This is what I came up with. My laptop which is with me when I travel anyway and Windows Media Center. A Avertv Hybrid Volar Max TV Tuner Kit for Windows ($45) from Amazon. An Antennacraft antenna from Radio Shack ($40).

I stopped mostly in rest areas and many of these were near cities. Connect the tuner to the pc via usb. Connect the tuner to the antenna via coax. Turn on Windows Media Center and scan for channels – that easy. I put the antenna in the side window next to the computer. Most of the times I had a least 4 HD channels and I got to watch a great world series!

I headed south from Nevada into Arizona to see my son and grand-kids. He has a good level spot for the bus and it is always fun to visit. The border patrol is very busy in that part of the county. Check points have multiple cameras pointing at you; border patrol agents drive slowly along roads looking for tracks. It seems to be a real combination of high and low tech.

Rest areas in New Mexico and Texas are great. In New Mexico you can stay up to 24 hours and have your own covered table. The major rest areas in Texas have wireless and large areas for walking. The further east you go the rest areas are harder to find. In Mississippi, we looked for one the GPS said was there for about 45 minutes finally driving on and stopping at a Cracker Barrel for the night. I asked if we could stay – we could. The next morning I had the worse biscuits, gravy and grits I have ever had. I am sure not all the Cracker Barrel’s are like that.

Hello! Loved the warning signs for snakes and later (Utah) for scorpions. Especially in the dark! A good set of ear-plugs is a necessity in some of the rest areas as the trucks are going in and out all night long. We saw an abandoned dog at a Texas rest area. Presley and I left him food and water and called the authorities. A worker there said he had been there for some time and was real skittish. The dog stayed in one area, looking east. Very sad. I hope the person who left him dies a long, slow, very painful death.

I don’t normally listen to NPR but craving news I tried to tune-in. It seems the entire time I traveled through the South it was pledge time. I would get about 5 minutes of news and 55 minutes of “make your pledge.” Every other station was having bible time so I listened to every song on my Zune 2 or 3 times. Thank goodness I have a lot of songs!

I visited friends in Jackson Beach, Florida; spent the weekend with Debbie in Orlando; stopped to see cousins in Louisiana and went to a class reunion at NMMI. Plus saw grand-kids in Arizona and Colorado. Covered lots of miles and had a blast!

It is a beautiful place with lots to see. There are full hook-ups at one of the campgrounds but the other camp ground is great also as you can walk up and use the showers anytime. Finding the internet or cell phone coverage is a problem without moving around but it can be done.

The Sportsmobile crowd, including me, and a couple of guests had a great time. There were a lot of dogs, at least 2 cats and all got along fine! The campfire bs session’s complete with tequilla were mucha diversión.

I started the trip on my birthday so I put my birthday cards out. Presley and I used this stop as a test of sorts before heading out across the country.

http://parks.nv.gov/vf.htm and http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7921

If a person who has diabetes becomes confused, weak, or unconscious for no apparent reason, he may be suffering from insulin shock (low blood sugar) or diabetic ketoacidosis (high blood sugar).

INSULIN SHOCK (LOW BLOOD SUGAR)

If a person with diabetes takes too much insulin or fails to eat enough food to match his insulin level or his level of exercise, a rapid drop in blood sugar can occur. Symptoms may come on very rapidly and include an altered level of consciousness, ranging from slurred speech, bizarre behaviour, and loss of coordination, to seizures and unconsciousness.

Treatment
If still conscious, the victim should be given something containing sugar to drink or eat as rapidly as possible. This can be fruit juice, candy, or a non-diet soft drink. If the victim is unconscious, place sugar granules, cake icing, or Glutose® paste from your first aid kit under his tongue, where it will be rapidly absorbed.

  DIABETIC KETOACIDOSIS (HIGH BLOOD SUGAR)

Diabetic ketoacidosis (formerly called diabetic coma) comes on gradually and is the result of insufficient insulin. This eventually leads to a very high sugar level in the victim’s blood. Early symptoms include frequent urination and thirst. Later, the victim will become dehydrated, confused, or comatose, and will develop nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and a rapid breathing rate with a fruity odor to his breath.

Treatment
The victim needs immediate evacuation to a medical facility. If vomiting is not present and the victim is awake and alert, have him drink small, frequent sips of water. If you are unsure whether the victim is suffering from insulin shock (low blood sugar) or ketoacidosis (high blood sugar), it is always safer to assume it is low blood sugar and administer sugar.

We will stay with relatives twice, friends three times (2 of those at the Valley of Fire), spend 9 nights in rest areas, 1 night at a military facility (Camp Shelby), 3 nights in hotels and 1 night in a commercial campground. I will see two children and 7 grandkids along the way along with the famed jack-a-lope and the 300 year old alligator (or was that a cat fish?)

I still have to pack clothes but laundry along the way will be needed. Food – hmmm, 20 days of Twinkies might be just a few too many. But think of all the DQ’s along the way with Peanut Buster Parfaits! That reminds me . . . pack the AED.

I have a great new app for my phone that lets me publish to the blog without internet. That will help keep everything up to date.

Most of the surviving Parents are now deceased.

There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010.

The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties.

Beginning at the apex on panel 1E and going out to the end of the East wall, appearing to recede into the earth (numbered 70E – May 25, 1968), then resuming at the end of the West wall, as the wall emerges from the earth (numbered 70W – continuing May 25, 1968) and ending with a date in 1975. Thus the war’s beginning and end meet. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angle’s open side and contained within the earth itself.

The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, Mass. Listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965.

There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Wall.

39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger.

8,283 were just 19 years old.

The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old.

12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.

5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.

One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old.

997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam .

1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam .

31 sets of brothers are on the Wall.

Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons.

54 soldiers on attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia . I wonder why so many from one school.

8 Women are on the Wall. Nursing the wounded.

244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall.

Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons.

West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall.

The Marines of Morenci – They led some of the scrappiest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest . And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci’s mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. Only 3 returned home.

The Buddies of Midvale – LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. They lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they all went to Vietnam . In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths.

The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 – 2,415 casualties were incurred.

For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those of us who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that these numbers created. We are, until we too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.

From the National League of Families for POW/MIA’s In Southeast Asia

So, I re-plumbed it and now the drain is in front of my rear tire. All the plumbing is hidden except for the drain end to which a hose attaches.

My friend, Jim Butler, gave the keynote address. He reminded all of us how and why the SOA was formed. It certainly has changed over the years and I am not totally sure I am good with that.

Jim, Larry and I (friends since B Company, 1st Special Forces in Okinawa, 1968) along with one of Jim’s daughters, Lindsay and some strap hangers closed the bar and at 2am. Presley and I found the bus and headed out for the first rest stop about an hour away. When we got up that morning there was just one truck there with us and the rest stop was totally under construction! They said they were working at the other end and decided to just let us snooze away. Thanks for that!

Took the 5 home and kept the speed right at 60. I cannot believe the cars travelling at 70 or 90 right on the bumper of the car in front. Even saw one of those tiny smart cars. The tiny wheels looked like they were revolving about a million times a minute.

Presley was tired! He is not a party animal. He slept the entire way home. I wish I could have.

We averaged 19 mpg on the way home. I think  that it is uphill from Bakersfield to here but we’ll get a chance to do better next month when we do . . . “The big loop.”

Thank goodness we have a large diesel tank. Diesel was $4.89 per gallon in Lee Vining – a true rip-off. I had decided to keep 60 mph (on the GPS) the whole trip to check for mileage. When we finally filled up at Tonopah, through the mountains we had averaged over 18 mpg which I didn’t think was too bad.

We stopped in the Inyo National Forest for an hour or so. I did some target practice and Presley chased squirrels who were very upset and told him so.

Dropping in down into Nevada I was looking for somewhere to camp. With BLM land on both sides of us (the TomTom shows BLM and National Forest) I decided to pull off into the desert at the next flat place. We went a couple of hundred feet from the road and stopped. I was tired. Presley had spent the entire day sitting up in the passenger seat or (mostly) looking out the window at the scenery. He had even gone for a swim in the Junction Creek while on Hwy 108 so he was beat also.