!

We took a brief self-guided tour of the Bookstore building. It is a very intriguing place for kids. The Adventures in Odyssey exhibit is awesome! This would be a great place to bring the kids. The little ones we saw there were having the time of their lives! A kid could spend hours in there having fun!

Following lunch we headed out to GARDEN OF THE GODS, a City Park on the edge of town. It's a beautiful area of interesting red rock formations created eons ago and slowly, through an erosion process, created the awesome formations we see today. The park is used by joggers, hikers and horse-back riders. The one-way road allows self guided car tours with turn-outs, viewpoints and photo ops. I give it two thumbs up!

We decided to try to get past Denver before the heart of rush hour began. But much like Portland, I think rush hour started around 1:30 PM! It was stop and go occasionally but not as bad as could have been a couple of hours later! The 3 or 4 car pile up on the Expressway at exit 181 blocked traffic for a while, until the wreckers showed up and the PoPo's redirected traffic off the freeway and merged them back on at the 181 entrance on the other side. I needed to get off and refuel anyway.

This evening we stopped in Fort Collins, CO for the night. We had dinner at Famous Dave's before coming back to the Hilton. Tomorrow we head on towards Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho. We have been most fortunate that bad weather has been ahead of us or behind us this entire trip!

God is good!

MULBERRY, ARKANSAS

Mulberry, Arkansas
1940 - 2012

When I was a kid coming to Town with my Dad to sell or trade produce, or maybe get a store bought haircut at Gene and Shorty's Barber Shop, the town of Mulberry, Arkansas seemed like a busy city to a small country boy of 5 or 6. I can't recall parking being a problem but it was much busier than our 360-acre farm about 20 miles away.

The street scene changed a little over the years. There were few changes to storefronts but the parked cars slowly became more early 50's than the 1940's vintage seen in the photograph. Many, like Dad's, were old pickup's with cattle racks on the back. I remember the big store on the right side of the unmarked street was a Five and Dime. We never had a dime but that didn't stop us from going inside and looking at all the neat toys and stuff!

The building on the left side was our Bank, though I doubt Dad and Mom ever had much in it! We always enjoyed seeing the Cowboy roam the street, when we came to town. Seems like he was always there walking in and out of every store, greeting employees and customers like they were old friends. He was dressed up like Roy Rogers; a white Stetson hat on his head, button up long sleeved western shirt with a bandana tied around his neck, jeans and flashy cowboy boots with Spurs on the heels. To complete the Cowboy look he wore a kid's Gun and Holster outfit with twin Six-Shooters and fake bullets attached to the belt, ready to be used if make-believe bandits came to town. He might have worn a Sheriff's star; I can't be sure. But he was, in his own mind, a town hero who looked out for others and kept the peace.

I don't know how old he was. As a little kid during those days, I "looked up" at most everyone, but he was a man, probably around 25 or 30 years old, in a physical sense. But mentally he was still a kid who played "Cowboys and Indians" like we did.

Today, 2012, about 65 years later, the streets of Mulberry are virtually vacant. To snap this street scene, I stand in the middle of the street, inside the unmarked "Round-a-bout" people once used to be able to turn around in, to park on the other side of the street. Stores have closed and deteriorated. Gene and Shorty have passed on and the Barber Shop has closed. The Cowboy is gone; only his image and memory remains in the minds of those who met him.

As I reflect upon all of this, it amazes me how quickly a city can turn from booming to bombing. Although more people now live in Mulberry than ever before, the stores remain vacant. With the building of Interstate Highway 40, people can live farther away from work, yet still be only a short time away from shopping and jobs in other cities.

.....just noticing how things change and remembering,
The Good 'Ol Days.

Retirement

CLOSING IN ON RETIREMENT

Having turned 65 already, I have been considering retirement. 
Although I will miss my routine of getting up early and going to work, I believe I will quickly set that aside and focus on the next level of my life.

I am making plans to retire in 4 weeks.  At that time I will undertake several things I have been putting off too long.  I have computer work I wish to "polish" by sorting pictures, writing documents and organizing my files.  I have plans to do some long needed work around the house.  Things have been neglected and need to be spruced up a bit; both inside and out!  My garage is a mess!  I will be hauling away un-needed  junk that I thought I needed at the time I acquired it.  I have some things to sell; others to give away. 

I have volunteer work I want to do.  I have a Great GrandDaughter I want to spend time with and get better acquainted; perhaps a couple of Great GrandSons, too; time permitting.

I have much hiking to do to get my body in shape for a month long backpacking trip in the Northern Cascades along the Pacific Crest Trail in August.  I have to plan the trip to mesh with the Wilderness Trek for our Metro Teens.  My August trip will be awesome!  I hope to be able to do about 100 miles along the PCT, including side trips, taking hundreds of photographs and soaking in amazing scenery!  This is important to me as I may be nearly blind in a few years from Macular Degeneration.  It's uncertain as to how long I will have my vision, but as long as I have it, I want to use it as much as I can.  What better place than the Mountains of northern Washington?

I suppose there are uncertainties in life; we cannot always prepare for what may come.  I believe we must do what we can, however, to experience what we can in the time God allocated for us.  I appreciate the health I do have.  I hate the thought of growing old and feeble and ending up in a Nursing Home unable to care for myself.  The though of that does not appeal to me at all.

But for now, I am excited to be working my final month before retirement.