Hurry!! Be A Part of This Important Survey

As we travel the highways and byways, we have come to appreciate the availability of our favorite wines. So when we recently learned of this survey, you can see how we wanted to participate. Please read on:

Wal-Mart announced that, sometime in 2011 it will begin offering customers a new discount item...Wal-Mart's own brand of wine. (We know this already exists.  So there was some real concern on our part at first. But then we concluded that they were looking to perhaps expand. And the announcement continued.)

The world's largest retail chain is teaming up with Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery of California to produce the wines at affordable prices in the $2 to $5 range.
Wine connoisseurs may not be inclined to put a bottle of the Wal-Mart brand into their shopping carts but, 'There is a market for inexpensive wine,' said Kathy Micken, professor of marketing at University of Arkansas , Bentonville. "However, branding will be very important".
Customer surveys were conducted to determine the most attractive name for the Wal-Mart wine brands and varieties.
The top surveyed names in order of popularity were:
10. Chateau Traileur Parc
9. White Trashfindel
8. Big Red Gulp
7. World Championship Riesling
6. NASCARbernet
5. Chef Boyardeaux
4. Peanut Noir
3. I Can't Believe it's not Vinegar
2. Grape Expectations
1. Nasti Spumante
The beauty of Wal-Mart wine is that it can be served with either white meat (Possum) or red meat (Squirrel).
P.S. Don't bother posting a comment to tell me that this is a hoax. I know possum is not white meat.

P.S.S. We thank Krissy for forwarding this information to us.  I am gathering our own tally and will be delivering it to the nearest store to be sure they hear from far and wide on any future expansion.  I choose #9 and #5.  Let me know your two top choices.

Thanks for visiting Hurley Travels.  Talk to you later.

Sharing Time Travels

In the past couple of months we haven't put many miles on Ferd; but time travel can be as enjoyable as rolling down the road, depending on the people who share it with you. That is exactly how a recent trip went.

The other day my sister, Marti, and I celebrated my Aunt Peg's birthday with her. She's a lively 84-years-young. It was so enjoyable to spend the day having lunch at the local MCL cafeteria (just a couple of blocks from where I grew up) and talking with Aunt Peg about her quilting and our family. Here she is looking at the new photo album we gave her to keep momentoes of all her beautiful quilts. She is an inspiration and just a hell-of-a-lot-of-fun. Her can-do attitude and sparkling personality are enough to get anyone energized.

Each year her quilts are the coveted prize at the family reunion raffle. And the last few years I've been thrilled to take part by producing family history squares carrying genealogy information and photos. As I continue to search out more family information and photos, I know I can bring them to her and we'll have another great conversation from the memories that are conjured up. Of course, these discussions bring back my own recollections. It seems like yesterday that we were little children at Christmas at Grandma Weber's sitting on Santa's lap, who happened to be Uncle Shad, Peg's husband. And the memories go on-and-on.............

Have I made you reflect a little? Did you have a flashback to your aunts and uncles at Christmas? Or how about high school dates? Or camping in the summers with your girl scout troop? Are you an aunt or uncle who might share some of those great recollections with a niece or nephew? Now's the time to enjoy some time travel!

Working Around Obstacles

The past ten days has dramatically emphasized how right-handed I am and, especially the degree to which we use our thumb for every day tasks. This won't be a long post because I am typing with my left hand after having surgery to remove a mass from my right thumb. Jerry has been taking care of everything and doing an outstanding job. He insisted he would type this too but I am determined to overcome this obstacle -- at least until I can get this monstrosity removed in a few days. It feels like having a bowling ball attached to your arm since the doctor's instructions are to keep it elevated over my heart at all times. I've been doing a lot of reading and trying not to knock myself out in bed at night. Sure will appreciate that little appendage a lot more from now on!!

Happy Trails With Technology

Finally, I'm back to say hello on the blog. Whatever it is that happens every day has somehow interfered. For sure, there's one culprit that's put a clog in these communications -- the dreaded "Computer breakdown." It crept up slowly, the symptoms we all know, the lengthier boot ups and program loads, the refusal to process photo adjustments, and the increasingly louder roar as the fan overworks itself. And, then come the unplanned black screens, the surprise shutdowns. Oh no, don't leave me in the middle of a posting.......... What to do??? After the due course of time while considering totally discarding the machine and preparing to deal with the perils of VISTA, I took it to the computer hospital and got good news. Today I am humming along in techno-heaven, processing away after replacing the fan and doubling my RAM. I am pleased with the total outlay of $200 that I expect could take me through another year or so.

While waiting for these computer remedies, it became more clear to me that in our current lifestyle we've become somewhat technology-dependent, yet happy to be so. For instance, I was thinking about how we've missed the 4wheeling in Moab this May but that we can still hear and see the excitement by way of friends. And how video and digital cameras, email, cell phone, and the internet embellish and preserve all types of experiences and relationships as we meander the countryside.

With that thought in mind I am posting a link to old video that we love to watch that a friend recorded during some fabulous slick rock adventures in Moab two years ago. At this point: Thanks again to Will and Dan and Jan and Geir for welcoming these two strangers into your 4wheeling group.

These are some older moments on the trails worth rewatching. Hopefully, they will last a long time. Some of you reading this will already have seen this video. But we never tire of it and hope some will enjoy its repeat. That's us coming up Hell's Gate in Ole Yeller in the first few minutes of the video and it carries on with some great 4wheelers experiencing the beauty of Moab on trails such as Steelbender, Poison Spider, Metal Masher and more. Click here and take a ride with us:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8317016507430765812

Surfing on the Road

It's springtime in the Midwest. This means our travels today include rain and clouds, but also blossoming fruit trees and bright yellow dandelions everywhere. Oh well, we won't melt and Ferd is comfy. I have a great chauffeur and our Verizon aircard is working super, so I'm "surfing away" on the Internet. Here's a very useful site if you ever need help with converting distance, volume, temperature, etc. It's Science Made Simple: http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/conversions.html

On another miscellaneous Internet topic: Lately we've received a few comments on our blog from unknown senders that appear to be trying to lead us to questionable sites. We are not biting, but also I've changed our setting so that now we will approve a comment before it posts. Let's try it out. Anybody out there want to comment on anything ?!!

Well there are signs on I70 indicating destinations such as Greencastle, Indianapolis, Terre Haute and Evansville. The Indiana license plates have multiplied tenfold in the last 15 minutes. We'll be pulling into our spot at
Tim Hurley's soon and greeting friends and family. Those are good things.

Happy Trails

We are traveling now from southwestern Arizona to middle New Mexico. We left Blythe, California, four days ago and are now in Deming, NM. That's about 400 miles total. Now those of you who aren't fulltime rvers are thinking, "Why so slow?" While those of you who are vagabonds like us are perhaps proclaiming, "What's the hurry?" It's all relative, and isn't that the interesting part of it.

Our destination on this particular jaunt is the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, NM. We haven't had the chance to revisit this beautiful spot where we kicked off our rving lifestyle with our first volunteer positions a few years ago. And since it's on the way to visit an old friend further north in somewhat colder climate, we've decided to offer our services for a couple of weeks. I'll let you know how this develops in the next few days.

Meanwhile, I also wanted to mention that I came across a great website today. It's called The Happiness Project, where author Gretchen Rubin blogs about her latest research for a book she is writing on this same topic. She says: "I’m testing every principle, tip, rule, theory, and scientific study about happiness that I can find, to report on what works." For example, here are a few topics from her Wednesday Tips section: "13 tips fro dealing with a really lousy day" -- "21 phrases to help you fight right with your sweetheart" -- "Eleven internet tools to boost your happiness."

Well there are a lot of positive vibes going on here! If you are interested go take a look at www.happiness-project.com.


In the spirit of this post, I came across this photo that is connected with some happy memories from a few years ago. Here's Jerry and Krissy taking a ride on Cherry.


Hope everyone had a nice Easter and that spring has sprung in your life.