Fwd: JOIRIDE

This has been an over-the-top day, and I need to write about it to share my excitement. This is a scheduled meeting day for the Board of Trustees of Copper Mountain College, and, as President, I needed to be on board for the meeting by 2 o'clock. At 12 o'clock noon, my friend and partner in a business enterprise, Ivan, called me and said, "Do you want to go for a helicopter ride?"  He and Chris are partners in a helicopter airline business, planning to build a heliport on my land near Joshua Tree National Park for tourism purposes.  The company's name is JOIRIDE, and they are contracted to fly for news reports for NBC.  In return, NBC agreed to give them a publicity photo shoot, which included JTNP and my land.  

OF COURSE I was up for the ride, but told Ivan I needed to be at the college by 2 o'clock. Ivan said, " no problem,  we'll drop you off at the college at two."  So I met them on my land, the JOIRIDE helicopter landed, and a second helicopter landed also. JOIRIDE had one NBC photographer and the second helicopter had two other NBC photographers.  We spent the next two hours doing photo shoots of exciting flights, hovers, and scenes with desert backgrounds.  Very fun!  At 1:30 I texted Jeff Cummings, the College President, and told him I was flying in for the meeting, and on my way. We landed on the athletic fields near the gym, and Jeff was there to pick me up!  Observers commented it was like a Presidential arrival, and I reminded them I WAS the President of the Board, and we all had a good laugh! To top it off, we had a very good Board meeting.

Sent from my iPhone

Ride of a Lifetime

For 74 years I have watched the sunrises and the reflected light of the sunsets on the Sheephole Mountains.  Yesterday I was given the opportunity to fly in this beautiful helicopter over that mountain at close range, seeing it like I have never seen it before!  It was a thrill beyond words for me, and an adventure I will never forget.

Fwd: Ride of a lifetime

Liz Meyer 

Begin forwarded message:

From: Elizabeth Meyer <lizmeyer920@icloud.com>
Date: August 31, 2018 at 6:17:49 AM PDT
To: "lizmeyer920@hotmail.com" <lizmeyer920@hotmail.com>
Subject: Ride of a lifetime

Sent from my iPhone

Small Town Government

The Last Lap

Liz Meyer This morning I was awakened at about 3:00 AM (not sure which time zone) in our campsite in Golden, CO. with shattering thunder, lightening and a downpour of rain. Concurrently, Miki was burrowing Into my sleeping bag, and Cinda moved to curl up around my head! The remainder of the night was noisy, but cozy and dry for the three of us. Today brought crossing the Rockies, with passes higher than 12,000 feet that requires drivers to stay alert with varying high and low speeds, curves, and construction. The views, when you took a peek, were spectacular! I am camped tonight in Richfield, Utah. A cooling swim and the dry evaporation factor makes things comfortable. An early start tomorrow will bring me home, grateful for over 6,000 miles of driving, wonderful camping sites (and some not so wonderful) and great family time.

Goodbye to the Green

Liz Meyer The flannel PJs and the sweatshirts are packed away, leaving just the shorts and flip flops for the needed attire to travel back to the Desert. I leave first thing in the morning for the four camping nights and five days of driving to get home. Just the two dogs and me are making the return trip. I'll miss the company of David and Hannah, and following along with Jeff and Lauren and Katelyn in their 5th wheel, but I look forward to the adventure. Another wonderful summer at Hatch Haven.

Path to the Cook House (Picture)

Liz Meyer

The Path to the Cook House

Liz Meyer I don't know which came first....the homestead house slid over to the island when the lake was frozen, or the Sears and Roebuck kit house, but both were here by 1909. The Main house sleeps about 14, and was modern enough to have inside plumbing for a toilet, wash basin and a claw-foot tub. The cook house has the wood burning cook stove and had an outdoor pump for water. Modernization has occurred...we have electricity which provides cooking improvements, and running water into the kitchen.
When I was a girl, I thought the cook house was a quarter of a mile "down the path" from the Main house. One of the rights of passage to growing up was to walk to the cook house without being accompanied.
It's really not that far, I learned. Walking the path in the dark takes even more courage. We try keeping flashlights in both houses for that event, but invariably they all end up in the wrong house when we need them. 🙁

The Gathering Place

Liz Meyer Boats, beaches, forests, fairy houses, it's all here at the Island, yet a favorite gathering place is my van. This picture was taken by Hannah from her "loft", a part of the bunk bed system where she and her brother slept on our cross country trip. She shares it with the cousins when they come to Grammy's van. The adults sit in the front seats when they visit. I am not always "home" when they come, but they stay to talk or play, anyway. Aunt Ada comes to discuss the planning of meals and events, work in progress on the boathouse, and how to get the lighthouse updated to LED lighting. Angela and Jeff drop in to cover some of the same items and talk about the boat. The kids come to love the dogs and tell me secrets I PROMISE not to tell. The dogs come because....well they come just because they follow me everywhere. Whenever I am home, the music is playing and my door is always open. Did I ever mention how I love this van?? 😏

Fairy houses

Liz Meyer When the beach is quiet, we know we can find the kids in the deep forest with fairy houses under construction. Construction plans must consider the elements of safety ( rats are the enemy) and protection (fairies can't fly with wet wings, thus must be protected from the rain). There is no limit to the imagination we find when we are invited into fairyland.....but one must be invited. There is no age limit to building ferry houses. My granddaughter Katelyn was my guide into fairyland and got to pose in front of her fairy's home.

My Home Away from Home

Liz Meyer Did I ever mention how I love this van?? With my front seats swiveled for inclusive camping, tonight's picture show my view as I write. For my "Girls" and I to escape to my favorite music and this view from every window puts the crowning touch on wonderful days with family and peaceful evenings. Tonight's event included boating with neighbors over to Government Island for S'mores . I opted to a "night in". Tomorrow night we will be hosting the annual Hatch Haven pot luck/ hamburger feast for all the neighbors living close to us on the island. We pick the night when the most of us can be present. All 19 of our family will be here, and most of our nearest and dearest neighbors. We all look forward to the gathering.

Happy 4th of July!

Liz Meyer What a great country we live in!! If you google Cedarville MI, you will see the 3 square blocks of the town, which puts on a wonderful 4th of July parade every year. Early in the parade kids will be handing out little flags to everyone, so that we can wave them all through the parade. Later in the afternoon other families will be joining our families here on our beach and cookhouse for a barbecue, games and fireworks, then when it gets dark (not until about 9:00 at this high latitude) we will all take our boats into Cedarville Bay for the fireworks show. I'd you google Cedarville, follow out to Island #8, and Hatch Haven is all the wooded land at the south-east end of the island. I'll be waving! 😊

Journey’s End

Liz Meyer Two kids, two dogs and this Senior Citizen have just completed 3,218 miles and 14 days of travel across this great country, to arrive at our last campsite, only four miles from Hatch Haven, our journey's destination. A long drive yesterday and a late night arrival led us to stay in a local campground, and save the always exciting arrival on the island to savor today. Everyone is excited, to this journal entry must be brief. We are grateful for a fun and safe trip!

My NEXT travel vehicle

Liz Meyer Now that I have upwards of ten years and 75,000 miles on my van, I am looking for an upgrade! Actually, this beauty belongs to North Iowa Community College, where I was treated to a VIP tour of the entire campus by its President, Dr. Steve Schultz. My friends Jim and Carmen Loveland hosted us for two days in Mason City, IA, and they live contiguous to this beautiful, 100 year old Community College. Jim and Steve are hunting and/or fishing buddies, so Jim arranged for me to meet Steve and tour the College. What a treat! Being in ranching and farming country, there is a viable industry in Mason City for Diesel engine repair. A local dealer gives the College a new truck and trailer every year, and they trade in the one-year-old truck. Stand back CMC- I'm coming home with some innovative ideas! 🙂.
We are in Wisconsin Dells tonight. Jeff has taken all the kids on water adventures today while I am "grounded" trying to solve a problem with my van and it's hydraulic roof- raising system. Tonight at 8:00 we will all attend a water show. Tomorrow is the long haul to the Island- 500+ miles!

Mount Rushmore

Liz Meyer Beautiful weather has followed us across the country, and yesterday's travel from Carnine Ranch to Custer State Park was no exception. As we travelled, we made up a song about our trip, which family members will get to hear when we get to the Island....whether you want to or not 😏.
The drive was beautiful, rising out of the Sandhills of Nebraska up to the mountains and meadows with buffalo and antelope. We are in a beautiful campground next to a lake. After making camp we all piled into Jeff's truck to take the scenic windy road up to see Mount Rushmore, then enjoyed a nice dinner at the lodge on the lake. Uncle Jeff keeps us all laughing and engaged in great conversations!

Carnine Ranch

Liz Meyer I Haven't seen much of the Hannah and David for the last two days. Dan Carnine has six ranch kids who have shown these city kids the time of their lives. As you can see, the Razor is the vehicle of choice with Leo (age 12) driving one, and his older sister (age 14) driving the second one. Off 8 of them go across the 650 acres of this cattle ranch, to climb haystacks, drive through the heifers with their calves, out to Carnine Lake, and move from grandma's ranch house, which has housed the first two generations of Carnine's around the alfalfa crops to their huge house on the hill, half a mile away. Their dad, Dan, the next generation, runs the ranch now. "Grandma" is Dorothy Carnine, who was a Tri-Delta at college in Flagstaff with Ada and me. We always make a point to stop by the ranch on our way to the island. The kids are all fast fiends and we all take our meals up at Dan's house where all 15 of us can sit down together.
When we added our three dogs to the mix, the dogs almost outnumber the people - ten in all, all ages and sizes, but all getting along well. Cinda could run everywhere, checking out toads, rabbits, calves up close, etc.
Time to go...two very dirty and tired kids just dragged in for bed!

Laying Low in Laramie

Liz Meyer Surprisingly, the KOA campground in the middle of Salt Lake City was beautiful . Even though there were more than 1,000 campsites, mature shady trees and a well planned layout made it pleasant. Tonight in windswept Laramie the KOA is forgettable, as campgrounds go. Jeff, Katelyn, David, Hannah and I drove into the city and found the very old downtown area charming and thriving. We had a great dinner with lots of laughing and fun....it makes a long day of driving (400 miles) all worth it. Tomorrow a shorter driving day will get us to the Carnine Ranch in Nebraska. Miki has been a Model traveller with no further "incidents" - yea!

Fwd: Beginning the Journey

Liz Meyer 

Begin forwarded message:

From: LizMeyer920@hotmail.com
Date: June 17, 2018 at 1:46:56 PM MST
To: Blog Update <liz.meyer.920.vango@blogger.com>
Cc: Jeff Cummings <jcummings@cmccd.edu>, tmlilley@bellsouth.net, gary.zegley@usmc.mil
Subject: Beginning the Journey

This summer's van camping trip is taking on a new look!  My usual "tight ship" is filled with tote bags, back packs shoes, etc., that one must step around, over or on to move about, but the added baggage includes my two grandchildren, David (12) and Hannah (11), my daughter Angela (for part of the trip), and, of course, my two dogs, so it's all good.  What is not good is the dog with diarrhea!  Miki gets nervous in the van, and as I hit the Phoenix rush hour Friday afternoon, she started telling me she needed to go.  Not being able to get off the freeway, I resigned myself to a pending "accident" in the van.  The good news is she waited until we got to Jeff's house....the bad news is she went on Jeff's newly cleaned living room carpet.  What a mess!  The worse news is I may be saddled with a diarrhea dog for the next 3,000 Miles!  Other than the dog dilemma, the O'Connor group met me in Phoenix, and yesterday we drove up to see the Grand Canyon, then on up to my sister Ada's beautiful house in Page. Ada and her friend Stephanie DuBois took everyone on a boat trip on Lake Powell today.  We head for Salt Lake tomorrow.

Liz Meyer

Beginning the Journey

Liz Meyer This summer's van camping trip is taking on a new look! My usual "tight ship" is filled with tote bags, back packs shoes, etc., that one must step around, over or on to move about, but the added baggage includes my two grandchildren, David (12) and Hannah (11), my daughter Angela (for part of the trip), and, of course, my two dogs, so it's all good. What is not good is the dog with diarrhea! Miki gets nervous in the van, and as I hit the Phoenix rush hour Friday afternoon, she started telling me she needed to go. Not being able to get off the freeway, I resigned myself to a pending "accident" in the van. The good news is she waited until we got to Jeff's house....the bad news is she went on Jeff's newly cleaned living room carpet. What a mess! The worse news is I may be saddled with a diarrhea dog for the next 3,000 Miles! Other than the dog dilemma, the O'Connor group met me in Phoenix, and yesterday we drove up to see the Grand Canyon, then on up to my sister Ada's beautiful house in Page. Ada and her friend Stephanie DuBois took everyone on a boat trip on Lake Powell today. We head for Salt Lake tomorrow.