Another day prospecting

I have decided that prospecting is a lot like computers. The more you do the more of the toys (I mean TOOLS) you need to play the game well. I guess I have bought about all the “tools” I need to make metal detecting fun, although I still have a ways to go before becoming productive.

I went out this morning and found what I thought looked like a good spot, lots of rock, lots of quartz and caliche. After 3 hours I found two tin cans, a couple of bullet casings and 3 non-descript hunks of metal, so decided to do a bit more scouting.

The “road” I was on did not show up on the GPS but looked to be headed further into the claim, so I followed. We went along fine for a short ways, but then the road headed for the ridge top. The further I went the more the “road” transformed into a quad trail.

It seems the more I drive the Jeep off-road the less inclined I am to turn around. I always want to see if we can make it through and also see what’s over the next ridge. Today the Jeep has a few more brush scrapes and the tires have some more rock scrubs, but we finally made it back to a real road without issue.

Here are a couple of pictures I took from the ridge top. Please don’t be too critical as they were taken with my phone and one was through the windshield.

I love my Jeep, BUT

I really have to say I have never enjoyed a vehicle as much as I do our Jeep Wrangler. With that said I have to admit I am not real thrilled with the way Chrysler handles selling parts for these vehicles.

This tale starts a few months ago, we were driving along and suddenly the cruise control stopped working. Turns out the rubber elbow that connects the vacuum line to the intake manifold finally gave up the ghost. It was still there but heat had taken its toll and it would no longer seal to the nipple on the manifold. It so happens this same vacuum line runs not only to the cruise control but also over to the air conditioning to control the various doors controlling the air flow. I tried to get the elbow at the local auto parts stores but could never find the correct size. I did manage to stretch one enough to get things working until I could get to the dealer and get the correct part. So I head to the dealer and order the correct part, only problem is they only sell the whole vacuum line assembly that runs all the way across the firewall and connects to the AC controls. I bit the bullet and paid $12.90 plus tax to get the elbow.

This last weekend we went on one of our road trips to the Smokey Mountains in TN, hoping to get a little prospecting in. We were taking the back roads just looking and were hoping to find a stream that looked promising. We came to one of those places that required a pass, which we didn't have, so parked the Jeep and did the self registration thing so we could continue. I got back into the vehicle and started it, shifting into reverse to get back under way. When I shifted into reverse it felt a little too easy, like the shift cable had broken or come unhooked.

My first thought was hopefully it came apart inside the car where it connects to the shifter. I now know how to take the console apart and put it back together again. Now I am crawling under the vehicle to see if I can find the issue. There sitting on the skid plate I found what was left of a small nylon bushing/retainer that connects the shift cable to the lever on the transmission. Now I usually don't carry any tools in the Jeep but I was lazy when I was packing the coach and tossed in the tool box I used while on duty at the resort. It's by no means complete but it did have enough tools to allow the console tear down, and between the paper clip, electrical tape and screw I found, I was able to get us going again.

The nearest town (about 30 miles) had a Jeep dealer, so we headed there to see if we couldn't buy the 50 cent bushing/retainer needed. Well once again it seems you can only get the bushing by purchasing the entire shift cable assembly. They just happened to have one. It was a small dealer so it must be a good selling item so $30 later I had the 50 cent bushing we needed. We headed back to the coach where I had more tools to finalize the repair. Oh yeah, did I tell you that was another 100 miles away?

Since we had been on the road for better than half the day, one of us needed to go potty. Now you all know Bud and I can just go along side the road, so this may give you an idea who needed the pit stop. Since it was also past lunch time we stopped at a McDonalds. I parked in the back so I could get out without putting it in park and having to back up while we grabbed a quick bite and relived some inner pressure!

To make a long story short before we could leave I had to crawl back under the Jeep and get the trans back into drive to make the rest of the trip. Did I tell you we didn't have enough gas to make it all the way back? Well we didn't, but I was not going to take any more chances so we re-fueled with the engine running, the trans in gear and the parking brake set.

Once we made it back to the coach, I let the trans cool down while I worked at getting the little bushing out of the shift cable I had purchased. Two hours later I went out to get the job done. There was no way Bud was letting me out without him again so I hooked his leash on the front bumper tow hook, got my little carpet samples out to lay on and crawled back under for what I hopped would be the last time. Since I was on Buds level, and he could get to me from where he was staked out, I got a bath as soon as I was on my back. It only took a couple of minutes to snap the bushing on the shift lever pin and snap the cable onto the bushing. A job well done, hopefully it won't need to be done again for another 85,000 miles.

Wild Flowers Part: 3

Still more flowers from the Falcon Dam State Park.
























This is a grave yard below the dam, on Swordfish Dr. GPS Co-ordinates 26.5347 N 99.1498 W.

Wild Flowers Part: 2

More of the flowers we found along the nature trail at Falcon State Park from last weekend. I did manage to find a couple of names but that's all.

I am hoping that when we head to Hill Country next weekend we will be treated to many more photo opportunities.



Evening Primrose













Lantana, Calico Bush

Wild Flowers Part 1

This last weekend we could not make up our minds where to go and what to see. I remembered seeing tons of tiny little wild flowers on the nature trail at Falcon Dam a couple of years ago. With the wet weather we have had this winter, I was hopping we would be in for a treat, IF, our timing was right. Here a few of the flower we saw on our trip.


I have no idea what their names are, and most you would never see from your car as they are very tiny and easily passed over. I have more and will follow these up in a couple of days with the next installment.

La Sal Vieja or Old Salt

"La Sal Vieja ("Old Salt") is the name given to two salt lakes six miles northwest of Raymondville in Willacy County (at 2632' N, 9753' W). The west lake has a surface area of 2,475 acres, and the east lake, 720 acres; they are separated by a natural isthmus. Coahuiltecan Indians are thought to have been among the first people to use salt from La Sal Vieja. In Spanish Texas these salt deposits were important items of trade between natives and the Spanish."

From The Handbook of Texas Online Click here for the full article.

So Linda and I have been trying, off and on, to see the salt lakes near Raymondville, Texas. Our first attempt was a total loss. All we knew was they were off hi-way 186 between 281 and 77. Since there weren't any signs pointing the way we basically saw nothing other than the scenery along 186.

For our next attempt I did a little research on Streets and Trips and found a couple of roads that I thought would get us close enough to check out the lakes. Since it's been raining quite a bit this winter, the little county roads near the lake were a bit wet to say the least. We really enjoy getting to see the fields and wildlife along little two track roads. Even though I get picked on because the jeep is usually covered in mud when we return to the RV park.

We followed one of the little two tracks along a wooded section and plowed through a number of muddy areas. We finally approached a feeder stream to the western salt lake. The road/trail we were on crosses over the stream, but the crossing wasn't much more than a mud bog. If we had been with another vehicle, or if I had a winch installed on the jeep, I would have tried to make it across. As it was it would have been a very long walk back to the nearest ranch for help. We backtracked to 186 and headed for Raymondville, picked up a little dinner, than headed home.

Our third attempt finally paid off, for me at least. We managed to come across an access site to the area surrounding the eastern salt lake. We left the jeep in the parking area and headed off into the preserve. There were two trails to choose from so Bud and I started down the southern two track followed for a short time by Linda. I'm not sure how far Linda made it, because Bud didn't want to wait for her. The trail eventually headed out of the preserve so we headed back to the parking area.

Bud, being the old man he is, was starting to get a bit warm and tired so I left him with Linda at the jeep before heading down the other trail. I hadn't gone more than 50 yards when I found another trail that split off, kind of running between the trail I was on and the other path we had followed earlier. I could see the main trail headed uphill, so followed it to the top. I couldn't see the lake or any clearing from the crest so headed back to try the other trail.

Well you know what they say about three times being the charm! Here are a few pictures of the smaller eastern lake. We will try one more time before we leave to see the western lake. Hopefully it will be close enough to the road that Linda will be able to see it.

You can click on the picture for a larger view.

Computer Safety Tips

Malware hits all-time high in January

By Vivian Yeo ZDNet Asia
Posted on ZDNet News: Feb 10, 2010 5:33:13 AM

The amount of unique malware tracked by security vendor Fortinet, reached an all-time high in January.

Its distinct malware volume soared to over 9,000 last month, more than twice that in December, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Fortinet collects data from its FortiGate network security appliances and intelligence systems located globally, and compiles monthly threat statistics from the data. ( http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-392235.html)

Does this sound like it's getting tougher to keep your computer free of malware? You bet it is, and not only are there more things to attack you, but the bad guys have been putting a lot of effort into social engineering.

What's social engineering? Basically it's the crafting of a web site to get the innocent to click on a link that's been built to infect your computer with some kind of malware. It may do something a simple as changing your home page to some porn page, or as nasty as a link to install a Trojan horse that will download and install any number of nasty programs that can render your computer basically useless.

I worked on a computer earlier this year that was infected by malware named Additional Guard. It was installed when he was searching for information on a problem he was having with his refrigerator. It created a shortcut on the desktop and would pop-up whenever he opened a webpage, saying the machine was infected with x number of viruses and offered to clean things up for just $30 dollars.

We checked in control panel to see if it could be uninstalled with no luck. I ran a number of free spyware and virus scanners without any luck. I was able to find uninstall instructions but the problem was this malware uses a number of different hidden directories and registry keys to disguise and hide it self. After many hours of work and frustration we rebuilt the laptop to get things working again. Almost all viruses and malware can eventually be removed, but more times than not it is much quicker to rebuild and reload the machine. At some point you have to say enough is enough and just bit the bullet.

No software can protect you 100%. You may have the honor of being the first person to be infected by a particular virus. Current virus software looks for a virus signature to detect the virus, and until a signature can be created everyone is vulnerable. Here are some tips to minimize your exposure and pain when something does infect your machine.

• Make sure you are at the minimum running virus software and keep the signatures updated.

• Run a firewall, at least what comes with your OS, or better yet put a router between you and the internet.

• Backup critical files regularly BEFORE you get infected.

• Be sure all your OS's fixes and security updates are applied. Most of the updates are to correct security issues that have been identified. If you don't want to rely on windows update there are programs designed to check the software on your machine to make sure everything is up to date not just the operating system. Secunia PSI is a free and recommended application.

• Never open an email attachment from someone you don't know.

• Avoid opening attachments from someone you know unless you know exactly what the attachment is.

• Use a standard user account unless you need to use an administrator account.

• Whatever you do, please do not turn off UAC in Vista or Windows 7. That little popup that is so irritating could be your only clue that the web site you just visited is trying to silently install malware on your computer.

OS – Operating System

Malware – malicious software, anything from a key logger to spyware to a virus.

Router – a hardware firewall that goes between your computer and the internet.

UAC – User Account Control, notifies you when changes are being made to your computer, such as installing a program, changing registry keys or changes to your browser.

Were back in Texas

We left Michigan Oct 19th, headed first for the Texas Hill Country then on to Bentsen Palm Village Resort for the winter.

Arrived at the Big Chief Resort on Buchanan Dam in the rain. We were lucky the rain let up a little so we could get set up but I was still plenty wet. Some of the locals said it rained 9 inches that night so we saw a different Hill Country than what we are used to. All the creeks were now rivers and the rivers tended to be torrents. I was kind of cool to ford the rivers in the Jeep.

Enchanted Rock was a whole new experience with parts of the trails under water and the Sandy Creek flowing over the walkway. I didn’t take the entire Loop Trail, since I know it crossed the creek just before the end. I crossed back on the Echo Canyon Trial and encountered a number of pools on the trail and lots of tiny trickles as I make my way back to the parking area. You might think I would have some really unusual pictures, but since I have been here so many times I didn’t take the camera and have been kicking myself since.

We stayed at Buchanan Lake for 9 days before heading to Mission and BPVR. As we were turning onto Old Military Road Linda and I look at each other and said “Were Home”.

Howell, Michigan

After spending Thursday night at Interstate RV Park, in Davenport Iowa we arrived in Howell about 4PM on Friday. This is actually my mom's back yard, I sort of do another workamping stint as I do maintenance and lawn mowing in exchange for a place to park.

Really good to get back to the old stomping grounds, we got to spend some time with our oldest daughter, my Mom and Linda's parents last night. Today will be spent getting things set up again, doing laundry and just recovering from the ~2500 mile dash from Oregon.

We are just short of 20,000 miles on the coach and the motor seems to be loosening up a bit. The computer tracks mileage and we have gone up anther tenth on this leg of the trip, were now up to 8.2 MPG. I don't think that too bad for a 30,000 lb vehicle that 8 feet wide and 12.5 feet tall.

Omaha, NE

Spent last night in North Platte, NE. Linda got to get her Walmart fix for the week.

Today we made a stop at the Great Platte River Road Archway. I was not sure about stopping but Linda has wanted to visit it since last year when we passed through moving Manda to Oregon. They do a nice job of telling the story of people passing through the area on their way to the west coast. Beginning with the Mormons, the Oregon Trail, and the Lincoln highway. Not a whole lot of depth to the story but I thought it was well worth the 1 1/2 hours we spent there.

We are spending tonight with Cabela's. It cost us more than if we had just gone to a campground but I guess that's why they let you hide out in the back parking lot.

We have gotten our best mileage ever, between going down hill through most of Nebraska, and a good tail wind out of the west, we managed to get 9.4 mpg for the last 650 miles.

Weather has been good today, I do see some thunderheads in the sky around us, but still sunny where we are. Temps in the 80's today, sure feels good to be able to run around in shorts and T-shirts again.

Rowlins, Wyoming

No rain today! We did wake up to ice on the puddles on the slide toppers, but the sun has been shining pretty much all day. We are staying at RV World Campground, and can see snow on the hill side behind us. It's 52 degrees and the wind is blowing at 30 or some miles an hour so the wind chill felt like it was down around freezing while I was getting the water, electric and cable TV hooked up.

Made about 380 miles today and finally caught a tail wind. Crossed the continental divide a couple of times and saw elevation of 7500 feet. Saw lots of sheep, cattle, antilope and even a few Wyoming ground squirrels.

Snowville, Utah

About 75 miles North-west of Ogden Utah. Kind of a different little campground, nobody in the office, you take the paper work, pick your site then fill out the paper work add your payment and drop it in the slot at the office. Lots of antiques, stuff hanging on the fence and on the porch. Old farm machinery and vehicles parked around the outside of the park.

We are still at 4600 feet, with hills and mountains all around us. At the high point for the day we saw a sign at one of the passes saying we were at 5630 feet.

This was another day of rain, saw a little lightning, a little hail and a lot of up hill. The forecast was for a 30% chance of rain along our route, but we ended up with 30% of the day without rain. The one really nice thing was the sun came out when we stopped for lunch so we had the chance to walk around the Devils Washbowl and get some nice pictures.

Huntington Oregon

We did about 390 miles today, I was starting to get a bit tired and I had enough rain and drizzle for the day. We have stopped at Catfish Junction RV Park, a nice little campground on the Snake River. Inexpensive with very nice hosts and the view would be hard to beat. We are surrounded by mountains with the river in front of us and farm land to the south.

Linda HAD to stop at the gift shop at the Multnomah falls on the way up the Columbia Gorge. She did pretty good time wise and not buying too much, Bud ended up getting a stuffed beaver to play with. It was fun shaking it and tossing it out of his chair, then grabbing it and jumping back in. Only problem was he got tired of the jumping out and then back in so it didn't take long before he was staring at Linda to pick it up for him when he tossed it out. It sure seems like he want to rule our lives.

Woodburn, OR

We have landed! Planning to stay at the Woodburn RV Park for the next three weeks. Linda has another week off then she plans to work two weeks before we head out again. She chose this park for it's location rather than it's charm, it's really a nice park. You see we are spending a little time with our youngest daughter who lives in Portland and currently works in Salem. This place is just off I-5, 20 miles north of Salem and 30 south of Portland so works out to be a good place for Amanda to stop off. As a side benefit it's fairly close to a lot of the stuff Linda and I want to visit while we are here.

I have to admit we have seen more sun so far (two days) than we did the entire week we were in Portland last year when we moved Amanda out here. Although there has been more rain than we saw all winter in Texas. Poor Bud has had to have his coat broken out, it makes him walk funny but I am not sure he would stay outside long enough to get his "jobs" done without it!

We are pretty much just rejuvenating for the day after the trip from Sacramento. It's good to be able to lay around and take a nap once in a while. I am sure Linda will keep us on the move for the rest of the week, she needs to get lots in before going back to work on Monday.

Phoenix, OR

Spending the night at the American RV Resort outside of Medford, OR. Still about 250 miles from Salem where we plan to spend up to two weeks before heading east towards Michigan.

We caught I-5 in Sacramento with only one small moment of confusion on my part. The drive up the Sacramento Valley with the Coastal Range to the West and the Sierra Nevada to the East was really beautiful and relaxing. Beautiful snow capped mountains on both sides bordering flat farm land. We saw a number of big CAT tracked tractors.

Linda managed to pack her extra camera battery in the one closet that you can't get to while the slide is in, so after about 80 miles we found a rest area that was open. It was at the end of a 4 mile 6% grade and on the Klamath River, so I was ready for a little break. We had lunch, then opened the bedroom slide enough to get the closet door open and retrieved the battery. You know if she didn't take 200 or so pictures a day she could get by with just the one battery. Problem is you never know when you'll catch that perfect shot.

Sacramento, CA

Mostly easy day, we had a few moments with the wind and the grades but the ole Dutch Star came through just fine and seems to be getting better mileage. I guess we are finally starting to get the engine broken in.

I was just blown away by the beauty and scale of some of the scenery on our way into Bakersfield. We found 99 to be a bit rough but a nice road with not too much traffic.

I found Linda a little piece of land in Mojave, 7.5 acres of un-improved property for the measly sum of $450,000. I guess we will have to win the lottery if we ever hope to buy anything in California.

We hope to get some laundry done in the morning then hook up with my uncle Jerry and his wife Barb around lunch time tomorrow, then spend the rest of day doing a little site seeing.

Amanda has been checking out where we are, we think she might be missing us just a little, or maybe it's just Bud she is missing.

California, Here we are!

After spending most of the morning doing a little metal detecting (we found a Coke can, a bottle cap, a door striker, a 22 shell casing and another round metal disk) we packed up and left Quartzsite. Linda seems to like metal detecting and I am getting her to see a whole lot more of the outdoors while doing it. Funny how you can see flowers in the desert while walking that are too small to see from the coach or the Jeep.

Ran into some tough cross and head winds today, knocked the hell out of our fuel mileage. We saw some really beautiful country and a whole lot of traffic in California on our 300 miles for the day. More wind turbines in one spot then we have in pretty much all our travels.

We have stopped at a little campground, Sierra Trails RV Park in Mojave, CA. We managed to get a pull thru, with 30 amps and no sewer or cable, but it is a nice place and not far off the highway. Considering all we did today, it was a long day and we are really happy to get nice hot showers, watch a DVD and hit the sack.

Still have about 350 miles to do tomorrow to get to Sacramento to visit my Uncle but should not have any trouble making it.

Quartzsite AZ

Short day today, somewhere around 200 miles, but the rig just would not go past Quartzsite. I have been dreaming of boon docking here ever since the full-timing bug bit me. Sure is nice to have 300 watts of solar panels, an inverter and a cellular modem! I can just imagine what this place is like in January when ALLLLLL the characters are here, partying and what ever!

I spent all the money I made this winter working on computers, and then some, on a White's TDI metal detector. Just learning how to use it but so far I have found 4 pieces of wire. I played around with some nuggets I have just to see what it is like to find real gold. Tomorrow we will go to a local claim and see what we can find.

Linda decided we needed a little break from driving so she had me get the Jeep around and go for a little 100 mile site seeing trek. Bud, as always, was very happy traveling anywhere.

Not sure if we will spend another night here or get back on the road when it starts getting hot. I guess we will just have to see how the mood strikes us.

Day 3 and things are improving

We made it to Campground Buena Tierra in Casa Grande, Az today, around 350 miles. Things went well, breakfast at the Flying J west of El Paso, about a mile from the New Mexico border, lunch at a rest stop at Texas Canyon, Az. Easy to find campground and even the construction in Tucson was not bad.

I need to take a look at the tail light on the Jeep, that has been giving me a few problems, but that's the only thing out of the ordinary to do tonight. I think I will take a look after dinner then shower and turn in early (Bud and I are a bit messed up by the time change).

We have been running into a couple at a number of rest stops along the way and guess who is camped just two sites away tonight. They are from Bakersfield and suggested a route bypassing LA. Looks like it's about 830 miles to Sacramento (I have an uncle who lives there) so we are planning the next couple of legs to get us there.

Day 2

Things went much better today. We got under way without a hitch, well actually the left tail light is not working all the time on the Jeep, temp is 49 and the wind is out of the west so I guess things could be better, but it's much better than yesterday morning.

We made good time today and I felt like doing some extra miles so we made it to El Paso (about 500 miles). First place we tried to stop for the night was full so we decided to go a little further. Well we missed the sign for I-10 and ended up down by the border in El Paso, then down town trying to get back on I-10. We finally made it out of town and back on the highway and stopped at Camping World for the night. I really do plan to pick up some parts in the morning before we leave.