Remember the adage "Blessed are they who have nothing to say and can be persuaded not to say it"? Well, I'm not one of them.

Listen children and you will hear the sunlit ride of Little Jimmy as he starts and stops and winds his way through life. He travels north, he travels south, he travels east, but never west. You may say that given where he has gone that is impossible. You would think that eventually he would fall into the Atlantic Ocean. But he doesn't due to a Geometric Force. Like leaning into the wind. If it weren't windy you'd fall forward. If you stood up straight you'd be blown backward. It is the same principle. I am multitalented. I just can't remember the other talents.

So there I was, sitting in Shari's driveway hunting and pecking my way through Trip Tales the 7th while my ribs healed. The bills from my trip to the ER with my broken ribs started coming in and finally amounted to $900. I didn't think the service was worth anywhere near that amount and I thought about protesting the bill. After thinking about it I decided to pay all of the bills and let the energy go. To delay it would only delay the healing of my ribs. I know how energy works.

While at Ruth's one day a medical psychic told me that during the accident I had been pulled out of my body. That explained why I remembered nothing of the accident itself. I felt that if my consciousness had been left in my body I would not have suffered nearly the injuries that I did. That pissed me off. I talked to Shari about it one day at lunch and she said it was quite common for our Guides to pull us out of our bodies during accidents so we don't have to go through the actual trauma of our bodies breaking. I understood this concept. I didn't agree that was why they did it in my case. But internally I agreed to buy it so I could let the energy go and get on with my life. It was obvious that I was supposed to have the accident. I just couldn't figure out why.

Speaking of falling off my motorcycle; I am extremely talented and incredibly stupid. When I combine those two things there is nothing I cannot screw up. Actually I eat a lot of rump roast and I am afraid that I have made an ass out of myself. (Refer: we are what we eat.) As a child I pondered the question "How stupid can a person get?" Apparently I have been trying to answer that ever since.

The weather in Show Low was beautiful for my five week stay there. That allowed me to sit outside in the sun and just vegetate, which is one of my favorite things to do in life. I didn't get to see much of Shari. She said that she was on the worst schedule of her career. She is a nurse for the Apache Reservation Hospital and was working a lot of nights and often four nights in a row and only two days off before another four on.

Just before I left town I had arranged to take Kathleen out to dinner. That afternoon I found that Buddhist monks would be at Ruth's store that evening. When I arrived at Kathleen's I told her about the Monks and she wanted to go. The evening would consist of a Buddhist meditation followed by a pot luck. Kathleen and I stopped at a grocery Deli across the street from Ruth's to buy something for the potluck. There we ran into Veda and her husband. Veda is Kathleen's niece through her deceased husband, John. We told them about the monks and they ran home, got a babysitter, and showed up at Ruth's all within 25 minutes.

I did not get anything from the Monks' meditation but most of the people I talked with said they felt a tremendous sense of peace during the meditation. I probably spent the entire time wondering how they got their voices to make chanting noises that incredibly low. I have attention deficit hypoactive disorder. But I did enjoy the potluck because I got to visit with many people whom I hadn't seen in a year or two. While some of the monks spoke some English, they kept to themselves. They were touring America to raise money to build a temple in Northern India, since they had given up hope of being allowed to rebuild their temple in Tibet which the Chinese Communists had destroyed.

One of the monks was a doctor of eastern medicine. Both Ruth and my friend Lisa had consultations with him. He prescribed medicines of an herbal nature and told them where to order the herbs. He told Ruth that her blood was flowing sluggishly through her veins and gave her some herbs which he had with him.

Shortly after I got to Show Low Ruth became laid up with back pain. One day while sitting in the talking circle listening to others talk I tuned in to Ruth's energy. I felt that her back pain was due to a dislocated hip on the right (which was later verified by a Chiropractor.) I also saw a black sludge around her heart. I took a wire brush to scrub away this sludge but it kept coming back. Underneath the sludge was a heart of gold. I felt the sludge was due to her dealings with a couple of people in her life, that she had had to close off her heart and could not express the love she felt for these people. I told her what I saw and she said that was true.

I finished the last Trip Letter, printed it off my computer and left town. I stopped of in Flagstaff to get it copied at Office Max. Then I drove west on I-40 and then south to Quartzsite. I got there about 8 PM and pulled into one of my favorite places to camp about 7 miles north of town. The next day I addressed the Trip Letter and mailed it. I stayed in Quartzsite for only a week. If you remember, my gray water tank had fallen off a year earlier. A new one was installed at RV Lifestyles in Quartzsite in February. It fell off two months later on my way to Idaho where I had it re-welded. RV Lifestyles had said they would reimburse me the $150 welding fee. After many phone calls with no success I had decided to wait until I got back to the area in the Fall. I spent the next week getting my check. It took five trips to the dealership before I finally procured my check. Even then the man who gave me the check smiled at me and said nothing, as though I should be pleased they had done such shoddy work and taken 8 months to get my check to me. People like this I can live without.

With check in hand I then traveled south to the California desert 15 miles west of Yuma. I went there to cross into Mexico to buy prescription medicines for various of my friends. Most drugs do not require a doctor's prescription there and cost about 1/3 what they do in the U.S. (I have never bothered to look for the fraction keys on my computers in the 12 years I have had them. I had complained to George about always having to write "and a half" when he suggested I use 1slash2. I learn so much when I am around George that I wonder what I did before I met him. It really is true that whenever I am around George I learn 2 or 3 things that make my life easier. He is like my Cosmic Brain for ideas. When I am with him I learn so much that I have asked him to retire and travel with me. He says he knows too much to do that.)

I had lots of drugs to buy so I made four trips over a two week period. I didn't want to be recognized as a regular border crosser as that would get me in trouble. That is why I went on different days of the week and different times each day. It worked because I never saw the same border guard twice. Anyway they seemed more concerned whether I was taking more than one bottle of liquor into the U.S. than how much prescription medicine. You are allowed one quart of liquor every thirty days and a ninety day supply of drugs for personal use only.

I arrived in the California desert the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I found a spot to camp with no one around. During the day others started to arrive bringing their ATV's with them. 24 hours later I was surrounded by over 150 RV's with at least 200 ATV's. I found myself camped in the middle of their race track. They started at 8 AM and rode until midnight. None of these vehicles have mufflers. On Thanksgiving morning I decided to leave. About a mile east and across the highway was a small group of RV's without any ATV's, so I moved there.

Rather than loading up the motorcycle I pulled the trailer to the new campsite and walked back for the motorcycle. When I got the motorcycle back from the repair shop in Show Low I started it up one night just to make sure it would start in the cold. It did. When I turned the key off I apparently turned the ignition to the accessory position, which turns on only the rear light. When Shari went to work the next morning she knocked on my door to tell me I had left the light on. I went out to check on it and it started right up. I hadn't ridden it since.

When I went to start the motorcycle on Thanksgiving it would not start. I was pissed so I kept the starter button pushed down until the battery ground to a halt. I walked back, got my van, loaded up the motorcycle and took it to the new campsite. I would have to take the battery out and use my battery charger and my inverter to go from DC to AC to DC to recharge the battery but I could do it.

The next day I went for a 45 minute walk across the desert. I didn't feel like going inside my trailer afterwards so I was just standing there, staring at the eastern horizon, thinking. My thoughts were drifting but they had settled upon the date of April 15, 2000 and getting my energy back, which was a thought that had drifted into my mind unbidden in July, 1998. While I had this thought in mind I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to go start my motorcycle. This was a ridiculous urge because the battery was totally dead. Nonetheless when the urge wouldn't leave me I went to try to start the motorcycle. It started instantly. I drove it around for about twenty minutes to recharge the battery.

Since the motorcycle shouldn't have started and since I had the urge to start it when I was thinking of getting my energy back on 4-15-00 and since it did start right up, I took that as a sign that I really would get my energy back in April. I had never gotten a sign before. I had asked for them and looked for them, but never found them. So this all felt quite meaningful to me and I was quite excited about it. However, April came and went and I am still my old dull self. Go figure! Maybe some things are beyond miracles. I figure some Angel Mechanics were in the vicinity at that time and were willing to recharge my motorcycle but it had to be done right that moment. And that's what happened.

Where I camped was just east of the Sand Hills and I could see them in the distance. Needless to say the ground was mostly sand. I spent my non-Mexico days sitting outside enjoying the sun and taking occasional walks. My ribs wouldn't let me hike more than an hour. Anything longer caused my ribs to hurt for a day or two, so I limited my hikes to an hour. I have never liked the energy in Yuma and I didn't like the energy where I was camped then. I don't know why.

While I was camped down there I called Shari and was told that Ruth had died. She had been flown to Phoenix for an emergency heart bypass and had died a week after surgery. This was quite a blow for all of us since we didn't know she had any cardiac problems. Her son, Bobby, who worked in the store with her, was unable to keep the store open and closed it shortly after Christmas. This was a double void in all of our lives and a very sad day.

When I rode my motorcycle I noticed that the speedometer didn't work. I assumed the cable had broken in the accident and had gone unnoticed. I left the California desert on December 7. I took the back way to Quartzsite because I had never gone that way and because it would take me to a motorcycle dealer in Blythe, just into California on I-10 and 25 miles west of Quartzsite. He had worked on my motorcycle before so I stopped there to have him fix the speedometer. For some reason I still can't understand he wouldn't even look at it because he said he couldn't order Suzuki parts. I asked him to look at it to see what was wrong and I could order any parts from the dealer from whom I bought the motorcycle, but he flat out refused. So I left. Interestingly I-10 in western Arizona is called the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway and I drove on it on December 7. The USS Arizona was also one of the battleships which was sunk by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. Was all of this a coincidence? Yeah.

I left the dealership and drove to a campsite just south of Bouse, Arizona. The only other motorcycle dealership was in Yuma, 90 miles away. I knew I would be riding the motorcycle only in the Bouse area no more than 2 or 3 miles at a time and would not need a speedometer. I decided to wait until I got back to Show Low to get it fixed.

When I got to Bouse I put into effect my Y2K plan. There is a small RV park in the parking lot of a small motel. I intended to spend Y2K there, figuring they probably had well water and if the lights went out there would be RV generators to run the well pump. Though as it turned out, that half of the town had city water. There are only nine campsites in the RV park so while camped three miles south of town I checked on their availability every day when I went into town for my newspaper (stuff can't happen if I don't read about it.) On the 15th most of the spots were filled so I signed up for one of the two remaining sites and moved in the next day.

The rates were quite low at $60 per month plus electricity. It was right on the highway which goes through town but was quiet enough at night. Living in town does have it's advantages. I was only three blocks from the General Store at which I bought my daily paper and four blocks from the post office. There is a small city proper which is four blocks long and four wide. The rest of the city is spread along two miles of highway. During the winter there are about 3,000 people there, counting Snowbirds. I ended up staying at the RV park 5 1/2 weeks.

I could access hiking trails by walking to the edge of town, though I was still limited to one hour at a time. I made my own beef jerky by leaving it on an old TV tray. When birds kept making off with most of it, it occurred to me to put the top of the tray in the dashboard of my van and point the van toward the sun. My van always heats up in the sun so this worked quite well and much more quickly than merely setting the meat in the sun. Necessito est mater inventionis. There I go again, speaking in tongues! I was somewhat uncomfortable during my stay in town, presumably due to the highway traffic.

Spending so much time alone gives me lots of time to think. I realized that having a double chin isn't so bad because it hides my otherwise rather prominent adams apple. That is one of the joys of getting older. I can't remember what the others are. The ignorance of my youth has mellowed into utter stupidity. While attending the Heavenly School for Earthly Preparedness I either took the wrong courses or was sent to the wrong planet. Before Minnie Driver became an actress, she was a midget race car driver. Southerners say "y'all" because they can't afford to buy the other two vowels. The Big Bang happened when God sneezed. But it snot what you think. I don't have to worry about grass stains on my jeans while in SW Arizona. Two good examples of oxymorons are: Military Intelligence and Holy Wars. I used to be precocious. Now I am post cocious.

The night of December 30th I didn't sleep very well and got up shortly after 5 AM. At 5:30 I turned on CNN Headline News. When the lights came on in China I knew that Y2K was a non event. I figure that the programmers didn't know if there would be a problem or not, but that there might be some problems. Then the lawyers got involved and created a worst case scenario to fend off possible lawsuits in the event something did go wrong. Out of this grew a crisis.

Nonetheless, on the night of December 31st there I was hunkered down in my trailer; guns loaded, cash hoarded, bathtub full of water, and boxes of food filling every spare inch of my trailer. And nothing happened, dammit. The only time in my entire life I have been prepared for anything and it doesn't happen. And two weeks later I was sick of the taste of Spam. But all of the preparations did have their upside. So far this year I have spent very little money on food. I feel like a food bank for one.

Actually the New Millennium doesn't start until 1-1-01 as there was no year zero. Personally I think this whole Millennium controversy is a bunch of tripe. Our calendar is based on the year of Jesus's birth. Bible scholars say that he was actually born in 3 or 4 BC, so the Millennium really took place several years ago. But 1-1-00 was a GAME--a Generally Accepted Millennial Event. Well, I guess I explained that pretty good.

One day while hiking I came across a hot and dirty archeological scatologist who was busy excavating a dinosaur site. I asked him why he did it. He said, "I just dig this shit."

Of course, being a football fan, I watched the college championship game in the Sugar Bowl. The two teams involved were the Florida State Seminoles and the Virginia Tech Hokies. On the first day of practice in August the Virginia Tech players all run a race. The slowest player is thereafter known as the Hokie Pokey.

While in the RV park there was one neighbor I did talk to. He and his wife were from Idaho. I told them I was a Loaner. They knew that I kept to myself most of the time. I explained to them that I was on loan to planet Earth. They replied, talking like that no wonder you are alone a lot.

My niece, Becky, as a child, was a very pert and perky girl. As a grownup she is now a rather droll intellectual and not pert at all. Now she is an expert.

In preparation for Y2K I checked my van to make sure it was in good working order. Accidentally I reversed the battery terminals. When I turned on the radio to a Country/Western station, the singer sobered up, got out of jail, his mother-in-law went home, his wife came back to him and the train missed his pickup truck. My van was swaying from side to side on the highway so I took it to a mechanic. He said he couldn't do anything to fix the nut that held the wheel. There I was for Y2K, in the middle of the desert. I didn't know if I was coming or going. Then I remembered that I was camped and obviously going nowhere. Problem solved. That would probably make a good title for my auto biography: Going Nowhere; two flat tires and ran out of gas. (Hint: Auto.)

I do enjoy the small town atmosphere of Lavina and Bouse. You can walk anywhere and everybody is friendly. Karen and her husband, Bill, own and operate the General Store where I bought my daily paper. Bill opens up at 6 AM and Karen takes over about 10:30 until closing at 6 PM. Normally Karen was there by the time I came by for my paper. We had many fascinating conversations about a variety of topics, including world affairs as well as personal things. The two of us together solved most of the world's problems. She has a BA in Accounting but she and Bill have mostly worked as motel operators. They bought the General Store several years ago. Their store serves as an unofficial center of information for the town as most of the townsfolk do as least some of their shopping there. So Karen was able to fill me in on the politics of small town life. It sounded as complex as the politics of big city life. Karen was my main source of human contact during the 12 weeks I spent in and around Bouse.

My other human contact was Wayne Cooper, or Coop. He had moved to Bouse 10-15 years prior to care for his elderly brother. Coop was a character! He always had a wad of tobacco in his mouth except when he stopped at the bar for a beer. He always kept busy doing a variety of things. Wherever his white pickup was I would find Coop close by. We talked often but seldom for more than ten minutes at a time. He kept me informed about the social side of Bouse. Who owned what, who worked where etc. He was always in a good mood.

Shortly after I finished making my beef jerky I offered some to Coop. He smiled and reminded me that he had no teeth. That was not as bad as the fact that two days prior he had told me that he had had all his teeth pulled 28 years prior. Duh! Come on, Jim. Get a clue!

That was another one of those times where something is all too obvious in retrospect and you have to hit your forehead with the butt of your palm. Actually, I do that so often that I am surprised that I don't have a dent in the center of my forehead. This was the extent of my human contact. I also had no ET contact, as usual.While camped in the RV park, when listening to CD's on my portable CD player, I would often pick up CB radio transmissions from the passing truckers. How this could happen is beyond me since the CD player doesn't even have any kind of receiver.

I awoke on Christmas Day and could not read the newspaper without my glasses, it was all blurry. This had never happened before. It was two weeks before my vision returned enough to read the paper without glasses. It was another two weeks before I could read the boxscores without glasses. Since then my vision has been normal (for me) and I have not used my glasses at all. Strange. Wearing glasses does bring things into better focus. Trouble is, I still can't make any sense out of it.

My gray water tank must be my Great White Whale. While still in the RV park I noticed a puddle of water under the gray water tank. With Coop's help I localized the problem to the kitchen sink. The drain pipe was leaking where it entered the gray water tank. I found a mechanic in Bouse who worked on cars as well as RV's. In fact he used to work for Coachmen, a travel trailer/RV factory. His name is Ed and he is The Man in Bouse. He is good, thorough and a nice man.

I stayed at the trailer park until I could get an appointment for Ed to fix the problem. It turns out that the hole in the floor through which the inlet pipe for the gray water tank runs was off center and the factory workers had just bent the plastic pipes to fit. The kitchen drain pipe couldn't handle the stress and pulled loose. Ed took all the pipes out and cut the hole in the right place and now everything works well.

When I picked up the trailer from Ed I moved 2 miles NE of Bouse onto the desert. I was the only one up there, only occasionally seeing someone drive by in a car or truck. This was towards the end of January. I really liked it up there. It was peaceful and I felt good there. There was a dirt/gravel road that went into the wilderness which I hiked. By this time I was able to hike as long as I wanted without my ribs hurting and I often did three hour hikes up the road, just to see what was there. Mostly, it was just more desert.

After my hikes I would sit outside in the sun merely watching the hills grow until the sun set. This is the kind of life I really enjoy. It is very relaxing. Once every week or two I would drive to Parker, 25 miles away, for fresh produce. Parker is on the Colorado River Indian Tribe reservation. They abbreviate the name of the tribe as CRIT. I assumed the people who lived on the reservation were referred to as CRITTERS.

Santarra did not come down to SW Arizona this winter. I had a feeling that she wasn't coming. I got a letter from her the end of December telling me that she had met her true Soul Mate in Warren, with whom she had been living in bliss for the last several months. I spoke with her two months ago and she said they were still together and planned to get married. They have a house in Grand Rapids, MI and plan to live there year round. She is happy so I am happy. But I missed her.

My winter in Bouse was the least bad in at least eight years. Fewer bad things happened to me and I was able to fix them more easily. Except for two problems which took months to fix, life was good. One of the problems was my AC/DC TV/VCR. Last Fall it was blowing DC fuses so I took it in to have that looked into and for general maintenance and cleaning. $85 and they said nothing was wrong. Shortly after I got to Bouse the VCR stopped rewinding and was eating tapes. Two more trips to the shop and $145 later, it still occasionally eats tapes and won't eject. However, I have learned that when it won't eject, if I unplug it overnight it works properly the next morning and I can get my tape out with only a couple of crinkles in the tape. I'll spare you the other problem.

The weather was about normal temperature wise but much cloudier than usual. I had to watch my electrical use carefully but had no problem in that regard. While we had lots of clouds, we had no rain except for five episodes of sprinkles, which barely settled the dust. For some reason there were lots of flies there this winter. Before, I had never noticed bugs there in the winter. One afternoon while sitting outside watching the hills grow I killed 39 flies who had landed on my body. I had to sit outside with a fly swatter. I was armed and dangerous. (What do you call a black man in New York City carrying a wallet? Armed and dangerous.) Where is the U.S. Air Force when you need it? I really needed them to enforce a no fly zone in Bouse that winter.

My older brother traveled to phoenix in mid February on business and I drove there to visit with him. We had a nice one on one visit during a relaxing dinner. I usually see him only at family gatherings when I visit KC, so this was special. I enjoyed our visit very much.This brother is a priest. So whenever I am with him I keep one eye on the sky. Growing up Catholic I went to Mass on the first Friday of the month for nine months in a row. According to the contract, that guaranteed that a priest would be with me when I died. So whenever I am with this brother (I also have a younger one) I am just a little bit leery, wondering if my time is up. So far so good.

One morning while camped on the desert I was awakened by a horn at 9 AM. I got dressed and went outside to talk to the horn honker. He owned the Diamond King Mine which leased the mineral rights on 88 acres of public land. He was upset and wanted to know if I had taken down his no trespassing sign. I told him no. He said that he guessed he'd have to fence in his claim. I wasn't camped on his claim, but the road to my campsite went through it. Since he had awakened me so early in the morning I gave him a stern lecture explaining the difference between private versus public lands. It is illegal for him to fence in public lands and I told him so in no uncertain terms. He was in a nasty mood and I gave it right back to him, especially since I was right and I knew it. I don't often get the chance to be right, so I took every advantage of it.

I camped in the same spot for 5 weeks. Legally I had to leave after two weeks before I could return for two more. This was an out of the way place and I felt safe there; and, indeed, I was not bothered by The Law.

There is a lot of talk about what to call this decade in which we now find ourselves. Whatever we decide we simply cannot call it the "Aughts". That was the 90's. Ought to lose weight; ought to do something to improve my mind; ought to develop an exercise program; ought to suck up to the boss; ought to chuck it all and become an itinerant bum. Obviously, I chose the last one.

Palo Verde trees have a Martian buried underneath them. That is why they are green. I checked with my usual sources and they confirmed this.

I wanted to do something special for my birthday in early February. Since I was camped with no one else around I decided I would not use deodorant on that special day. I decided that it was my birthday and I would stink if I want to. Hey! That sounds like a good title for a song. (Hint: I think I'll have Lesley Gore sing it.) Oh, God! I am reduced to explaining my jokes. Will the humility never end.

I have mentioned to you in the past that I seem to be able to have only one thought in my mind at a time. Being a guy, that means that it is either sports, beer, or sex. Only I don't really remember what "sex" is anymore. Oh, well. You can't miss what you can't remember.

In March of 1997 there was a V-shaped formation of lights which were seen moving SSE from the deserts of Nevada, across the Grand Canyon, over Phoenix and down into Mexico. It was reported in USA Today that the air traffic controllers at Luke Air Force Base just outside Phoenix claimed that they could see the lights from their towers but nothing showed on radar. In January of 1999, Peter Gersten, executive director of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy filed a suit under the Freedom of Information Act for all documents related to "unidentifiable and unique aerial objects", some of which were reported over Phoenix in March 1997. In response the government filed three documents showing that federal agencies had used 32 specific terms, including "UFO", "Spacecraft", and "alien craft" in its database search and came up with nothing.

At the time the lights appeared the Air Force said it conducted no investigation because it was not a military situation. The city of Phoenix conducted no investigation because it said it was not a city matter. I have this to say: either the government knew what was going on or it conducted an investigation. For neither to apply would be gross treason. As paranoid as our government is, it knows what those lights were. So much for an open government Of, By and For the People.

George wanted to come and visit me in Bouse but was having trouble getting away. I told him that if it wasn't until later in the Spring we could meet in Silver City, NM, so he would only have to drive 1/2 as far. As it worked out, we met in Silver City on March 1st. On the way there I spent the night in Benson, AZ at the San Pedro Territory RV Park. Full hookups and cable TV for only $14.53. And I was in luck! My Phoenix Suns basketball team was on TNT that night so I got to watch the game. That was a bonus.

We had agreed to meet and camp at the KOA right outside of Silver City. I arrived about noon and George showed up that evening. We had a week to see the sights. I had heard a lot of good things about Silver City; that it was an arts and a New Age center. That was true. Its population is 12,000. There are 43 churches, a food co-op, 3 herb shops, a New Age book and gift store, several art stores and lots of antiques shops in historic downtown Silver City. The city straddles the Continental divide at 6,000 feet and is surrounded by forested mountains except for the southeast direction, which is high desert.

What used to be Main Street in Silver City is now the Big Ditch. Due to a series of floods in the early 1900's Main Street sunk 50 feet and is now a stream flowing between the highway and Historic Downtown Bullard Street.

George and I did the tourist thing. We shopped the stores Downtown; visited the Gila Cliff Dwellings ruins; visited the City of Rocks State Park; and took a trip to a small border town in Mexico so George could get some cheap medicines. We also drove into the mountains and hiked a mountain trail up a canyon. This I really enjoyed. It has been several years since I hiked a true mountain trail. It was so peaceful and so beautiful there.

Except for one cold and rainy/snowy day (when we went to Mexico) the weather was normal with daytime highs in the upper 50's.

George has a good female friend in Dallas named Pat. Pat's daughter has two sons, one of whom killed himself about a year ago. This devastated both Pat and her daughter. The other son was supposed to die in the Texas A&M bonfire tragedy last Fall in which about 12 people did die. The first son recognized that if both of them died that year as was planned their mother would not be able to handle it. So he took his brother out of his body so he would sleep through the event. He did and was thus saved. After this event Pat, who is a very good psychic, tuned into the event and was given the above information.

I asked George if I could tell this story and he agreed. I am not sure exactly why I want to tell this story. There is a lot that can be learned from this event. But I don't feel capable of telling you what it is. Perhaps I should leave it as it is and let each of you learn from it whatever is necessary for you.

George made $800 in 1999 recycling aluminum cans which he picked up in his neighborhood on his one hour walks on Saturdays and Sundays. St. George is the patron saint of aluminum cans. He keeps them off the streets and recycles them like lost souls.

The energy and people in Silver City are very open and very nice. Everyone with whom we came in contact was very friendly and helpful. But for some reason I felt miserable there. I actually had to eat breakfast several of the mornings in the hope of finding a focus, get a grip on myself. There are three huge open pit copper mines that triangulate Silver City, only one of which is currently an active mine. On Thursday we were returning to town and passed one of the inactive mines. When I saw the tailings of the mine I instantly realized it was these mines which, for some unknown reason, were causing my distress.

Earlier that day I bought a 20 oz. bottle of Dr Pepper. On the label, I kid you not, appears the following: "WARNING! Contents under pressure. Cap may blow off causing eye or other serious injury. Point away from face and people, especially while opening." I have not seen this warning on any other brand of soft drink. Isn't our legal system wonderful. I am sure that warning label made at least two people very rich. At our expense, since the money comes from us consumers.

There is a town north of Silver City called Pinos Altos. The city was named from a tree which grows there in abundance. From this tree they get the pine nuts from which they make Altoids.

On the seventh day George rested and left town. I was tired and found a campsite in the National Forest 22 miles south of the city. I wanted to rest before going to Show Low. The area I picked was very nice. It was in a grassy valley which afforded lots of sunlight for my solar panels. There were several dirt roads close by on which I could hike. I stayed there 10 days. I felt much better there, though not totally comfortable. The first several days were perfect; sunny and low 60's. The last few days were cold and snowy, which was why I didn't stay longer. At this campsite I got no TV or radio reception due to the mountains and I did not bother going into town for a paper. I was delightfully alone.

Another reason I wanted to stick around a little longer is that George and I had found two discussion groups which I wanted to attend as the people there were very nice. I wanted a chance to get to know them a little. They met once a week and I attended each one two more times before I left. The topics were the books Course in Miracles and Conversations with God. Though I had never read any of the books, I did know what they were about. But the reason I went was the people. It was so nice to be around these pleasant, spiritual people. I wanted to stay longer but the snow stopped and the sun came out. The road to Show Low was through the mountains so I struck while the roads were clear. People ask me how I can stay out of trouble in the desert and the forest. Well, I keep my wits about me so I stay out of trouble 1/2 of the time.

I keep expecting a terrorist group to claim responsibility for Gore and Bush. Don't we have a wonderful choice?

My hair has been bleached blonde by the sun. You can call me Blonde. James Blonde. Shake me; don't stir me.

I was camped in Shari's driveway in Show Low for three weeks, I think. It seems shorter because the middle week was all cold, rain and snow and I was trailer bound. The first and third weeks were very nice, sunny and 60's. Show Low felt a lot emptier now without Ruth's Healing Spirit store to hang out at. Three of my Show Low friends have died and of the rest, all but Shari and Ed and Lisa, have left town. And for all of you who like to point out that all of my friends were alive when I got there; hey don't look at me. And there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that it had anything to do with my jokes. Hey! Trust me on this.

Since I was there only a short time I did all my hiking on the Buena Vista Trail, a nine mile loop trail, which has always been my favorite. There is a high point on it which consists of red sandstone and manzanita bushes and reminds me of Sedona. Whenever I reach that point I sit down for a half hour or so and stare south at the White Mountains in the distance. It is a very peaceful place.

While in Show Low I took my motorcycle to the shop which had fixed it the prior Fall (no pun intended but, by God, I'll take it.) It turned out that my speedometer cable had come unscrewed underneath the gas tank. It cost only $10 to fix that minor problem. It didn't occur to me for a couple of days that they had probably unscrewed it themselves when they took the gas tank off to replace the blocked gas line. Oh well, I try.

I also had my friend, Ed, replace the driver's side electric window motor. Ed is not only nice and a good human being but he knows what he is doing, a great combination for your mechanic. Because I was there for such a short time I didn't get much of a chance to visit with Ed and Lisa. I did get to visit with Ed as he worked on my van, but Lisa's mother was in town and they were off for the day. I threw Ed a curve when I asked him at the last minute to put in platinum spark plugs as he had left the needed tools at the "office". But, God bless him, he struggled and managed to get them installed with the tools he had on hand at home. He works at a place 20 or 30 miles to the west of town.

I don't know where I got the idea for the platinum spark plugs. I assume I must have seen them on TV. They fire hotter and more efficiently giving more power and mileage. They made a very noticeable difference in both of these for me.

I had a fun time visiting with Shari. She was her usual wonderful and fun self. She had met a new friend, LaJeanne, who is very active in SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism.) LaJeanne convinced Shari to join and they both have had lots of experiences and fun with the group. Shari has even spent the night in a tent! One Saturday afternoon they invited me to one of their events. This consisted of a potluck and fights among the men. They all dressed in their medieval garb. They all survived and a good time was had by all. LaJeanne is also a dressmaker (and professional psychic) and made a new dress for Shari. She looked darling. I can't believe that I took pictures of the men fighting but none of the two babes. I must be getting old. LaJeanne also teaches belly dancing and her class danced for us. This I did notice but they wouldn't let me take pictures.

I don't actually remember much of what I did while I was in Show Low this time. I write these Letters from notes I keep in the back of my daily journal and I only have two entries for this time. I must have been a barrel of fun. But I do suddenly remember that while Ed was working on my van I walked over to Kathleen's house to visit with her. She lives only a few blocks away. Actually this may have happened another time. I could check my journal but, frankly, I'm too damn lazy. I'd rather just make it up. In any event, I hear from Barb that Kathleen has moved to Wisconsin so she can be closer to the Packers, I mean her kids.

At some point in time I left Show Low headed for Kansas City. I took, as usual, I-40 across New Mexico to Tucumcari, where I spent the night in an RV park. Gas prices were high by this time but with my new platinum spark plugs I was getting 10 1/2 MPG rather than my usual 8 1/2. This was good. It was windy and the tumbleweeds were on the move; sometimes racing with me and at other times darting in front of my van as if to commit Hari Kari on the way to Tucumcari.

The next morning I left Tucumcari on Highway 54 as I have before. But this time I headed north to highways 50 & 56 to avoid Wichita. For some mysterious reason I found myself in a good mood and was able to think of something other than my van, my trailer, or the road for the first time since I bought the trailer.

It was late April and the trees in the towns through which I drove had leaves and those in the country did not. This has always intrigued me, why the trees in the country get their leaves later and drop them sooner than those in cities. You would think with all of the air pollution in the cities that it would be the other way around. Could it be that the human energy nourishes the trees?

Just west of Dalhart, TX I drove by two huge cattle feedlots. I probably waved to the hamburger you are having tonight. These two lots stretched for over a mile along the highway and as far back off the highway as I could see. I wonder how many people they hire full time just to remove the manure from these lots? There could easily have been a million cattle on these two lots.

Another reason I got off Highway 54 was so that I could stop at Dodge City, KS. I have never been there and I thought it time I saw Boot Hill. Unfortunately the population is 22,000 and the city much too big for me to go sight seeing in, pulling my trailer. So I stopped for gas and left Boot Hill for another day.

Driving Highway 56 did give me the opportunity to see some country which I had never seen before. However, it looked suspiciously like the country I had already seen along Highway 54.

I don't really care if anybody reads these letters or not. I just have the desire to write them and am satisfied with that. However, it has occurred to me that if no one reads these letters are the jokes still funny? And I never give tests to anyone to see if they have read them. Lord knows it is test enough just for you to read it in the first place.

Highway 56 was pretty flat though not like the flatness found in northern Illinois. There were no hills. The highway merely had a slight incline and then a decline in the number of husbands and wives. No. Wait! That is a song. Damn these metal fillings in my teeth anyway.

I did have a minor problem in Dodge City. To get out I had to drive on a steep overpass over some railroad tracks and stop at the bottom of the hill and let the cross traffic go by. I don't know what they were so mad about. If you look crosseyed at the cross traffic, does it make them normal?

There is nothing to forgive if you don't blame somebody in the first place.

Anymore I can't remember directions long enough to forget them.

Crossing Frog Creek was a ribbiting experience.

A woman woke up one morning and found her husband not in bed with her. She went downstairs looking for him and found him in the kitchen. He was sitting at the table with his face in his hands, crying. She asked him what was wrong. He said: Remember when we were 16 and your Dad found us in that compromising situation? And he said it was either the altar or prison for me? Well, I'd be a free man today.

The afternoon of my second day on the road I had a big disappointment. I lost power and mileage in my van. I started getting 7 1/2 MPG. I went from 10 1/2 to 7 1/2 MPG on one fillup. When I got to KC I took it to Firestone but they could not find anything wrong with it. It remains thus to this day. When I get back to Show Low Ed will know what is wrong and be able to fix it. He can do anything!

I spent two weeks in KC. It was one week too many, although the energy didn't bother me as badly as previous times. As before I parked my trailer on the dead end street next to my sister's and brother-in-law's house. Still had lots of clouds but no rain, which I would continue to experience until July 1 when the clouds would go away.

When in KC I mainly visit with my family since I get back there so seldom. There are only a handful of friends I try to see while I am there. The rest of my KC friends are stuck with only these Letters. One of the friends whom I visit asked why I never talk about them. Thus creating a whole new aspect to these Letters and giving me lots of License.

So I'll start with her and her husband first. Her name is Jane. I have known her since 4th grade. We went to the same grade school and the same college, Kansas University. She married two of my fraternity brothers, sequentially. She has a Masters degree in Speech Pathology. Among other things, she travels around the country giving workshops teaching people how to communicate with people with all types of disabilities. Though she has had no success with politicians.

She is a beautiful woman, inside and out, as well as being very intelligent. If I remember correctly she was Miss Prairie Village and competed in the Miss Kansas Pageant back in the 60'S. Except for some gray in her hair, she looks the same as she did then. She is a good cook. And a great mother to her three daughters. I love her. And I love her husband. AND I LOVE HER THREE KIDS, TOO!

Due to bad karma on my part I basically lost track of her after she married the first of my fraternity brothers and did not really reconnect with her and the second of my fraternity brothers until January, 1991. Her husband, Gerry, is a Pediatric Dentist and an adventurer. Over the last few years he purchased 20 acres of land with a house outside Baldwin City, KS and has totally refurbished it into a country retirement home for them. He had a second well dug and had the house re-wired for total Solar Power. It is a long story but the house is totally self sufficient. Even when they are not there, the house gets along fine without them.

Early this past Spring Gerry decided to burn the grass on the property to increase its fertility. This is a common practice among Kansas farmers and is legal. A couple of his neighbors said that they would help him, as they knew what to do. While Gerry was in the house informing the Sheriff of the intended burn, as required by law, they lit the grass. They had intended to burn a fire break around one of the oil wells on Gerry's land but the fire got out of control and burned the oil well instead and most of his next door neighbor's land also, including his two oil wells. The neighbor's house was saved only because the neighbor happened to be home and used his water hose to keep the fire at bay until the fire trucks arrived.

I read two newspaper articles regarding this and each one blamed Gerry for starting the fire. Gerry has been heard to say, "I didn't start the fire, Billy Joel did." The irony of the situation is that while the neighbor's land burned Gerry's land didn't and still needed to be burned. I did question Gerry regarding his whereabouts on or about May 4, 2000, but he insists he was nowhere near Los Alamos, New Mexico on that date. He also insists that he is not the famous arsonist mentioned on the Internet as Gerry the Torch. I believe him. He is a good man.

Speaking of the Los Alamos fire, I find it somewhat ironic that it happened the day before the infamous date of 5-5-2000, which brought the alignment of 7 of the 9 planets and was supposed to tilt the earth on its axis and make the Pacific Ring of Fire erupt. Furthermore two other U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories have been threatened by forest fire this year.

But back to Jane and Gerry. They are both nice people and I enjoy talking with them when I make it back to KC. They lead such exciting lives. AND I LOVE THEIR KIDS, TOO!

I met my friend Felipe in 1964 when I was dating one of his sisters. We have been friends and buddies ever since. During the 70's and 80's we saw lots of Chiefs and Royals games together and drank lots of beer. He went to medical school in Spain in the late 70's. It was there he met his wife Stacy who was from upstate New York, studying in Spain for a year. Phil is a sports nut and watches it on television all of the time. Stacy was a Phys Ed major so this is no problem to her.

Phil and Stacy have three boys. The oldest is in High School. They all participate in a variety of sports. Phil assures me they are all very good. He wouldn't lie to me. After working for someone else for several years, Phil started his own pharmaceutical testing laboratory company and has done quite well, as well he should as he is a very hard worker and a likable fellow. And fortunately he has Stacy to keep him in line.

When I left KC in 1990 Phil insisted I store my stuff in his basement. I thought at the time that I would only be gone a year during which time I would figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up. Silly me. A year ago Phil and Stacy were talking about buying some land and building a new house. So the next time I came to KC I sorted through everything I had left in their basement. I kept all of my books and a few personal items and gave everything else away. They are good friends and have been so for many years.

Phil's company has season tickets to the Royals. While I was in KC this time he took me, my Dad and my sister Mary to a Sunday afternoon baseball game. When I lived in KC I used to go to 20-25 games per year, so this was a treat. It was this same foursome that attended many Chiefs games together, also. It brought back lots of fond memories.

Stan Kessler is another friend whom I generally see in KC. He has become one of the more well known Jazz musicians in KC over the last decade. He plays the trumpet, the fleugelhorn, the keyboard and drums. He also plays Rock and other types of music. Over a year ago Stan was asked by the music director at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to combine Jazz with the Gregorian Chant. He did. Now Stan and four other Jazz musicians have combined with the church's chanters to perform before live audiences and record an album.

Stan is one of my New Age friends who also likes sports. While we don't get to watch sports together, we do get to talk about sports a lot. We know everything that is wrong with the Chiefs and the Royals and how to fix it.

This last time I reconnected with a long time friend, also named Jim, whom I first met in the 4th grade. I hadn't seen Jim since I left KC in 1990. We were in the Scouts together and also played lots of baseball together. His mother was like my second Mom. Jim also works in the pharmaceutical testing business. I have three good friends who are medical doctors but no longer practice medicine. I guess they practiced until they got it right and then went on to something else. Jim and I had a long and deep Metaphysical discussion this last May while his wife, Maria, listened and occasionally participated. It was good to reconnect with such a longtime friend. I have a couple of other childhood friends whom I see infrequently and it is so wonderful how we can reconnect after not seeing each for so many years as if it had just been last week. We are just friends and nothing can come between us, not even time.

I met Leroy at a Unity singles group in the early 80's. He is New Age and a fellow psychic and we have had some great times together. We would travel together to Psychic Fairs in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. To cut costs we would stay in the same motel room but seldom got any sleep as we had the best and funniest conversations that seemed short but lasted on occasion until dawn.For several years I couldn't get ahold of Leroy when I came to KC. His phone would ring and ring with never an answer. Nor would his answering machine ever pick up. I even went over to his house one time but he wasn't there. A couple of years ago I sent him a post card before I came to KC asking him to call me. He did and now he answers his phone when I call. That was a very weird thing but things like that happen to me.

I met Vicki in the early 80's when she came to me for a reading at a KC psychic fair. When she joined the same Psychic organization to which I belonged I recognized her and we have been friends ever since. She lives in Lawrence with her husband, David. I am not sure whether she married David before or after I left KC. But she picked a good one. They are good friends and ones whom I will have forever.

Vicki's mother passed away about a year ago, leaving Vicki a farmhouse and everything in it. Rather then have an estate sale, Vicki decided to go online with E-Bay and sell everything there. She also buys undervalued collectibles at thrift shops and sells them, too. Now she makes her living doing this.

I met Jan and Tim in the late 80's at some New Age gatherings, but I didn't really know them when I left KC in 1990. It wasn't until the mid 90's that I got to know them better IN LINCOLN. Tim is an engineer for Black and Veatch and spent weeks on end staying in Lincoln while helping to start up a new water plant just outside Lincoln. While Tim, and sometimes Jan, were in Lincoln we would get together about once a week for dinner.

Jan is a very sensitive woman and spiritual being. I told her a few years ago that she needed to get out of the city as she was picking up way too much energy from the people there. I still feel she would be better off if they lived in the country.

I suppose you are tired of listening me talk about all of my KC friends, so I'll change back to my favorite topic...ME! And just for fun I am going to use the psychic internet and tell you a joke telepathically. Close your eyes. Blank your mind. Get it? It's a good one. I walked into a psychic's office one afternoon. I saw a sign that said: Think of a number and take a seat. God, I am full of it, I mean them...jokes. Funny ones, too. They are. Really. Trust me.

So there I was, camped in the street, when the police came by one morning and said someone had complained to the Chief of Police. The officer, who was a nice man, explained to me that I could not even park my trailer on a street for more than two hours. I could not live in it at all. I could park it on private land. He said that he would probably have to give me a citation. Then he went back to his car to confer with headquarters. After 40 minutes he came back to me and said if he gave me a citation he would have to arrest me and I would have to post bond since I had out of state ID. This was more of a zoning matter and not something the police normally dealt with. He said that if I left then he would let everything drop. I did and he did.

My brother-in-law leases 5 acres of land zoned agricultural about two miles away but in a different city (all suburbs of KC on the Kansas side.) I moved there for a couple of days and then left. Several weeks later I was thinking about all of the trouble I have had with cops and camping in the last three years. For the first 7 years of my trip I had no problems. Three years ago, when I fired my Guides, I also dismissed with thanks my four Protectors. I took over their job. These are four Beings whom I had seen on three occasions. Obviously I am not doing as good of a job as they did.

When I left KC I spent a short week in Lincoln visiting with my friends there. For some reason I still have a problem with the energy in downtown Lincoln. Fortunately I stayed with friends on the eastern outskirts of Lincoln. Matt and Erin have a house on five acres of land just outside the city limits of Lincoln. They have planted hundreds of trees and now live in a forest. I parked my trailer next to their driveway amongst the trees. Matt and Erin are both quality control engineers for Goodyear. They are both very special people. I know that I can call them at the last minute and ask to camp in their yard and that they will always welcome me. Even if I were to leave my trailer behind I know that their spare bedroom is always available to me. It is a very comfortable friendship which I cherish.

I got to Lincoln in early May, during the second round of the NBA playoffs. I didn't want to set up my Satellite TV dish to watch the playoffs since I would be there only a short time. Fortunately Matt is a big NBA fan, also. Erin said she was glad that I was there to watch the games with Matt so she wouldn't have to. It was such a pleasure. I didn't have to impose upon them and ask if they minded if I used their TV to watch a game. I merely had to mention to Matt that there was a game on and then spend the rest of the evening enjoying the game with him. It was fun to get to share the excitement with him, as I normally watch the games alone.

Lawrence is the punster mentioned in prior letters. He was an addictions and mental health counselor for the past 20 years but had gotten burned out. He now works for an ad agency writing all of their scripts. He says it is his dream job, as he loves to work with words. He calls himself a wordcrafter. Lawrence had gotten divorced a few years ago. Within the last year he has become romantically involved with another friend of mine, Heather, who was also divorced about two years ago. I met them for dinner one evening and for lunch the next day. At lunch Heather finished her food a distant third to Lawrence and myself. Though slender, Heather can really put down the food. When I commented on how slowly she was eating, Lawrence replied that it is not that she is a slow eater, she just refuses to talk with her mouth full.

After working as an assistant in a law office for the last several years, Heather now works for Class.Com. This is a for profit Internet High School. They are fully accredited and can issue High School Diplomas. A student can also pick up a class or two that he or she wants to take which their high school does not offer. The University of Nebraska is one of the main financial backers so you know their quality is good. The student can progress at his or her own pace until the course is completed. Full details and information can be obtained on the Internet at Class.Com. Please pass the word if you know of a student who might benefit from this. I believe you can go to school there full time, as an adjunct to home schooling, or to supplement your high school's curriculum.

My friend and massage therapist, Amy, is getting married to Jack. They plan a November wedding. They bought a house together and moved in during June. Amy was concerned that her house would not sell and they would have double payments for a while. She spent several weeks cleaning and painting to get her house marketable. Despite her concerns, the house sold after being on the market for only three days, and sold for only $1,000 less than her asking price. She is a Mastress of Manifestation.She has also completed her third CD. It is called "Angel in Disguise". These songs represent to me how Amy's energy feels to me. This is truly her album. The songs are open, loving and effervescent, just like Amy. You can go to trimuse.com and hear excerpts from the CD, or you can just save yourself time and send $15 for CD or $10 for cassette plus $1.00 shipping and handling per item to Tri-Muse Records, P.O. Box 30244, Lincoln NE 68503. If you don't enjoy this CD, send it to me and I will refund your money. How can you go wrong? Do it now.

Kay is my friend and back up massage therapist if I needed a second massage in a week. As with my other Lincoln friends, we would occasionally hang out together on the rare time I was feeling the slightest bit social. We had many wonderful conversations. Last Fall Dennis came into her life. I got to meet him while in Lincoln this time. He is definitely a keeper, as is she. They make a great couple. Dennis likes to help people. He does odd jobs to make money and lives simply. When I asked him what he did, he answered that he helps people. And he does, in whatever form that might take. While in Lincoln Dennis helped me put new spark plugs on my van. Actually, I watched while he did the work. That did stop the misfiring but not the other problems. Anyway it was good to see them because I always miss them when I am gone.

Lincoln Benefit Life built a new building at the eastern edge of town, moving from downtown. While in Lincoln I always stop in to see my friends there, most notably Rodger, Martin and Christy. Martin is one of the best underwriters I have ever known. Christy is the sweetest underwriter I have ever met. Rodger is the nicest and best boss I have ever had. That is they in a nutshell. These are special people and I love them dearly. Rodger, Martin and I went to lunch at Hooters. I don't remember what we talked about. I am not used to seeing women younger than 70. I may have had a stroke while there.

I left Lincoln on Thursday, May 11. They were forecasting a high of 95. I headed west and then north to avoid the up and down foothills on I-25. Instead I got the rolling hills of the central plains. Not much difference. By noon it was 65 degrees as I had crossed a cold front. I spent the night in Lemmon, SD just south of the North Dakota border. When I woke up it was 29 degrees. I drove through blowing snow for the first six hours. The ground was warm so not much of it stuck, but it was quite a surprise.

It stopped snowing just east of Miles City, about three hours from Lavina. I had a strong headwind all the way and was limited to driving 50-55 mph rather than my usual cruising speed of 62. I still had little power and poor mileage. Because of the wind the drive took me an extra three hours. But it was good to be back in Lavina where I seem to be at least nodding acquaintances with most of the 150 people in town. Once again I camped in Robert and Ginger's backyard. Because of the prevalence of clouds but no rain for the next 6 weeks, I had to plug into electricity right away rather than relying on my solar panels.

Robert told me that he had lots of projects lined up for me, but I managed to avoid most of them. The first thing we did was pour concrete in Phil's newly built shed. This took only one morning. The only other project was highway cleanup. Robert's Rocky Mountain Garage had adopted 2 miles of highway south of Lavina for cleanup. He and I spent two days on this task. Fortunately the roadway was not that littered.

One thing I can't believe I left out of my last Letter was Robert's book, Baby Doc. There was a picture of the cover of the book in the last Letter but I otherwise forgot to mention it. The story is about a baby who is born who remembers who he is and who can talk from birth and is walking within two weeks. He is born aware and has healing abilities because he can remember his past lives. His story is told not in narrative form but by a series of people telling of there experiences with Baby Doc. I have read the book twice; once in manuscript form and once in book form. It is self published. I enjoyed reading it both times immensely. I found it very inspirational as it reminded me of what can be, even now at my age. You can order it from The Portable School, 123 Main Street, Lavina, MT 59046. $12 includes book, postage and handling. (That means that it is touched by the author.)

Robert has also created a self awareness tool called Spiritual Diagnosis, or Spdx for short. These are also for sale. Spdx is a self help tool which helps you uncover your strengths and weaknesses. Several people here in Lavina have used Spdx and said that it helped them a lot. Details of Spdx and info on his book can be found on Robert's website at theportableschool.com. Robert and Ginger's phone number is 406-636-2006. Robert's E-Mail is tps@midrivers.com.

On all of my hikes during the last ten and a half years I have never come across a live snake on the trail. But this year I have seen two. One was on the Buena Vista Trail in Show Low and later on a dirt road outside Lavina. I don't know what this means except that I had better watch where I step. Both times I was within 6 feet of the snake before I noticed it. Each was about four feet in length.

I didn't feel good in Lavina at all for the first two weeks. Then Terry and Glenna had a barrel party. They were living in their school bus two blocks away on Glenna's mother's property. We took our paper trash to burn and Terry had some logs to keep the fire going. We cooked hot dogs and marshmallows, sang songs and visited for several hours. I love these parties. The next day I felt much better. I had gotten rid of whatever energy that was bothering me and it never came back. Soon afterwards, Terry and Glenna moved onto the prairie 18 miles north of town. Because of this I didn't get to see them near as often as I would have liked. It was cloudy and threatening rain without much precipitation through the end of June. Then summer hit us and we had few clouds and lots of record setting high temperatures. I have air conditioning in my trailer. All I did during this time was try to stay cool; which was pretty hard because I am not cool to begin with. Few people in these parts have air conditioning because the normal high for the hottest month is only 88 and it is low humidity and it cools off at night to the upper fifties. Still it was hard on a lot of folks.

This was the third year of drought in Montana and the fire season started a month early this year. Over 650,000 acres have burned. Most of the acreage is in the mountainous western part of the state, but there have been numerous small brush fires around Lavina. Dry lightning is the source of most of the fires. Lavina and the rural areas are serviced by Volunteer Fire Departments. We all owed a large debt of gratitude to these hard working men and women this year. Without them it is likely the entire county would have burned, including the two towns in the county. At one time, there were over 13,500 men and women fighting the fires in Montana alone, including Army regulars and reserves, the National Guard and firefighters from Canada. Recently President Clinton declared the entire state of Montana a National Disaster area.

Governor Racicot (pronounced Roscoe, so that tells you how much he knows) blames the large number of fires in Montana on President Clinton. I don't know if Monica was involved in this or not. It always boggles my admittedly feeble mind how many things are blamed on Clinton. He must be one busy and power man. It is amazing how anything ever got done or happened before we elected him.

The last time it was this dry, a strong west wind came up and blew most of Montana southeastward and created the Black Hills. It must have been the Dust Bowl years of the 1930's.

One afternoon Robert, Ginger, Terry, Glenna and I went to Martinsdale, about 60 miles west of Lavina. There is a restaurant there which has very good pies, which was the main reason we went. There is also recycling there. It is very hard to recycle anything in Montana except aluminum and newspapers. There is also a reservoir in Martinsdale. We drove there to see it. It had shriveled up to almost nothing. It was about 10% of normal. Though a heavy thunderstorm did drive us out of town, it did not reach Lavina.

For the last 20 years I asked everyone who said "the whole nine yards" where that came from. No one knew. Rose looked it up on the Internet for me. The term comes from a concrete truck which holds 9 cubic yards of concrete. When a concrete truck left the yard with a full load it held the whole nine yards.

Rose is an awesome artist in many different mediums. She is selling some of her work, including greeting cards, on her website, http://www.midrivers.com/~llegend/. E-Mail her at llegend@midrivers.com. She and her husband had a house for sale in Lavina. They found a buyer and for the down payment they accepted a kiln and 4,000 ceramic molds. Rose is eagerly looking forward to pouring, firing and painting these molds. She had family visit for the whole month of July or she would already be well into it. Some of these hand painted ceramics are for sale on her website, also.

Ginger has taken fully to the country. Dave and Janie Brown, friends just down the street, have about 150 head of cattle. When it was time to castrate the male calves, Ginger volunteered. She was excited about learning how to hold down the calf with one hand and castrate it with the other. After she learned this Robert took to sleeping in the other bedroom.

Every June the county's other town, Ryegate, has their annual Testicle Festival at which Rocky Mountain Oysters are served. This reminds me of a new song by the group Boyz to Men. It is about the apprehension a young man feels as he goes to the doctor's office for a vasectomy. It is called "Doc, don't steer me wrong."

I must be getting old. It seems like only last week that I used to leap from stone to stone on my mountain hikes. And I had to take stairs two at a time and now just one. My modus operandi seems to have changed. Oops, it seems I am trilingual: Latin, English and Baby talk. Speaking of languages, I have recently deciphered moo goo gai pan. It is baby talk for "Honey, let's do chinese tonight." Also, egg foo young means "Honey, I shrunk the kids."

Back in Lavina with my Satellite dish set up I was back to watching the NBA playoffs. As many games as I watched I saw lots of commercials, often the same ones over and over again. There were two different commercials touting a new California wine. They played these two commercials over and over and over until couldn't stand the sound of them. Don't you just hate the sound of a high pitched wine?

I used to think that I was going around the country doing good without being paid for it. Now it turns out that I am just good for nothing.

We had a big event in Lavina over the Fourth of July weekend. It was time for the every-five-year All School Reunion. All of the graduates from all of the years gather in town for a reunion and dance. The dance this year was held in Robert's Rocky Mountain Garage because they couldn't sell beer on school grounds so the gym was not available. I heard lot of very favorable comments about what Robert had done in fixing up the old building.

We had a parade in town on Saturday. Robert and Ginger walked in the parade as Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty. Ginger had had a dress made especially for the occasion and won first prize for best costume. Robert has a 1984 Toyota pickup which he has painted red, white and blue. He had me drive the truck with two flag waving boys in the back. Three year old Molly rode with me in the truck to keep me under control. Surprisingly the parade lasted 30 minutes as we doubled back on the route. The parade was led by husband and wife graduates of the class of 1930 in a mid fifties pink cadillac convertible. The highway was closed down for the thirty minutes of the parade. Surprisingly the truckers and other travelers didn't seem to mind as they honked and waved when they were finally allowed to pass through town.

I planted a garden of potatoes and tomatoes. I watered them every day and weeded it when necessary. So far I have had a few ripe tomatoes and lots of green ones for which I have high hopes. It is a matter of weed it and reap.

A mafia hitman was offered a contract on a mime but he turned it down. He said a mime is a terrible thing to waste.

One day Robert, Ginger and I were out hiking. Robert mentioned that he would like to walk from Lavina to the Statue of Liberty some day. The next day Domenico showed up. He is a U.S. citizen from Italy. In 1978 he decided to walk from the tip of South America to Canada to unify the Americas. So far he has walked 18,000 miles. He started his journey in 1978 with several breaks in between. He walks and leads a horse who carries his few provisions. He carries no food, tent or money. He relies upon the generosity of strangers. His South American trip ended several years ago when his horse was killed trying to cross the Panama Canal. When he is not walking he lives in New york City.

He restarted his trip nine months ago this side of the Panama Canal. He walks about 20 miles per day. He is 65 years old. When it is time to stop for the day he finds a farm house and asks them if they have a place to park his horse for the night. Being country folks, they usually offer the barn. Then he asks them if he can sleep in the barn, too. Conversation ensues and he explains what he is doing and they often offer him food and a bed. He stayed with Robert and Ginger for two nights. He said that he has occasionally gone without food for up to a week.

Domenico is very gregarious and makes friends instantly so it is not hard for him to find places to stay. He carries a violin with h
im and plays it very well. On his second night in town the Browns had a barbeque. There must have been at least 30 people there. Domenico entertained us all. After the meal he joked with us and played his violin. He also got a few of the children to play their instruments, too. He is good at bringing people together.

He left early the next day. We later heard that a man with a horse trailer stopped to talk to him as he walked down the highway and offered to ferry him and his horse through Billings. The amazing thing about all of this is that he showed up the day after Robert and Ginger had been talking about doing something very similar. I am constantly amazed how Ginger can voice something and it shows up within a day or two. I have seen this happen almost a dozen times. She is also a Mastress of Manifestation.

In addition to the barbeque at the Browns, we were invited to barbeques at Phil and Kay's (as well as many other dinners, including Mothers' Day and Labor Day) and the Grammens'. Kim Grammens is the Postmaster in Lavina and a real sweetie. Her husband, Allen, is the science teacher at the Lavina school. They live across the street from Robert and Ginger. Ginger didn't seem to do as much entertaining as she did last year, but, nonetheless, she kept me well fed.

I want to describe a not untypical Lavina day that happened to me on July 14. It was sunny and 98 degrees. I went to the post office for my mail. Mary, Kim's substitute, was there and mentioned that too many travelers had come in that day with hundred dollar bills and had depleted her of change. I offered to let her have some fives and tens from my Y2K stash and did so. On the way back to my trailer Kay stopped me and we talked for 40 minutes or so.

Then Rose and her granddaughters Meghan and Eden stopped by and we went to the cafe for lunch. The four of us then went to Rose's building in which she does the ceramics. After a while I took the girls next door to the Slayton Mercantile, the general store owned by Charlotte and George, for soft drinks. Charlotte mentioned she was low on quarters so I went to my trailer and got her $60 in quarters from, you guessed it, my Y2K stash.

Later back at my trailer, Phil stopped by and gave me a water inlet valve to more easily connect my trailer to city water. I had seen one on his trailer the week before and commented that I would have to get myself one. He beat me to it. I then helped him unload supplies from his truck at his rental house. He was making some corrections and additions on it.

I then watched a movie in my trailer. At the end of the movie Robert asked if he could borrow my wood splitting axe. So I watched him split firewood for a while. Then Terry and Glenna stopped by and we went inside to visit. Shortly afterwards Kay and Janie stopped by and joined the conversation. I got back to my trailer at 9:30. While not all of these things happen every day, this is typical of my life in Lavina. Country living at its best.

Another nice thing I have noticed about Lavina is that it is like living in a village. If some kids are at your house playing with yours at dinner time, they stay for dinner. If they are still there at bedtime they sleep at your house, after a call to their parents. It doesn't matter whether they are your kids or not. Wherever they are at meal time and at bedtime is where they stay.

Ginger is Sicilian. She says that I am not. I am just silly. And since she is Sicilian, I am not about to argue with her.

If there is a company called Helena Basket, I want to go there sometime.

The fires of the last two months have kept the sky pretty hazy with smoke. But when the sky is clear at night I love looking at the Milky Way. It is this huge river of light flowing north and south. It is so intense and bright in Lavina.

I read in the Billings newspaper that the Universe is flat. I was rather confused when I read that article. I had to read the two accompanying articles to understand that what they meant is that if you go in one direction forever you never come back to where you started. You just keep going. The Universe isn't round nor is it contained. It is infinite in all directions.

The High School girls play their basketball season in the Fall so as not to conflict with the boys' use of the gym during the Winter (though this will change in 2002.) The Lavina High School girls team lost their coach. Robert kept urging me to apply for the job. While I love basketball and am an excellent coach, I knew I was not energetically able to do it. But I did have the thought that 35 years ago it would have been my dream job!

While I have not checked the multiplication, I read that if you multiply the number 111,111,111 by itself the answer is 12,345,678,987,654,321. Isn't this universe amazing!? When you multiply the number 9 by any number and add the digits of the result to reduce it to a single digit, the resultant number is always 9. Is this clear??? For example 9 X 227=2043, which reduces to 9. I have always wondered why things are like that and why I was never good at math as I am fascinated by figures, I mean numbers.

Robert is a big baseball fan. He organized a softball game at the school for August 6th. We had about 35 people show up for the pot luck and softball game, including spectators and midgets. It was a pretty rough field so we limited each side to three outs or five runs per inning. It went very well and everybody had a good time. Once again Robert had brought the community together to play, as he does so well.

Terry and Glenna had been in Billings and had eaten Chinese food. Terry's fortune cookie told him that he would soon get an invitation to a sporting event. On their way home they stopped at Robert and Ginger's and Robert gave him a copy of the invitation to the baseball game. We all got a good laugh out of that.

Ginger wrote a new country song titled "I am going to kill that man but I'll love him till he dies." Lester's contribution was "I feel so bad without you that it is almost like you're here."

Someone once told me that I was so full of shit that with a friend like me, who needed an enema.

Robert has spent much time this summer refurbishing the Walled Off Astoria, the old opera house above his garage. So far he has mainly taken down the plaster and old lathes from the walls. He had help from several 5 or 6 year old boys who adore Robert and love helping with his refurbishing, at least the part involving tearing down stuff. Ginger refers to them as Robert's deconstruction crew. Robert is very good with the kids even though they are often more hindrance than help. He pays them in soft drinks and an occasional burger at the cafe.

I was having trouble handling the energy this summer and I thought about leaving early because I was so tired all of the time. Several people offered me other places to stay. Early in August a friend of Ginger's came by for a visit. She had an RV and since there was only one electrical outlet for us RV'ers, I moved across the ally to Steve's property. He has a full RV hookup there with water, electric and a sewer connection. This is where I dumped my black water once a month anyway. It was a little farther from the highway and I did feel a little better there. But I began to think the real reason I didn't feel good in Lavina was due to the severe drought and the fires.

Four years ago Shari's Guide told me that I was not only sensitive to the energy of other people but I also picked up the pain of the earth. At first I thought she meant things like battlefields. But with the pain I felt in Silver City and now in Lavina, though much less severe, I believe she meant it literally. Though it doesn't make much sense it would explain a lot. There aren't very many people in Lavina and the ones I know are all very nice, so I couldn't understand why I didn't feel good here. This is a possible explanation. Not that I particularly like it or the implications.

Steve is always around. He and I have had some interesting conversations. He has many opinions but I agree with most of them. He is one of the local characters, but I can't help liking him. He starts his day by delivering my newspaper. And he is busy all day long. He and Phil are involved in most of the construction activities in town. If anybody needs something done, they call one or both of them.

Jennifer came to town last Spring as Nicholas's girlfriend. Nicholas owns the herbal flea collar company on Dean Creek road, east of Lavina. Nicholas had a big order for collars this Spring and hired about a dozen women to make the collars. He hires them on an as needed basis. Jennifer worked with them and connected with several, including Ginger, Rose and Glenna. I met Jennifer once before she and Nicholas left for Oregon, which is where Jennifer had always lived, right after the big order was completed.

After Oregon Nicholas and Jennifer went rafting down the Grand Canyon where she broke up with him. She came back to Montana to get her things and go back to Oregon. We were all out at Rose's one afternoon building a labrynth on Rose's land. Late in the day Jennifer and her loaded car came by. Ginger offered to let her spend the night with her before she left for Oregon.

She ended up staying ten days and buying Steve's church. She is currently in Oregon closing down her life there and selling her house. She plans to move to Lavina this Fall and live in the church. Steve and Phil are busy putting some final touches on the building to make it habitable, like putting in a bathroom.

Jennifer is a very interesting woman. I never got to talk with her one on one but since she lived with Ginger for ten days, I was around her a lot. I was amazed at how everybody took to Jennifer. Everybody thinks that she is one of their "people". She appeals to everybody. Just being around her I felt much better and it lasted even after she left the end of July. Everybody loves Jennifer. Her triumphant re-entry into Lavina is eagerly awaited by all.Early in August several of us Lavinians went to Roundup, MT, 23 miles to the east, to attend Shakespeare in the park. We saw Measure for Measure. Fortunately the high was only 90 degrees and it cooled off nicely that evening. I had never seen the play before so, as usual, it took me 1/2 hour before I acclimated myself to the language and began to be able to follow the play. It was a very pleasant evening. This Shakespeare company travels around Montana performing in lots of small towns. They are funded by corporate sponsors and contributions from individuals. Even Montana has some class.

Three years ago the Montana State Legislature deregulated the electric industry. So far only industry has been affected. Home users will become subject to deregulation in 2002. In Montana industrial electric rates have increased by as much as 20 times. Industrial users were paying $25 per megawatt. This summer it has risen to as much as $500 per megawatt. Two companies had to shut down at least temporarily until spot rates came down to a more workable level. They sign contracts for electricity for so many months at such a price. When the contracts expired after deregulation, prices skyrocketed. California was the first state to deregulate. People in San Diego have seen their electric bills rise 50%. Deregulation was supposed to decrease rates by introducing competition. But the companies are selling their electricity to the highest bidder. In Montana deregulation was lobbied for by the electric industry. Go figure.

The reason I am telling you of this is to introduce a concept of free energy. A company makes a machine that produces 10,000 watts per hour indefinitely. This is much more than any household could ever use. The average household uses 3,750 watts per day. This company loans you the unit and installs it. The company makes its money by selling the excess electricity generated to the utility company which has to buy it. The money so earned goes to the company rather than to you. You cannot buy a unit. It is my understanding that the generator runs on Tesla principles. It costs you nothing. It is totally free.

If you are interested you can find out more by calling Brent Hambleton at 520-636-0593. You can check out the Company's websites at ucsofa.com or freehomepower.com.

On the afternoon of Friday, August 11, I was peacefully shooting hoops at the school's outdoor courts. Steve pulled up in his pickup and told me he needed my help, to jump into the pickup. I would gladly help whenever he asked for it, which rarely happens, so I got into the truck. What surprised me was that Steve's wife's two grown sons and a local boy were also in the truck.

Jokingly, (I am such a kidder!), I asked Steve if this help involved leaving the state or doing anything illegal. As Steve assured me that it involved neither, he turned into the parking lot of the Corner Bar, 1/2 mile north of town. He said he needed me to be his partner at the pool table. During the next three hours we proceeded to play pool and get drunk; except for me and the 13 or so year old Jake. Steve got so wiped out that he had to ask me every time before he shot whether we were solids or stripes. Except for that he acted pretty sober. The other two young drunk men also asked me which balls they were shooting, but I lied to them. Steve and I won every game.

The two young men, Dustin and Charley, were moving the following Wednesday to Memphis, TN to look for work and to reconnect with their biological father. While at the bar they had a three hour profanity laced argument on their differing philosophies of life. Fortunately the bar was big, we were on the other side of the bar from the few other customers, and none of them were armed, so we escaped alive. I drove the half mile back to town. Okay, dammit! So I had three beers during those three hours. They were small beers, the waitress spilled one of them, and I was thirsty from playing basketball. And it takes just as much energy and sweat to bounce the ball off the front of the rim as it does to throw it through that little round hole.

Later I asked Steve why he wanted me to go to the bar with him. (I had never been in there before.) He said he wanted to make the Trip Letter again. So let's all say hi to Steve. One, two, three...HI STEVE!

I got home just in time to shower and show up at a potluck which preceded the second of Robert and Ginger's Friday Forums. These forums are on any topic anyone wants to talk about or lead a discussion on, generally of a New Age/Metaphysical nature. They happen every few weeks and usually draw 10 to 15 people. Everybody really enjoys them, as it gives them a chance to get together with like minded New Age type people. They come from Billings, the Dean Creek area as well as Lavina. Anyway, we can't get TV here so it's something to do on a Friday night.

Two weeks later to the day I got to do one. Someone else wanted to do theirs then, but Ginger intuitively thought to ask me if I wanted to do the next one because I would be leaving soon. I said, sure, I love an audience. And I wouldn't even have to tell jokes! Mine was not an open discussion. I talked for two hours on Basic Metaphysical Principles: A Paradigm of Spirit.

I wrote an outline of the topics which I wanted to cover and spoke from it. I had no idea it would last two hours. I had never given a talk before that lasted longer than 30 minutes, though some people seem to think some of my jokes last at least that long. I was on a roll. I wanted to give more information. I wanted to branch out on dozens of collateral topics. But I stuck to my outline. What was unusual was that I wasn't the slightest bit nervous. I wanted to be up there. I wanted to tell these people what I know. I felt totally comfortable standing in front of them. Counting Ginger, Robert, myself and the people who slept through my talk, I think there were about 14 warm bodies there.

Several days later I asked Robert to build for me my own Website. He did. I am not on-line so he will keep it up to date for me, adding stuff from month to month. It will start out with all eight of my trip letters and all of the articles I wrote in the 80's for my Newsletter. I will add the talk I gave at the Friday Forum when I get it transcribed. The Site will also contain my coveted list of clean jokes and my list of politically incorrect jokes as well as other stuff I see fit to add from time to time, both serious and light hearted. The Website is www.datelineaquarius.com. This was also the name of my newsletter in the 80's. Tune in. Turn on. Come back. It will be updated, probably monthly, with new "stuff". So Y'all drop on in, y'heah? That is Texasspeak for: please visit my website or I'll cry.

I have an E-Mail site at datelineaquarius@yahoo.com. I am not on line so will be only able to check for messages there periodically. I still accept snail mail.

Robert McNary MD does build websites and performs other computer services. If you think he can be of any benefit to you, definitely do call him at 406-636-2006. I asked him to keep my website simple, but he can make it as fancy as you want, with graphics, voice, and all kinds of moving stuff. His rates are VERY reasonable. All it costs you to find out what he can do for you is the cost of the phone call.

If any of you have your own websites and would like them mentioned in my next letter, or if you would like a bilateral link with my Site, please let me know. I would love to do either. If any of you do and sell craft work and would like it mentioned here, let me know. Or anything else you would like to let 120 other people know about, let me know. I know that you Technophiles despise snail mail, but in my case it is what works.

If we are still on speaking terms by this time, PLEASE SEND ME YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS. It costs me about $2.00 to photocopy and mail each of these 120 Letters. If I could E-Mail them to you from Robert's computer next time it would save me some bucks. THANK you for YOUR consideration. You could also visit my Website and leave your E-Mail address and name there. YO! Thanks.

While hiking one day on a dirt and gravel road outside of Lavina, I saw a dust devil twirling toward me through the alfalfa. Since I was in its path I decided to stop and let it encompass me. So I did. What I failed to anticipate is that it would be filled with dust and dirt. It took me five minutes of rubbing my eyes until they had teared enough to wash the dirt out. I had wanted an experience. I guess you have to take what you get. I've learned my lesson, at least until next time.

Dr Bob's 87 year old aunt never liked his long hair or his pony tail. So to honor her entrance into a nursing home, he had Ginger's daughter, who was visiting at the time, give him a buzz cut. He saved the hair and sent it to another relative to present to his aunt. He didn't want to send it directly to her lest she open this package, see this blob of human hair, and keel over dead. What a thoughtful guy. We now call him the giant fuzzy head. However the native Lavinians STILL don't know what to think of him.

I mentioned earlier that Jennifer bought an old church from Steve, who had been fixing it up to eventually live in. On the property Steve had an old two room shed/house. It was maybe 20 feet by 40 feet. At one time it had been an add-on to a mobile home. Steve needed to move it to two lots he had just bought to get it off Jennifer's property. The bottom of this structure rests on two long telephone poles. To move it, Steve hooked a chain to the poles and to a big tractor and dragged it across town on the poles. Informed sources tell me that this is the third time this structure has been moved, all in this manner. Steve calls it his Montana Mobile Home.

The chain broke three times but after an hour it had been moved the three and 1/2 blocks to its new resting place (presumed temporary.) Because of the potential damage to the streets which might be caused by the chains digging into the thin asphalt, Steve had to get permission to move his house from the Street Commissioner. Fortunately, Steve IS the Street Commissioner, so he had no trouble getting permission. He is also the Sewer Commissioner; and the cemetery caretaker; and the city park caretaker. In fact, he may be the only other full time resident of Lavina besides Robert and Ginger, especially since Terry and Glenna moved out to the prairie.

I have a condensed nine minute videotape of this spectacular move. You, too, can own your very own copy of this epic event which happens only three times every eight years for the paltry sum of $29.95 plus $4.95 shipping and handling, $2.00 blank tape charge, and $5.00 copying fee, nonrefundable. This offer is fully unguaranteed. Caveat emptor.