Old Fart Values

Call me a curmudgeon if you will.  Thing is, some trends in fashion, decorum and integrity bother me.

Men in baseball caps:
1.  Wearing them backwards.  The only people who did that back in the day were baseball catchers.  Now, you see it every day, everywhere.  Looks dumb.

2.  Wearing them in upscale restaurants.  Dumber.

3.  Wearing them at my dinner table.  Dumbest.  You may eat outside.

Ink: 
As in tattoos.  OMG, it's everywhere!  I don't mind moderate, tasteful ink, like a butterfly peaking out from a shapely woman's midriff.  However, when I see a person that is obviously not well off financially wearing ink from here to breakfast, I shake my head in despair. 

What does ink cost?  I have no idea but pretty sure it's not cheap.  Are these folks clueless about saving to buy a home, pay off the auto loan, and so on?

Holes:
In body parts.  For attaching hardware, decorations and small kitchen appliances.  In ladies' ears, okay; one hole per ear.  4-8 holes per ear, not so much.  In men's ears?  Sorry, doesn't work for me.  In navels, nipples, tongues, noses, lips, other body parts I can't even imagine - either sex: what the hell have you been smoking?

Integrity:
A man's word is his bond.  Okay, I'm an idealist about some things.  Still, if a person says he/she is going to do something, and others are depending on him/her to do it, then they damned well better do it.  Recently, a guy I regarded as a friend volunteered to help with a non-profit project.  We needed to get a quote from a local vendor, maybe a 30 minute task.  I was out of town at the time so I asked my 'friend' to take care of it.  He refused, said he had too much to do at home (he's retired).  Okay, Mr Flake, do what you gotta do - but you're no friend of mine.

In Conclusion:
Yeah, a curmudgeon and a dinosaur.  In a long line of dinosaurs.  No doubt my parents looked at my generation with equal dismay, thought the world was going to hell in a handbasket.  I've never understood that saying, seems an odd way to travel, regardless of destination - very cramped.

2019 Summary

1.  5900:  Miles towed.  Too many.

2.  38: Campgrounds where we stopped.  Waaaaaay too many.

3.  8:  Places I played pickleball.  Not many enough.
In order:
Woodland Park, CO (9600' elevation)
Rochester, MN
Aitkin, MN
Kapispell, MT
Usk, WA
Missoula, MT
Bozeman, MT
Woods Cross, UT

4.  2:  Failed holding tank valves.  Yup, too many.

5. Sault Ste Marie, MI:  Best stop.  Watched ships cruising by our campground, did the locks tour which was excellent.

6.  Copper Canyon, MI:  Worst stop.  Highly touted but - shitty roads.  'Fantastic views', my ass.

7.  Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, MI: Most interesting museum and video.

8.  12: Stops where we visited family and/or friends.

Jackson, WY

We spent 3 nights in Grand Teton N P.  Scratch one item off of Trish's bucket list: cycle the trail from Jackson to the Park Headquarters.

There are several of these antler arches in Jackson, each containing about 2,000 shed antlers.

Sculptures outside the visitor's center.  Trish started her bike ride here, and I went to play pickleball.

The view from the top of the gondola ride at Jackson Hole Resort.  Trish is standing at the gondola waiting area, admiring the view. 

The only dining at the top is a waffle place.  T had waffles, I had Fritos and an IPA, sat at picnic table across from Ms Carolina Motormouth, 2019.  Yack,, yack, yack.  Good grief!

The gondola cables go through these huge wheels.  Viewed from the waiting area at the top.

Museum of the Rockies II

The upper level of the Museum has a Yellowstone-themed area for kids.  The creative critters below are part of the setting.  First 2 pix below are front and rear views of a life-sized buff.

This guy is obviously into music.  I can envision it on the cover of a Buffalo Springfield album.  For you younger folks, Buffalo Springfield was a rock group in the mid 60s, included Neil Young and Stephen Stills.

The ties that bind.

Meow.

Beats me.  Looks tired, though.

Museum of the Rockies

It's large and impressive.  Not humongous like the British Museum or the Louvre, but for a small city in Montana (Bozeman) it's outstanding.

The largest exhibit is Genghis Khan, vicious warlord, empire builder, statesman with democratic foresight and tolerance.

Triple crossbow with 10' arrow.  Not sure how this weapon was used, maybe line up 5 enemy soldiers and impale them?  Skewer and elephant?

Parts of the Great Yasa, laws set down by the Khan.  Although some of the penalties are severe, and I can't endorse the clothing policy, the tolerance for religious beliefs, etc is awesome.  Our politicians and religious zealots would do well to follow the Khan's advice.

The Khan had 4 sons that didn't get along at all.  They split up the empire, let it fall apart.