A word from Rip!

RIPS JOY has air brakes! Several things have been happening along the trip for me. First of all Joyce finally made it up in the morning before I did. This is such a rare occasion that I did need to mention it.
Secondly I have discovered that our van has air brakes. They are not the type on big trucks so I will explain. This part of the country is very mountainous and Rips Joy has been handling the climb up the mountains very well, but the decent has caused some problems with the brakes over heating. So now on the decent I turn on the air conditioner. This slows down the vehicle and along with engine braking we are able to glide down the mountains at an acceptable pace without overheating the brakes. The air brakes not only slow the vehicle but keep us cool. Thank goodness we have air conditioning with the intense heat of Arizona. It also has been very dry and no signs of streams to fish in. I am waiting to get further north and maybe then I can cast a line. Although there are signs all along the roads warnings do not enter if flooded. We must be here at the wrong time of the year. I have been taking lot of photos but I am unsure if I will be able to edit them down to show size for viewing.
The third thing I have learned about is pollution. Some of the magnificent caves we have been visiting have a pollution problem that I never thought about. They close down for a number of weeks a year while volunteers come in vacuum up lint. Yes that is right, lint in caves from people’s clothing is polluting the environment. When that happens I wonder what we are doing to our world and I have become more conscious of the smaller things I do to keep our beautiful world cleaner. Therefore I have decided to walk to work from now on, just I soon as I stop being retired!