First Officer’s Log – 20-18-09-19

We are jaded, and we know it.  Travel this country and you will see VAST expanses of beautiful scenery, so much so you start to forget to appreciate it.  It’s sorta like the (usually) guys on the airplanes who studiously ignore the flight attendant’s safety speech.  Been there, heard that, I’m way too cool to pay attention to your rinky-dink speech.  

We have seen so much beautiful scenery this and other trips that we even came up with several mnemonics.  ABL, ABV, ABM, ABR, ABCWSDATC, as in, Another Beautiful Lake, Another Beautiful View, Another Beautiful Mountain, Another Beautiful River, Another Beautiful Cowboy With Six Dogs And Thirty Cattle.

Today we got the jaded slapped out of our heads.  Routes 20 and 89 in Utah and down into Kanab and Fredonia in Arizona are staggeringly beautiful.  At one point we were at 7200 feet up on a mountain pass (in first gear) and we didn’t care how difficult the climb had been as the panorama from that mountain top made us remember that America is great, has always been great, and will always be great.  You can’t look over miles and miles of ranch and farm land chock full of cattle and crops without accepting that we feed half the world and that the other half wants to move here.

OK, enough potentially controversial stuff.  

Here’s some fine old Del Monte Pithiness:

** I’d rather be behind a big truck struggling up a hill than be in front of a big truck struggling up a hill.

** It’s really easy to drive one of these big rigs, really, it is.  But you have to drive them sixty seconds out of every minute.

** I think toasters should be equipped with smoke detectors.

** When did “party” and “disrespect” become verbs?

** If you fight with your boss and win you lose.

** If you ever hear anyone use the phrase, “Once you get used to it,” you can bet they are talking about a poorly designed product.

** I never saw it coming, and I should have seen it coming, but I still don’t understand when “seen” replaced “saw.”

** The definition of “win-win” is “lose-lose.”

** Negative progress is still progress.

** There are dreamers and there are doers. Dreamers work for doers.

** Treasure and pay attention to complaints.  One out of a hundred people will tell you what you did wrong.  The other 99 will tell their friends.

** In business meetings treasure the nay-sayers.  They are often the only ones in the room telling you the truth.

OK.  I’m done.  I will now let the Captain speak of serious things in a mature and intelligent manner.

Rusty Pistons
First Officer
Starship ArrowStar – NCC 1702

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Captain’s Log – 20-18-09-19 (Wednesday)

Being almost brain dead after six hours on the road today, I offer you some words of mine I neglected to post a-ways back.

09-13-18 (Thursday last week) -Today we drove two of the most scenic stretches of our trip, Highways 6 and 12 between Long Beach and Randle, Washington. We vote that the National Geographic Road Atlas mark Route 6 as a scenic byway! So there!

Here are some highlights of the voyages of the Starship Arrowstar since leaving Starbase Phoenix on 

Monday, August 20:

The first night we landed, along with some geese who took up residence under Starship Arrowstar, at the Pahrump, Nevada RV Park.

Traveling right along, the crew (Rusty Pistons) insisted on revisiting an iconic RV Park known as the Pony Express in Austin, Nevada. There we stumbled upon Stokes Castle built by a railroad magnate and mine developer in 1897. Stokes’ family lived in it for only two months and since then it has remained deserted.

Zooming at light speed we then landed in Tillamook, Oregon where we happened upon three heretofore undiscovered attractions: The Tillamook Cheese Factory, The Blimp Air Museum, and the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center (I bought the most luxurious deep-blue yarn there). 

Beyond star system Tillamook, a disruption in our flight path by Romulans disguised as six dogs, a cowboy and 30 head of cattle caused a time warp that hurled us back to an as yet undetermined year somewhere in the mid-1800’s. 

The pull of gravity from the 21^st Century soon righted our course as we hurtled on through space to spaceport Gig Harbor where we toured the waters on a tugboat-style vessel owned by friend of our son.

The Romulans continued to interfere with our travels and warped us briefly once again back in time to a pioneer fortress, Fort Nisqually near Tacoma. The first officer entered the watchtower which was a dark and moody place, and hearing a young boy’s voice above him groaned out “Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman.” Then, as he climbed the stairs, he ran across the boy and his father and found to his surprise that they were indeed Englishmen! As in from England! And a good laugh was had by all. 

Back to the present: It’s HOT here in Fredonia, Arizona where we’re staying at the Wheel-Inn RV Park.  The address on Pratt Street given to us by the owners didn’t specify WEST, so we took a tour of EAST Pratt Street which wasn’t a place you’d want to take anyone in order to show off. 

We went around the block, as is our custom when we end up going the wrong direction, and found a place to land and call the RV Park for directions.

RV Parks are like the famous box of chocolates from the movie Forest Gump – you never know what you’re going to get. We’re not too choosy when we’re staying over for just one night, but no matter how weird the park, there’s always something to redeem staying there. 

Tonight it’s “purple mountains majesty” in the distance (really!) and a stunning blue sky full of puffy, pure white clouds. There’s a breeze as well, and so we haven’t resorted to the AC yet. It’s nice to enjoy the quiet. 

Last night’s redemption was a sky full of stars at 2:00 a.m. that looked close enough to reach out and grab a handful. Why, you ask was I outside at that wee hour? Our little “teddy bear” Chihuahua had to wee-wee, which is unusual for her at night. 

After throwing on my shoes and a robe and sleepily managing the RV steps to the ground, I found the serendipitous reason for the outing. It felt magical!

As Rusty Pistons has already logged about today’s flight through the Kanab galaxy, I’ll sign off now and hope to see you tomorrow in Flagstaff. 

As the old, old song suggests, always remember to “look for the silver lining.”

Sparkie Plugs
Captain, Starship Arrowstar - NCC-1702

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