France - the euro dollar

The Euro Dollar is the currency of France as well as the European Union. The Euro dollar has 100 cents just like the American dollar. The American dollar is not taken in France and you must exchange it for euros.

Physically exchanging American dollars for euros at an international bank can be done but will get you the best rate of exchange. The best and easiest way is a bank ATM card and of course Visa or Master Card. Just make sure they know you are going to France or they may lock your account when they see it has been used in France, thinking it was stolen.


The paper euro dollars increase in size as the denomination increases. The 20 euro bill is to wide to fit in a regular bi-fold wallet but will just fit in a tri-fold wallet. The 5 euro is the smallest paper bill and there are larger ones but as in the US, the 5, 10, and 20's are one most people use.













The coins are where the big difference comes in. There are 2euro and one euro coins, also 50 cent, 20 cent, 10 cent, 5 cent, 2 cent, and 1 cents coins.














My son still maintains an account with a local bank about a block from my home and I knew his ATM card would work. I deposited enough in his account so I would have 100 euros to start with. I took no cash and just used plastic to get money from ATMs and pay for our hotel rooms. I felt comfortable doing it this way because I knew if a problem arose with my cards that my wife could just put more money in his account. I didn't have any problems at all but it was nice to know I had a backup.

My exchange rate was about $1.38 US for $1 Euro.

France - Little Rock to Paris

I arrived at the airport about 2 hours before my flight (per the instructions) with one medium roller style piece of luggage to "check" and a very stuffed backpack to "carry-on". After checking the luggage I stayed in the "common area" of the airport so my wife could be with me before I passed thru security.

I was flying on an AMERICAN EAGLE out of terminal 3A. When we set down this is what we saw.












They are working on the brakes of the aircraft that appears to be the one I will fly on to Chicago. Not exactly the thing we wanted to see. We were watching them for over an hour while I waited to go thru security.

Finally the time came that I had to leave and pass thru security and proceed to my terminal. They are still working on this plane. Can you say nervous!

The time arrives for my flight and it is announced that it will be delayed. As I can no longer see the plane, I assume they are still working on it.

Finally we are allowed to board our plane. Thankfully not the one being repaired. The pilot said they were late because they had trouble getting out of Wichita, Ks. because of a severe thunderstorm. He said he would "gas on it" and make up most of the lost time and we could arrive in Chicago almost on schedule. He also informed us that we would see a celebrity at the airport in Chicago. The AIRBUS A380 would be on the tarmac when we landed.

I found the seat room in the smaller CR7 out of Little Rock to be ok so I figured the 767 from Chicago to Paris would be even larger. Wrong!

Now comes the "biggie" part. Actually taking off and flying in an airplane. I had nothing to worry about as I really found it a very pleasant experience.

We reached a cruising attitude of 37,000 feet and looking down on the clouds they appeared to be flat on top. We arrived in Chicago right on time and the AIRBUS A380 was still setting there. Can you say HUGH? Here is a picture I pulled out the internet.











I wasn't sure what to expect upon arriving but found I was just unloaded on a secure floor and just had to find my departing terminal and wait.

I love to observe people so I was having a lot of fun. I noticed a husband, wife, and their young daughter (about 10 years old). The daughter was on the other side of the parents and moving along but something just didn't look right. Then I noticed her legs were not moving and she appeared to be back on her heels. How could that be?
When she finally came in full view I noticed she had wheels on the heals of her shoes and was just skating along on them.

I had never seen anything like it in my life (you can tell I don't get out much). Seems they are quite popular and are called "Heelys"











Finally boarded my 767 to Paris and prepared for my 7hr and 15min flight. Claire, the young lady sitting beside me was from France, heading home for a two week visit before resuming her studies in the US.

Arriving in Paris after a very long day, we got off the plane and was put on a bus and drove around to "baggage pick up and customs". They apologized for the inconvenience and I was not sure we were heading to the place my son thought I would arrive.

The earliest train Zac could get to Paris put him there about 2 hours after my plane arrived. We figured I would not have to wait very long after I cleared customs. Customs went very quickly and I had nearly 90 minutes to wait.

Here I am in Paris, France standing in an airport not knowing if I am in the right place for Zac to find me and having no way of contacting him. Did I mention it was spitting snow. With my blood pressure getting higher and higher, he finally finds me and we hop on the train to ride into town.

After a 20 minute train ride and two METRO (subway) rides, we surface to the
streets of Paris. I took a picture looking each way for my first look of Paris.

April book review

As you know, I have just returned from a trip to France. It was an epic journey for me as it was the first time to leave the USA. Having taken several tours on a motorcycle including one of 5700 miles, I thought I would review;












"Jupiter's Travels", by Ted Simon

In 1974 Ted Simon (an English journalist) started his four year, 64,000 mile, 53 country trip around the world trip on one of the last production Triumph motorcycle.

His Triumph was overhauled several times and had one total rebuild. His travels carried him thru some of worlds harshest countries. He traveled very cheaply and tried to live at what ever level the people around him lived.

From Sudan, to being held in a prison in Brazil, to living in a commune in California, his is an adventure that will inspire.

I hope you enjoy this book as I found it to be a very interesting read.

I'm Home!

Just a quick post to let everyone know I am back home safe and sound.
It was an amazing trip and I will be posting about it.
Still trying to decide just how I want to arrange the posts. I was thinking about writing about the trip in reverse order so that when finished it would read from top to bottom, also was thinking about just starting at the first and just numbering the parts.
I am looking forward to catching up on everyones blogs.

Trip!

Sorry I haven't posted in nearly 2 weeks. I have been very busy getting ready for my trip and working on the motorhome.

The motorhome has not been moved in nearly four years. The last time I started it was over a year ago and it ruptured a water hose.

I have been busy changing out the radiator and heater hoses (no small job). Even though it is 20 years old, it has only 31,998 miles on it. All the hoses were original.

After adding fresh gas, it started and ran like an engine with 30k on it should. I needed to have it ready to move as our new TT should arrive while I am in France. I leave in the morning and will be back a week from Thursday. That will give me a long weekend to set it up before I have to go back to work. The motorhome was not traded in and I want it ready to use any time we want to.

Looks like the weather in France might be alright for my visit. Highs in the 50's to low 60's. Maybe the rain will hold off. Should be nice for all the walking we will be doing.

I am sure I will bore everyone crazy upon my return with details of my trip.

Am I the last to know?

THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO.

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST Subject: Emergency The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND Subject: Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).


THIRD Subject: Hidden Battery Power Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

FOURTH How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone? To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

And Finally....

FIFTH Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial:

(800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411

without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now. This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends.

Thanks Hal

How many of you knew about this little trick.

Hal explained it on his blog and I am just blown away by how little I know about this new-fangled stuff.

A Fortnight

And counting.

Seat Covers

The weather is getting nicer and it makes my job more enjoyable. From my vantage point in the cab of my truck I have a nice view into passing cars. Over the years I have seen some sights. Truck drivers call it "checking out the seat covers".

Today as I was "doing my duty", I saw something I had never seen before.












A Ford pickup with Alabama tags passed and the driver was playing this . He had his left hand resting on the steering wheel and pumping the instrument with his right hand. I call it a Hand Squeezebox. It probably has a different name but Google came up with this picture.

High School

The year was 1965 and I purchased a 1956 Chevy Bel-Air 4 door in the same colors as the one pictured above.

It was a nice ( not quite as nice as the one pictured) car and I paid $300 for it. It was a 6 cylinder with a 3-on-the-tree. I paid $65 down and the payment were $27 a month. I had spent the summer in California and saved a little money from a job I had washing dishes at a cafe. As usual I hitchhiked back and saved my money. I made the down payment and used my SS check ( from my deceased dad) to make the payments.

A week after I bought the car I made my second trip to California that summer. My brother George was going back in the Army and he and I carried his wife back home to California.

This was the car I drove my senior year and boy I had a great time in it. Enough said!

Two Moons

Yesterday we had a beautiful full moon in the afternoon. Every time I see one, a big smile comes over my face. Here is the story behind that smile.

When my son was about four years old he had a little trouble pronouncing some letters. So "moon" came out "boon".

After playing in the back yard on his swing set, he came in the house for something to drink. After his mom gave him something to drink, he started to go back to the swing set and just happened to look out the front door.

He became very excited and started jumping up and down and calling for his mom. She came running and he said, "two boons, two boons".

He took his mom by the hand and led her to the front door and pointed to the moon. She could not understand his meaning of "two moons".

He then took his mom out the back door and into the back yard. He then pointed over the house to the moon and said, "see mom, two boons".

Legs ( yes, I've got purtie ones )

While in France my son and I will be doing a great deal of walking. My job requires that I use my legs as I pull several hundred cases of milk from one trailer to another.

The problem with that is I walk backward while pulling the stacks of milk (on average a stack of milk will weigh about 150 pounds). This compacts the muscles in my back and my legs. My work boots have heals on them as compared to walking shoes. I often have back problems when doing a little walking in tennis shoes after wearing boots most of the time. My legs are strong but just not used to normal walking.

For the trip I purchased a new pair of walking shoes and a day-use backpack. Walking is getting my feet and the new shoes used to each other and stretching out my calf and thigh muscles.

The backpack will be for carrying my jacket, umbrella, bottled water and any thing else that might be needed for the day. I have a case for my camera ( just in case I might want to take a picture or two) that I will wear on my belt.

I can not believe that in less than three weeks this old simple country boy will be walking around Paris, France.

March Book Review

Even though WALDEN TWO was written in 1948, it is the "bible" for many of the communes of the 60's.

Walden Two is the name given a utopian community in the delightful fiction. "Walden" after the Henry David Thoreau book ( still haven't read it. Am I going to have to get a switch?)

Several communes were started using this book as their charter. Several still remain, the most noticeable being Twin Oaks .

In the book, Rodger ("Rodge") and Steve Jamnik, two young men returning from service at the end of WWII, stop by the office of Professor Burris to ask if he knows anything about a man named Frazier, and the new society Frazier is trying to build. Burris remembers that Frazier was a classmate of his in graduate school, one with radical ideas. He sends a letter to Frazier and immediately gets a reply inviting him to visit the community. Burris agrees to take time off from his academic duties to accompany Rogers and Steve on a visit to "Walden Two," Frazier's community. Rodge's girlfriend Barbara, Steve's girlfriend Mary, and Burris' Colleague Castle, also come. The population of Walden Two is about one thousand people, all of whom seem to be healthy and happy. They live in dwellings, eat in common dining spaces, raise their children in a nursery, and grow and build much of what they need. The standard workday lasts only four hours, or less; no one is paid wages--but nothing at Walden Two costs money. Each of the visitors responds to the community differently. Castle finds it challenging he spends the duration of the visit arguing with Frazier about such a community like Walden Two. Burris, on the other hand, finds himself somewhere in the middle: he is skeptical that such a community could work, but he finds Frazier's arguments compelling and he cannot forget the evidence of success in front of him. Steve and Mary are both convinced that this is the life for them; they decide to stay at Walden Two. Rodge, too, is convinced, but Barbara is not; he leaves Walden Two with her at the end of their visit. Burris decides to return to his academic life. However, at the train station he suddenly realizes that he would rather try life at Walden Two, for whatever it's worth, than go back to the university. He walks back to Walden Two and begins his new life there along with the rest of the group.

Everyones idea of "Utopia" is a little different but this is a very thought provoking book.

I hate it when that happens

One of the blogs that I follow has disappeared. Not just quit updating but now blogger says it does not exist.

This blogger does not have an internet hookup and only blogs every few days when he can find wifi.

Could it be that he never switched to the "new blogger" and is no long allowed access to his blog? Could blogger "delete" it for not changing? Can't see any reason for him to "delete" his blog.

Anyone still using the "old blogger"?

Dumas, Arkansas

Dumas is a small town in the southeast delta region of Arkansas. It is farm country and without cotton and soybeans, Dumas would have little reason to exist.
After the two tornadoes that passed thru Dumas yesterday, it almost does not.
My sister Vivian lives in an assisted living center there and it was heavily damaged but there was no injuries. Two of my nieces live in the area and luckily their homes were spared.
The Madbutcher grocery story was destroyed. One of my great-nieces works there but had already gone home.
When a tornado rips thru a town the most common description says it is like a "war zone". Well that is Dumas today!
So far there has been no reported deaths and the number of injuries is very low considering that such a large portion of the town has been destroyed.
My family is safe and sound but their hometown will never be the same.

4 weeks

Four weeks from today I will be boarding a flight for France for a visit with my son.
I would be less than disingenuous if I did not say that this trip has had me on edge for quite some time.
This time of the year the weather can be rather unpredictable and I will be flying out of Chicago.
The weather in France can also present a problem as we have our itinerary set. Not so much what we will be doing but the cities we will visit.
Doesn't matter in the big picture as my trip is about spending some quality time with my son.
I love you Zac. See you soon.

Doing my part

Being the "good husband" that I am. I try to uphold my end of the bargain.



p.s. I haven't looked this good in years.

Gaylord boxes

The large cardboard boxes you have seen sitting around (for instance, with watermelons in them at Wal-Mart) are called "gaylord boxes".




They come in several sizes and when they are empty they can be "broken down" for easy reuse or disposal.






While delivering 16,000 pounds of 40% cream to the Fayetteville plant that makes SWANSON tv dinners, I noticed several gaylord boxes. They were about 3ft x 4ft x 3ft. That ends up a little less than 35 cu.ft. after you deduct for the corners that do not extend to a 90* angle.







Inside was 1100 pounds of "macaroni". I just never thought of macaroni weighing that much. The powder for the cheese sauce was on another pallet.

Another surprise was a box of ground black pepper. The box was about 16in x 16in x 12in. Not very large at all, but it contained 50 pounds.

I am often amazed at the things I notice about manufacturing plants I deliver to.

Switched

Well I finally changed over to the "new" blogger. Why the heck can't things just stay the same. Every time you get used to something , they change it for no apparent reason.

I know I didn't have to switch but was afraid that one day I could no longer access my blog.

Things seem pretty much the same on my end but don't know how it will affect those who check out my blog. Please leave a comment (if you can) if it seems different to you.

On another front. We still haven't heard anything on our camper. The annual rv show in Little Rock was this past weekend and I'm sure our salesman has been to busy with new customers to worry about someone that has already put a deposit on one.

Stagecoach Inn

We drove to Russellville today to look at a truck I had seen on the internet and decided to check out " The Potts Inn".












Being Sunday, the museum was closed and I just snapped a few photos of the grounds. I think we will try to visit when it is open so we can read more about it.













This magnificent Inn most have been a welcome stop for weary passengers of the Butterfield Stage Line.













Can't you just picture people getting off the stage and dusting themselves off before entering to have a meal and retiring for the night.













This building was used by Dr. Charles Teeter for nearly the first half of the 1900's.














This was another cabin on the grounds. Without being able to visit the museum, I can't give any details about the cabin or if the doctors office has been moved the the grounds of the museum. My guess is that both building were at other locations.














This time capsule was buried on the 100th birthday of Pottsville.