Although the man-made art along the streets of Grand Junction is impressive, it pales in comparison to the art by God in the nearby Colorado National Monument…

We’re back!!  It has been about 6 weeks since we last popped into your living rooms with a mountain of drivel about absolutely nothing and I’ll bet that some of you have been thinking, “Thank God!  This nightmare has finally ended!”  Not a chance, brother-in-law!!!

We finally escaped the confines of California on May 21 en-route to Alabama.  Prior to our departure, we helped the in-laws pack up all their possibles and a few hundred cases of wine for their relocation to Green Valley, Arizona.  Yep, you heard right: Jerry & Sandy sold Happy Bottom Estates and sold, donated or stored their remaining possessions in preparation for their move to the Great Southwest.

One of the problems in moving a “working winery” requires the bottling of a variety of wines in various stages of aging which further requires the assemblage of a bottling crew.   Gathering folks who are willing to work for their weight in wine is not always as easy to do as it may sound and occasionally Jerry has to resort to shanghaiing someone hopping through town on a holiday…

This is the Rainbow Plantation RV Park in Summerdale, Alabama.   We’ve rolled out the awnings and lawn chairs and laid in a summer long supply of apple-cinnamon iced tea.   Hell, we’ve even subscribed to the Mobile Press-Register so we can keep track of local events such as restaurant specials, yard sales and Christmas Bazaars.   We be locals!

See y’all next time.  Hugs, CC & me

The wine was beginning to pile up mid-way through the second day of bottling and we began worrying that we would run out of barn storage space before we ran out of wine…

So we simply bottled what we had room for and drank the rest.   Problem solved.

Another of the problems confronting the brother-in-law was what to do with the fleet of cars, trucks and tractors he had acquired during his years in the Sierra foothills.  Is anyone out there interested in buying a 1931 Ford hot rod…

With close to $100k invested, he’s letting it go for the bargain basement price of merely $35k.   Let us know if you’re interested.  The girl is not included!

Leaving California, we decided to take the central route east which landed us in Grand Junction, Colorado, on Memorial Day weekend.   We had intended to stop in Moab, Utah, for a week or two of 4-wheeling but there was no way we were going to compete with thousands of newbies and half drunk tourists in rented Jeeps pushing the limits of common sense on the rocks and trails of Moab so we drove a little further east and settled in for the holiday in Grand Junction…

The town boasts a wide variety of upscale restaurants, pizza joints and brew pubs as well as an eclectic display of artwork throughout downtown…

Our voyage east also took us through Tornado Alley during tornado season and several towns that have been hard hit by tornados in recent years.  Foremost among them are Greensburg, Kansas, which in 2007 was struck by a 1.7-mile wide Force 5 tornado that travelled 22 miles completely obliterating the town in the process; and Joplin, Missouri, which experienced a 1-mile wide Force 5 multiple vortex tornado which also travelled 22 miles and caused 158 fatalities in 2011.  Needless to say, I spent the next few days scanning the sky for anything that even remotely resembled a funnel.

Our next stop was in Red Bay, Alabama and McKinney RV Service to have some much needed work done on our Urban Assault Vehicle.  I’m not going to go into detail about this except to say that we did not receive the quality service we have experienced in past years.  I am still working to fix things which were inadequately repaired at their shop.

Enough sour grapes! We are now happily settled in what is to be our home for the next 9 months…

No matter who else he snags, his crew always includes us!

Since Jerry is the master wine maker, he is responsible for actually beginning the process…

   Bama Bound                                                                  June 15, 2014

Now, those of you who received a bottle of wine at Jeff & Jenny’s wedding, how do you feel about drinking it knowing that it is bottled one mouthful at a time?!?  Just kidding!!!