Go West Ol' Man - day 2 august 5

 August 5 - said good bye to Wayne but not before taking a final stroll through the park. took some cook pics at sunrise.  Before leaving today, the cows and calves in the field beside us were going to get rounded up. That was cool to watch as they seperated out the cows and calves so the calves could get some medicine.  Today we saw LOTS of folks heading to Sturis motorcycle rally.  Our destination is the Badlands Hotel and Campground which is 4 miles outside the east entrace to the Bad Lands National Park.  Gas today was a lot of 3.57 and 3.89.  Not bad!  Had read the reviews about this campground (private) but from what I have seen so far, it's top notch. Full hookup (water, electric, sewer) .  will post tomorrow but in Site 10 and great view of the Bad Lands.  The badlands themselves are very cool place - they just pop up out of nowhere. Reminds me of Monument Vally.  Staying here for 3 nights, so two full days of exploring the area.  Looking to do couple of hikes in the mornings next two days. They have couple night programs so will do them next two night. Enjoy the photos.

Go West ol' man - Day 1 August 4

 Decided that I should revist a place my sister and I did when my folks took us out to CA to visit my Aunt, Uncle and cousins.  We drove out to CA in a 64 Comet (don't think it had AC) but regardless, a place that I remember seeing was the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert.  Don't know why but always wanted to go back so here we go - going west probably about 63 years later (or there abouts).  I'll try to put what we saw on a new daily poast - maybe call it go west - day 1 .....

August 4th - 2026 

Headed out from Coon Rapids around 10:00 AM and pretty uneventful drive. Got gas twice, both times the cost was 3.89 gallon.  Bout what we pay back home.  Using Harvest Hosts, we stopped at Porter's Sculture Park in Montrose, SD.  What a great stop. If you have ever driven east or west on I-90 past Souix Falls, SD, you would have seen the Bull and the Horse from the interstate.    Wayne Porter is the artist that did all these and it is awesome. Here is the link  - https://portersculpturepark.com/

Leading without knowledge

 from the fat felon: 

Our Great United States Air Force Academy will soon have an incredible Board of Visitors, composed of Doug Nikolai, Dan Clark, Senator Tommy Tuberville, Charlie

Kirk, and Dina Powell. Congratulations to all!

David Earl Williams III  states:

"As a U.S. Navy veteran, this is an absolute disgrace. The United States Air Force Academy is supposed to produce the best and brightest leaders for our military. Instead, it’s getting a board stacked with zero military experience and 100% political favoritism.

Charlie Kirk? A college dropout who grifted his way into conservative circles by cozying up to rich Fox News donors. Tommy Tuberville? A football coach who held up military promotions just to make a point he didn’t even understand. And the rest? Political hacks with no skin in the game.

Not one of these people has earned the right to oversee an institution that trains America’s officers. No deployments, no sacrifice, no service—just connections.

Every single cadet at the Air Force Academy is expected to push themselves to their limits, commit to something bigger than themselves, and prepare to defend this country. Why should they be led by people who have never done the same?

This isn’t leadership. It’s a slap in the face to every veteran, every active-duty service member, and every cadet who actually put in the work.

Keep this in mind Democrats when you win back the White House. These clowns got to go."

Need to save our history!

The is just totally unacceptable. I did not serve in the military, but I have plenty of friends and family that did. There is no excuse for the actions of this government. I do not care if you do not agree with my politics, but if you are a former service member, what would you think if your one of your relation's information was removed from Arlington National Cemetery on-line records. The fat felon and his boot strapped minions are trying to remove any history of our country's cultures and their military records. This is a campaign of hate that is being waged by our government and has to stop.

I challenge any of those that voted for the fat felon explain to me the why this is being done? What does it accomplish? Not a fricken thing other than show how ignorant and stupid the felon and his followers are. I know what they trying to do -

Just wait, next will be the replacing the history books in print that are used for education in our schools with a "cleansed version" of their history.

WAKE UP PEOPLE

THEY ARE ERASING OUR HISTORY!

From 1942 to 1945, the Code Talkers were key to every major operation of the Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater. The Code Talkers were Indigenous Americans who used codes based in their native languages to transmit messages that the Axis Powers never cracked. The Army recognized the ability of tribal members to send coded language in World War I and realized the codes could not be easily interpreted in part because many Indigenous languages had never been written down.

The Army expanded the use of Code Talkers in World War II, using members of 34 different tribes in the program. Indigenous Americans always enlisted in the military in higher proportions than any other demographic group—in World War II, more than a third of able-bodied Indigenous men between 19 and 50 joined the service—and the participation of the Code Talkers was key to the invasion of Iwo Jima, for example, when they sent more than 800 messages without error.

“Were it not for the Navajos,” Major Howard Connor said, “the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.”

Today, Erin Alberty of Axios reported that at least ten articles about the Code Talkers have disappeared from U.S. military websites. Broken URLs are now labeled “DEI,” an abbreviation for “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.”

How do these actions by the Fat Felon and his followers make this a better country?

Those that voted for the butt ugly fat felon should be ashamed of these actions as they continue to try and erase our proud, diverse, and inclusive history! You should be ashamed of your ignorance.

Here’s what the majority of anti-Trump voters honestly feel about Trump supporters en masse:

 A real question from a Trump supporter: ‘Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?’

THE SERIOUS ANSWER: Here’s what the majority of anti-Trump voters honestly feel about Trump supporters en masse:

That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought "Fine." (https://www.usatoday.com/.../trump-university.../502387002/)

That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, "Okay." (https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hotel-paid-millions...)

That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, "No problem." (https://abcnews.go.com/.../list-trumps-accusers.../story...)

That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, "Not an issue." (https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../donald-trumps.../)

That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn't care, you exclaimed, "He sure knows me." (https://www.usatoday.com/.../president-donald.../4073405002/)

That when you heard him relating a story of an elderly guest of his country club, an 80-year old man, who fell off a stage and hit his head, to Trump replied: “‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn’t—you know, he was right in front of me, and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him. He was bleeding all over the place. And I felt terrible, because it was a beautiful white marble floor, and now it had changed color. Became very red.” You said, "That's cool!" (https://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-howard-stern-story)

That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw. (https://www.nbcnews.com/.../donald-trump-criticized-after...)

That when you heard him brag that he doesn't read books, you said, "Well, who has time?" (https://www.theatlantic.com/.../americas-first.../549794/)

That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn't commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, "That makes sense." (https://www.usatoday.com/.../what-trump-has.../1501321001/)

That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, "Yes!" (https://www.latimes.com/.../la-na-trump-campaign-protests...)

That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man's coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, "What a great guy!" (https://www.independent.co.uk/.../donald-trump-orders...)

That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, "Thumbs up!" (https://www.theatlantic.com/.../why-cant-trump.../567320/)

That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, "That's the way I want my President to be." (https://www.huffpost.com/.../trump-insult-foreign...)

That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they're supposed to be regulating and you have said, "What a genius!" (https://www.politico.com/.../138-trump-policy-changes...)

That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, "That's smart!" (https://www.usnews.com/.../how-is-donald-trump-profiting...)

That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was in the middle of water and you have said, "That makes sense." (https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../the-very-big-ocean.../)

That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, "falling in love" with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, "That's statesmanship!" (https://www.cnn.com/.../donald-trump-dictators.../index.html)

That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids, has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas - he explains that they’re just “animals” - and you say, “Well, OK then.” (https://www.nbcnews.com/.../more-5-400-children-split...)

That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise. (https://www.americanprogress.org/.../confronting-cost.../)

What you don't get, Trump supporters, is that our succumbing to frustration and shaking our heads, thinking of you as stupid, may very well be wrong and unhelpful, but it's also... hear me... charitable.

Because if you're NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering.

- Adam-Troy Castro

(To all who agree with its content, I ask that you PLEASE SHARE IT on your own post, and ENCOURAGE OTHERS to do the same.)

History repeating itself - i hope not.

 First you lie and instill fear in your own party. Next you select your judges at the supreme and federal courts. Then you appoint your loyalist into positions of power. You then fire the military generals and install those that are loyal to you and not the constitution. You try to deny those with natural born citizenship and allow those with over 5 million dollars to buy their way to citizenship. Finally, you want to control who can report on you and your administration by selecting those in the press that provide favorable light on your mis-deeds.

Anyone see anything wrong with this? One only needs to look back to what happened in Germany during the early 1930's to see the similarities.

Uncommon Sense was a Common Vice

Those with knowledge of the United States Marine Corps will recognize the irony of this title. I wish its words were not true, but as I write this, I believe they are.

Currently, there is an effort to cull a significant number of career Special Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is an unthinkable action that will gravely undermine the security of the nation well beyond what many of our citizens are aware. For those seeking to raise their awareness, I offer this vignette, free of political bias or moral judgment. It is not about any one person, but an amalgamation of multiple FBI Special Agents.

I am the coach of your child’s soccer team. I sit next to you on occasion in religious devotion. I am a member of the PTA. With friends, you celebrated my birthday. I collected your mail and took out your trash while you were away from home. I played a round of golf with you. I am a veteran. I am the average neighbor in your community. This is who you see and know. However, there is a part of my life that is a mystery to you, and prompts a natural curiosity about my profession.

This is the quiet side of me that you do not know: I orchestrated a clandestine operation to secure the release of an allied soldier held captive by the Taliban. I prevented an ISIS terrorist from boarding a commercial aircraft. I spent 3 months listening to phone intercepts in real time to gather evidence needed to dismantle a violent drug gang. I recruited a source to provide critical intelligence on Russian military activities in Africa. I rescued a citizen being tortured to near death by members of an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. I interceded and stopped a juvenile planning to conduct a school shooting. I spent multiple years monitoring the activities of deep cover foreign intelligence officers, leading to their arrest and deportation. I endured extensive hardship to infiltrate a global child trafficking organization. I have been shot in the line of duty.

Something else about me, I was assigned to investigate a potential crime. Like all previous cases I have investigated, this one met every legal standard of predication and procedure. Without bias, I upheld my oath to this country and the Constitution and collected the facts. I collected the facts in a manner to neither prove innocence nor guilt, but to arrive at resolution.

I am now sitting in my home, listening to my children play and laugh in the backyard, oblivious to the prospect that their father may be fired in a few days. Fired for conducting a legally authorized investigation. Fired for doing the job that he was hired to do. I have to wonder, when I am gone, who will do the quiet work that is behind the facade of your average neighbor? -

Alt National Park Service Post