Drivers Test(s)

 Virtually every 16-year old looks forward to being able to drive.

The driving tests were given in Detroit Lakes, MN, which was 30 miles from our home.  Farm home.  Farm kids learned how to drive tractors early on, at about age 13.  So, I had 3 years of 'driving experience' but darned little time driving on roads or in towns, before taking the drivers test.  No stop signs.  No traffic lights.  No parallel parking.  I may have driven the pickup the 7 miles to town a couple times, but that was it.

I wasn't stressed when my Dad and I went to take the drivers test.  Nope, not a bit stressed: fell asleep at the wheel.  Was headed for the ditch when my Dad yelled, "What are you doing!"  In my defense, I had been up since 5 AM, milking cows (by hand), slopping the hogs, etc.  And, it was nice and warm in the truck.

I had the written part of test down pat, had studied the learning manual at length.  The driving part was another matter.  Flunked it.  Ambled slowly through an intersection with a stop light that was yellow when I started but red when I was halfway through.

Flunked my second attempt, too, some weeks later.  Don't recall what I messed up that time.  Finally passed it on the 3rd try.  Alleluia!  

Alamo Lake

 We first visited Alamo Lake 13 years ago.  I was there again about 6 years back, hanging out with old college friends.  It's off the communication grid: no cell phone signal and no WIFI.

The earthen dam that forms the lake on the Bill Williams River.  Having visited Grand Coulee Dam, Hoover Dam, and several others, this one isn't a bit impressive. 

This overlook is near the dam.  Trish is reading the sign, part of which is shown below.  The name Bill Williams intrigues me: why his parents gave him the same first and last name is beyond me.  I have to wonder: was his middle name Bill also?

We returned from Alamo Lake yesterday.  As noted in my prior post, it was our last RV trip.

We're Done RVing

 We just returned from our last RV outing.  The RV and the truck that towed it will soon be on the auction block.

We loved every bit of our 15 years of RVing.  But: the short trips around AZ and northern Mexico aren't much fun without friends.  There were 5 RV couples at first.  In the last few years that dwindled down to 2: Terry and Lisa., and us.  T & L joined us on our recent trip to Alamo Lake State Park, and told us it was their last.  We quickly decided it was our last, also.

The loss of RV friends isn't the only reason, of course.  Trish and I are getting up there in age, becoming more forgetful (forgot to pack the ketchup), and towing a big rig has become more tiring and stressful.

What's next?  A smaller, more economical pickup.  And, a place for guests to stay; a much larger challenge.

Baa!

 My latest addition to the menagerie

We had a herd of about 200 sheep on the MN farm where I grew up.

Lambing season was in the spring, and there would always be 2-3 lambs that their mother couldn't nurse.  So we took them to the house and bottle fed them until they were big enough to wean.  I remember one in particular, we called Cuddles.

Shearing was also in the spring, when a couple of professionals would come and shear for a couple days.  My brothers and I wrestled the sheep to the shearer, then gathered up the wool and tied it into bales.  At the end of the day, we'd be awash in lanolin - and a few sheep ticks to boot.