Float and Fly

We finally got to head to the beach to watch the annual Seaplane Classic, which is a meet held here in Havasu for model airplane flyers and enthusiasts. Some of these guys obviously have thousands of dollars invested in their hobby, and take it all quite seriously.
As we walked along the tents, I noticed there wasn't one person under 65 years of age and I had to ask why. Then I encountered the guy who owns this plane:



I was standing about 4 feet from his plane, taking this photo when he walked up and said, "Could you stand back over there, because that's a very expensive plane and I don't think you have the money to pay for it."

Oh, I see. THAT'S WHY THERE AREN'T YOUNG PEOPLE INVOLVED; IT'S GOT TOTAL DICKHEADS IN IT!!!

I'm exaggerating, of course. Not everyone down there was a jerk. The people we sat with had a number of planes on display and they would fly them periodically. They were very hospitable, letting us sit under their shade.



Then we rode Steve's motorcycle out to the airport and flew in the Piper Cub for a little bit:


Got some great aerial photos of the London Bridge:


Then went home and decided that it would be fun to actually go out to dinner. So we had some great gumbo at BBQ Bill's restaurant. Steve's brother surprised us there; he was out with a buddy and sat down with us. He and his friend play guitars (and sing, I guess) and they'd been cooped up in the studio all day.

Sunday, we went to a popular sidewalk cafe for breakfast, then began working on some projects. That didn't last; we were tired and ended up napping by 2pm.
We managed to get a little done. Then made dinner for EVERYONE, which included Steve's daughters, Shay, and Steve's brother. Big dinner.

Today I'm working, in fact I've been on a conference call for 90 minutes already. I think they may have forgotten about meee......

Party Reform

It's time us Republican Women got together and worked toward a common goal. We have many things in the State of Arizona that need fixing, and I think it is up to us to put up a fight and get those fixes accomplished. Today marks the day that I get my PAC formed, get my budget written up, and a plan of action put into play. Campaigning starts NOW!!!

Road Warrior

On Tuesday morning I got up early after getting a very poor night's rest and began working as soon as possible. I worked for several hours, then headed down to my precinct's polling place to get tear sheets. These are the sheets that show who has voted so far. I take these sheets and cross reference the names to my voter records, and cross off the ones who voted. I would work for a little bit, then go get more tear sheets. By mid morning, I started making phone calls to remind people to get down there and vote.

By mid afternoon I was exhausted because I was concentrating on so many things all at once. I had to get things done as quick as possible because I needed to leave town at 5pm in order to drive to Phoenix (three hours) to get to the McCain Victory Rally.

After picking up Heather, I hit the road with high hopes. The early election results were coming in over the radio and they weren't great; but there was still a lot of hope because there were many, many states that weren't reporting results yet.

Heather and I got to the Biltmore in Phoenix about 5 minutes before McCain took the stage. Because of all the talking and excitement, it was quite unexpected for him to come out and suddenly concede the election to his opponent.
The press was everywhere.

We had a very difficult time getting around and whenever we managed to slip a little and show some emotion, there was a very big video camera in our faces. Heather and I just smiled as best we could and graciously avoided the press as much as possible. Our congressman, Trent Franks, was out in the lobby and I patiently waited for my turn to talk to him. I never got the chance; he was so busy giving interviews that I couldn't step in there and talk.


After a short amount of time consoling some very disapointed campaign workers, Heather and I got outside to wait in line for a bus that would take us to the lot where my car was. It was about ten miles away--that was the arrangment that the Biltmore had to make because of the big crowds. We waited in line for an hour for our bus, and talked politics with the other attendees. We tried to be positive but it was difficult. There are a lot of sad people out there.

We met up with my friend Jeff Gordon who is a Phoenix police officer, he'd gotten off work about 10pm and it was nice to finally get to see him. We never seem to be able to hang out when he's in Havasu or I'm in Phoenix.
We had the most fun getting coffee at the gas station at midnight.
Here we were trying to do one of those dramatic "No Smile" myspace photos that the teenagers do;


I was starting to get silly from being tired, so I was excited to find the Flavor Center at the gas station. It had eight different coffee additives for the very old stale gas station coffee:


Heather and I couldn't stay in Phoenix all night, we had responsibilities at home so we hit the road again.
We arrived in Havasu at 4am, and talked of how great it was to finally get back.
Today my sad feelings from McCain's loss is compounded by extreme fatigue and a touch of an allergy problem. I'll get over it.

Essay Contest

The County Supervisor and I concocted an essay contest for the 5th and 6th graders in our area. The title: "What a President from Arizona Means to Me."
I was glad to see my son's school took the project very seriously and they wrote some awesome essays.
The winning entry was from a 6th grader named Nixon who wrote how he'd be excited, proud, and grateful that the whole world would get to see what kind of politician comes from our home state. Pretty cool.
Here is our essay writer:

The reward was a pizza lunch, paid for by Buster Johnson, the County Supervisor.

Once I put those pizzas down, it was as if sharks had infested the picnic tables. They ate everything within 5 minutes!!!


Great lunch though. I had fun, and so did the kids.

Stumpin

Shay and I went stumping on Halloween night. If you aren't familiar with the term, it was originated when politicians would get up on a tree stump so they could address a crowd of people.
I gave out McCain stickers, Shay walked with friends to get candy.
Don't we make a lovely family?

Best Laid Plans

For the American Cancer Society, we entered ourselves in the annual London Bridge Days Parade. Our city is celebrating the 30th year of incorporation, so this parade was expected to be extra-big.
We had the best plans. Since our theme for the fundraiser this year is a military theme (Battling Cancer) we ordered camouflage shirts so we'd all match. Then we arranged for a military truck (a HUGE one) to accompany us down the parade route. We wrangled about 25 walkers, had banners ready to go, had signs.
Then on the morning of the parade we realized that the t shirts still hadn't arrived. And the owner of the military truck called and said the brakes went out and he almost got in an accident.
NO shirts. NO truck. Just us, with our mis-matched outfits and a lot of disappointment. So we pulled it together and marched in the parade. I was handed a plastic megaphone (which only made me wish for the REAL megaphone I had at home) and I was asked to be a cheerleader. So I did. For a mile I screamed into this plastic cone, getting both our walkers to chant and the people on the curbs who watched us walk by. A friend snapped a photo of me:

Utah aaaahhhhh

I went to Utah for some training last week, and stood amazed at how beautiful it was. I'd never been there, so it was a real treat to see the red rocks for the first time. My camera is on its way to the Kodak people. Something has been wrong with it for a couple of weeks and finally I realized that smacking it on the table wasn't the right way to deal with it.
So here are a few of the pictures that did turn out of fabulous St. George Utah.




This is me on top of a mesa, where the old airport is. It's called the old airport because they just broke ground on a new airport nearby. Anyway, it is situated on top of a flat-topped mountain, and the view of the city down below is awesome.


On the way home, I drove on the highway through the "Virgin River Gorge" which is much more breathtaking in person than it is on a little camera. It's like driving thru a mountain.


What a wonderful place to visit. Very clean town, with seemingly low crime. (the headline after I arrived in town was; Obama Signs Vandalized" That's not a crime...)

I didn't see graffiti once. The population is somewhere around 75,000. That's about 25,000 more than what we have here in Havasu. They have Mormon churches in every neighborhood, which I assume accounts for how nicely the town is kept up. Strict parenting probably doesn't yield a whole lot of hooligans....