I have been known to briefly summarize the previous year. Emphasis on briefly. 2014 certainly went out like a lion here in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. High temperature for the day was 41 degrees and windy with the overnight low at 37.7. I am not really complaining, mind you; but we spent a fair amount of time and money hauling our butts down here to be warm. I was prepping the coach for travel this morning with wool socks, long pants, long sleeve shirt, sweat shirt and wooly vest. In the interest of brevity I will finish with the news that today is sunny and bright and the winds are calm. The snow looks just fine over on the mountains around Lake Havasu.
This year we put 6,363 miles on Arcturus. This is similar to the previous two years where we sat still for four months hosting at Oregon State Parks. In 2011 we had a big year, (12,137 mi.,) when we toured the Midwest to visit the EAA fly-in in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Our biggest year was in 2005 when we crossed Canada and then looped back down the East coast and across the southern states. We did 18,738 miles that year. Oh yes, fuel was half the price that year, that is until Katrina swept through New Orleans. We were in Canada and their fuel jumped from just over $3.10 a gallon, ($.99/liter,) to $3.60 a gallon, ($1.16/liter,) in mid August, 2005. Little did we know then that we would never see anything south of $3.42 per gallon since January of 2011. Our cheapest fuel was $1.81 / gallon our first year, 2004, at Parker Arizona. Oh yes, the most expensive was $4.76 at a Flying J in Spokane, Washington in July of 2008.
On other modes of transportation we cruised for 140 miles on hikes, 152 miles on Purple, our regular tandem bicycle and 125 miles on Golanth, our tandem recumbent bicycle with electrical boost capabilities. Now Judy complains that Golanth is too heavy, and in all fairness the electrical stuff and the nifty constant speed hubs add a trifling bit of weight….about 30 pounds. However, I maintain that on the level they should be even. Oops, We did a pair of rides. Everything equivalent; same pack, not using the boost, closed course around the island with perhaps 20 feet of rise total. Purple beat Golanth by almost 9 minutes; 8.3 mph compared to 11.4 mph. On Golanth we took 31 minutes to do the loop and on Purple we made it in 22 minutes. Like I have always said, “It’s the time you spend enjoying the ride, not the speed you ride at that counts.”
In 2015 we are looking forward to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary this February. Perhaps this time instead of taking the train to Minneapolis, Minnesota, we will wait until this summer and celebrate with our home-grown friends in the Pacific Northwest. I have had my fill of snow for this year. You can check out a couple of nearly 50 year old photographs from our honeymoon, including one of my 19 year old bride, by going to the URL shown below.
Love to all
Gary and Judy Dinsmore
