Bennington, NE 3/24/15

I haven’t posted for a while I guess it has to do with living in a house. We don’t do that much other than see the grand kids here in Omaha and that is always fun.

We did take a trip to Ames to see Tiffany, Matt, Bryon and Alexa in March. Alexa’s birthday was last week and so we wanted to see her. We met them in Ames and had dinner and celebrated Alexa’s birthday. It was good to visit with them.

We also saw and had lunch with the Cairo’s on that same trip. I don’t remember the names of either restaurant but the food was good at both. It is always nice to see family and friends.

Cynthia has been over once or twice since we got home, she does her dance thing and we enjoy having her stay with us.

This past weekend the NCAA tournament was here in Omaha, my brother Larry and wife Kathy came up. He had tickets for Sunday’s games, KU vs Wichita and Wisconsin vs Oregon games, we had a great time and the games were good.

I had my doctor visits, last Wednesday with urology, good results, and oncology yesterday, good results, so I don’t have to see either one until June, YEAH. Thank you Lord for the good test results and thank you family and friends for your thoughts and prayers. Please keep them coming for I know that is what is keeping me going.

Next Monday we are heading east with Carl & Merilee. We are going to Niagara Falls, Gettysburg, Washington, DC, Charleston, SC, Asheville, NC or Savannah, GA, Nashville, TN, Kansas City and home. It should be a lot of fun, I am looking forward to it.

On a sad note we lost another classmate today. Joe Fleming died this morning, he was my age. Our condolences to Patty and his entire family. I have good memories of visiting with Joe and will miss his upbeat emails and sense of humor. Our thoughts and prayers are with you Patty.

That’s all for now. 

2015 Spring Trip (cont’d) 022015

Wednesday, February 11 to Monday February 16, 2015

This entry is easy, we took care of all the preparations for the annual Mardi Gras party at Bill’s house and after Sunday cleaned up after the party. So nothing exciting or startling to report, except the party was a big hit. Oh and Sarah did go to New Orleans on Saturday to watch a couple of the parades they had there, me I stayed back at the house.

Tuesday Sarah did laundry for our pending departure and return trip to the frozen tundra of Iowa and Nebraska.

We can’t begin to thank Bill and Mable enough for the gracious hospitality and sightseeing we did, they showed us a great time and Sarah and I thank them immensely.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

We headed out for Little Elm, TX to Teresa & Bennie’s house. Of course we arrived when rush hour was going on and it was in full swing too. However, my great driving and ignoring the directions of the GPS we arrived unscathed.

Teresa & Bennie have a beautiful home, with a nice size pond in the back and lots of wildlife. They also have stupid birds down here, the ones who see a bird in the reflection of the windows and tries to fly to them and ultimately fly into the window.

Friday, February 20, 2015

We went touring today, Teresa took us to the campground we stayed at the last time we were in the area and we found the sight we had at the time. They still hadn’t fixed the sewer problem.

Then it was onto Stonebriar Centre Mall. Now I am not much of a mall person but I was there. We ate at California Pizza, definitely not Pizza Hut but very good pizza. Then I told the ladies to go do their thing and I would meet up with them somewhere, so that is what we did. I walked the mall upper and lower levels, so I got my exercise in, and then I found Godiva chocolates, so much for my walking the mall.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Today we went to the George W Bush Library on the SMU campus. Nice facility, there was a video played on three walls above our head, very interesting to watch. It is also interesting to see the use of new technology in the newer libraries. Truman’s library has been updated since I first visited it in the seventies. The other interesting thing is the security checks you go through to get into the libraries, it is the same as getting on an air plane.

Again, I enjoyed the visit, even though I did not do justice to everything offered. All three libraries to do justice to them need a full day or even two.

So I accomplished my goal of seeing the three presidential libraries within the state of Texas.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

We decided to head for Wichita, KS today, getting an early start to avoid the ice and sleet which was forecasted for the afternoon and evening hours. Thank you Teresa & Bennie for your hospitality, we enjoyed every minute of it. Next time we will play Rummikub.

We accomplished our goal with driving through a slight amount of snow between Oklahoma City and Wichita. We arrived about two thirty and got settled in our room. We were able to go to church at Holy Savior Church at 5 pm. Afterwards we had dinner at Firebirds restaurant, good food.

Monday, February, 23, 2015

We headed out for Kansas City about nine and since I hadn’t changed the navigation to let us go on toll roads we ended up going north to Hwy 50 and over to Emporia then Interstate 35 into Kansas City.

Went over to Steve & Lynne’s and had dinner with them and played a few games of Rummikub, ended up getting back to the hotel about nine thirty.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Slow start today, didn’t get up until eight, we didn’t eat breakfast until after nine and headed over to Steve & Lynne’s at eleven. Went to lunch with Lynne at Arris in Lenexa, http://www.arrispizzaonline.com/#!lenexa-ks/c2am, this is a Greek restaurant that specializes in Greek ingredient pizzas. They have a noon buffet which Sarah & Lynne had and looked good. I ordered a 10” pizza which was very good.

Went to see Zach played in the school symphony, they played music from the movies, rock and roll type music. I enjoyed it immensely.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Got up early to get on the road. I wanted to get ahead of the ice, sleet and snow the forecasters were calling for along the route we were traveling. We were able to get going by 7:45 am, a record for us, and we made it to within ten miles of Burlington before we saw any snow.

We have a nice room at the Comfort Suites in Burlington, I have never stayed here before but it is a nice hotel. Larry and Kathy braved the snowy roads and came out to the hotel for dinner. We ate in Peaches, the hotel restaurant, food was good but nothing special.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Today we are going to see my aunts, Millie and Marcella, we are taking lunch to them. Millie had some surgery on her knee and I want to see how she is doing. So we will be spending some time with them. The weather isn’t very nice, very cold, high today of 14 and low t

onight of -11, so we aren’t going very many places today, I think I’ll make a couple phone calls.

Talked with Joe Fleming this afternoon, he sounds good. We had a nice visit and hopefully we will get back this summer for a luncheon.

Had dinner with Kathy & Larry at Gator’s a local eatery, prime rib was very good.

Friday, February 27, 2015

Woke up this morning and it was -11 outside, what is that all about? Left Burlington around 11:30 and arrived Davenport about two.

Checked into the Hampton Inn and the hotel is doing some renovation. Our room has been renovated but when the heating unit clicked on it has a vibration that is very loud, may have to move to another room.

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Had a great day at Madyson’s dance competition. Her group won several awards and it was neat to see how much she has progressed. She entered a competition where an instructor shows them a dance and they practice it several times and then perform it. Madyson didn’t win anything in it but she did a great job in performing it and are very proud of her for trying. It was a long day but a great one. We enjoyed meeting some of Robert and Sarah’s friends we hadn’t met before. We had a great time the whole weekend.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Got up early to have breakfast with the kids but Mason and Madyson wanted to go swimming, so Sarah and I had breakfast by ourselves. We saw the kids in the swimming pool, said our goodbyes to everyone and headed for Omaha. For our friends in Des Moines, we didn’t stop to see you all because we wanted to get home.

We arrived home about two in the afternoon and then spent the rest of the day unloading the car and getting things put back in place. (We had the interior of the house painted while we were gone) After two months and 6300

miles it was great to be home.

People have asked me if I liked this trip better without the camper and the answer is yes and no. Yes because I didn’t have to worry about something happening to me and Sarah having to deal with the camper and truck. No because it is always nice to have your home with you at all times. It was more expensive without the camper, not including the cost of the camper etc., because we stayed in a lot of hotels, 21 days worth, and we ate out a lot. We had a great time and Sarah and I want to thank everyone we stayed with, Colleen & Darius, Debra, Jose & Emma, Bill & Mable, and Teresa & Bennie, all family and friends, Thank you very much.

Until later. 

Our Spring 2015 trip Cont’d

 

Wednesday, Jan 21, 2015

Colleen & Darrius, thank you for your hospitality and a great time.

Left Colleen & Darrius’ for Las Cruces, NM, where we were going to spend the night but instead kept driving to El Paso, TX. We were going to stay at a Hampton Inn but they were full so we stayed in a Holiday Inn Express, in downtown El Paso. The hotel was nice but dated, could have used some serious updating. The carpet by the elevator on the fourth floor was gross, other than that we had a good evening.

Thursday, Jan 22, 02015

Got up early we knew we would have a long day, over 500 miles to San Antonio. To our surprise it was snowing when we went to load the car. Now we left the north so we wouldn’t see any snow but I guess I forgot to tell the weather people about that. Travel was slow in some places but overall not bad just a long day.

We got to the Hampton Inn in Selma, TX, north of San Antonio on I35. This hotel is not easy to get to, it takes traveling a couple of frontage roads but we eventually made it.

We had dinner at Houlihan’s restaurant a couple doors from the hotel, not a bad place to eat but we are going to try other places.

Friday, Jan 23, 2015

We went to the Base Exchange at Lackland AFB. I haven’t been to Lackland since 1966 and surprisingly nothing looked like I remembered it. It was fun to go there even if I couldn’t remember anything about the base, understandably in the last fifty years they have revamped the entire base.

Saturday, Jan 24, 2015

We headed for McKinney State Park, http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/mckinney-falls, to see Dave & Shari Frantz, they are camp hosting at the park until March, I believe. What we saw of the park is very nice, campsites are water and electric but they aren’t on top of each other which is nice.

We went to lunch at the County Line, http://www.countyline.com/index.html, the food was very good, I had some bread pudding and it was just way my mother made it when I was a kid.

We then went to the President Johnson Library, http://www.lbjlibrary.org/, one of my goals is to visit all of the presidential libraries and we were close so we went to see what was there. It was very interesting, I never knew much about him except he was president when I went to Vietnam. It was a good visit.

We did enjoy visiting with Dave & Shari, we hope to see them in Mt Pleasant this summer at Crossroads RV Park.

Sunday, Jan 25, 2015

Today we went to church at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, nice church, http://www.olph.org/, we normally arrive 20-25 minutes before Mass begins because I want to get a seat in the back of church and scope out where the restroom is located, this is to avoid problems later. When we arrived the parking lots, there were two of them, were almost full, I thought maybe I made a mistake on the Mass time. No, we were early, as usual, it seems the people of the parish like to get to church early to get a seat. There were probably 30 or so people standing in the back. I asked one of the ushers if this was the norm for a Sunday and he said yes. He also said they are intending to enlarge the church. It is was nice to see the attendance so high.

This afternoon we went downtown to the Alamo, http://www.thealamo.org/, or, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamo_Mission_in_San_Antonio, I haven’t seen the Alamo since 1965 and didn’t remember anything about the last visit except the front of the building. It was good to see more today and maybe I’ll do some reading about it.

We also found the River walk, http://www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com/m , I didn’t find this that exciting, it looks to me to be a manmade tourist idea.

The rest of the evening was spent reading, computer play and watching TV.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Got up this morning and got caught up on my receipts for the trip, I enter them into Quicken. I was going to run a report to find out what we have spent on this trip so far but I didn’t. It has been fun so far and it doesn’t matter how much we spend.

Sarah did laundry, I went to find quarters, found a bank not too far from us.

Had lunch at Applebee’s, had to use the rest of an ecard.

Clothes shopping for Sarah at Ross, she found a couple of nice things.

Starbucks this afternoon, I don’t drink coffee but I like the chocolate chip drinks.

Went to Verizon, I did it to get info on new phones. I believe we will get a Windows phone for myself and an IPhone 6 for Sarah. We are going to get them when we get back to NE or sooner.

Lazy the rest of the day.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Left San Antonio about 9:30 in the morning and arrived in Houston about 1:30. The car was really dirty so we found a car wash and got the outside of the car looking pretty good.

Didn’t have any trouble finding Jose & Emma’s, ,house the GPS took us right to it. We visited a bit and then go t settled into “our room”. Thank you Ben for giving up your bathroom for us.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Today Jose took me to the VA so I could get my port flushed. This is a BIG VA, it makes Omaha and Des Moines look tiny. It was an interesting experience. Jose, thank you for taking me to the VA, I believe I would have eventually found it but it would not have been the good experience I had.

Metro ride downtown on Houston’s metro system, I love trains so this was right up my alley.

We had lunch at Treebeards restaurant, http://treebeards.com/. This was a very good restaurant, they serve cafeteria style, and the carrot cake was delicious.

After lunch we walked to Minute Maid Park, http://houston.astros.mlb.com/hou/ballpark/, it looked to be about five blocks from our current position, we started walking and it may have been only five blocks but they were long blocks. In total for the day I walked about two miles for the day, I was tired when we got back to the house.

Rummicube, this game is addictive. Jose & Emma had the game and we started playing it, but had some questions so we get out the instructions, they didn’t help much because they were in Portuguese. They had two games at one time and gave away the ones with English instructions, but it didn’t matter because we were able to play and we played most every evening. It was a great time.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, http://www.mfah.org/, is a very interesting place. We went to see a Monet exhibit which was ending in a few days. Now I know next to nothing about art but the Monet exhibit was very interesting. Of course there were other paintings which didn’t make any sense to me. I remember taking an art class in college and I could never come up with the same explanation for the painting as the instructor so I never received a very good grade for the class. All in all they had some nice art and we enjoyed the visit.

Goode & Co, http://www.goodecompany.com/restaurant-seafood1.asp, is great seafood. My favorite dish is the Campechana De Mariscos (Mexican Seafood Cocktails), now don’t ask me how to make it but it is fabulous. I don’t even remember what else we had.

Tonight we met Sarah’s great-nieces, Abby, Alexandra and her boyfriend Ian, and Sarah’s cousin Rebecca who happens to be Abby and Alexandra’s mother. Anyway we met at the Liberty Kitchen and Oyster Bar, http://www.libertykitchenoysterbar.com/, good food, good conversation. We had a great time, thank you all for taking time to meet with us.

Friday, January 30, 2015

George H W Bush museum at College Station, TX, http://bush41.org/, is quite a place to visit. Like the Johnson library I learned a lot of things about Pres. Bush I did not know. But then again I have never been one to follow politics like a lot of others. This library is quite big and filled with a lot of interesting displays and some interactive exhibits. Pres. Bush was a naval aviator and flew off aircraft carriers so they have a video game type exhibit giving a person the opportunity to try landing on an aircraft carrier. You are given three chances to land successfully and needless to say I wasn’t successful, I crashed all three times. As with the other libraries there was more to read and see than time permitted but it was a great visit.

Potbelly Sandwich shop, http://www.potbelly.com/Shops/ShopLocator.aspx?PotbellyShopId=128, good place to eat if you happen to be in the area.

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Jose & Emma were going to the theater with their friends, Gloria & Albert, forgive me if I got the names wrong, they were having dinner before the theater so we joined them. We met at Patrenellas, http://www.patrenellas.net/main/, let me tell you the food was fabulous and the service was excellent. We enjoyed meeting Gloria & Albert and wish we could have spent more time with them, next visit we will do that.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Went to Church at St Cecilia Catholic Church, http://www.saintcecilia.org/, nice church, somehow reminded me of a church we went to in Mesa, AZ, the priest wore cowboy boots. He said he had a pair for each color of vestments he wore.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Today we went to see an Air Force buddy of mine, Sylvester Rios. Sylvester and I spent time together at the 366 USAF Dispensary at DaNang AFB, Vietnam in 1967, we were Aerospace Medical Specialist, fancy name for a paper pusher. We had a great visit with them and Sylvester thank you for lunch. Hope to see you next year.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Left for Lafayette around ten and arrived at about three after an uneventful drive

Went to dinner with Bill, Mable, Chuck and Brenda, had a great time visiting with them.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

We were following Bill & Mable to Thibodaux, their home, and since I have been wanting to go to Avery Island since we were here last so today was the day we stopped. It was rainy so we did not drive through the gardens but we did see them bottling the tabasco sauce and visited the country store. Now you can’t visit the store without buying some of their stuff and we did.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Did not do much today just hung around the house. We did go to Bubbas for PO Boy sandwiches, oyster and shrimp. Yum!

Friday, February 6, 2015

Wedell-Williams Memorial Aviation & Cypress Sawmill Museum, http://www.louisianastatemuseum.org/museums/cypress-sawmill-collection-and-wedell-williams-aviation-museum/, this museum is about airplane racing in the 1930’s and the history of cypress sawmills.

There are several rebuilt racing planes from the thirties, for the life of me I don’t know how they could see out of those planes let alone get into them.

The Cypress museum was interesting, a lot of the equipment used in the early 1900’s to cut down the trees etc. They had a section of a tree dating back over six hundred years old. A plague told of the early days of the cutting of these trees when they cut a tree over 3950 years old.

Lunch was at the Atchafalaya Course at Idlewil, white beans, rice and catfish, very good.

Mr. Charlie’s Rig, http://www.rigmuseum.com/, was our next stop. This was the first offshore drilling rig in the gulf, https://www.asme.org/about-asme/who-we-are/engineering-history/landmarks/250-mr-charlie-oil-drilling-rig, quite an interesting tour. The rig is now used to train people to work on the offshore rigs.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

The car needed to be washed and Bill was taking his to get washed so we followed along and had the car cleaned up.

Next was a visit to the Verizon store to get new phones. I was going to wait until we got home but decided what the heck. Sarah and I both got the IPhone 6, I was going to get the Windows phone but I thought I would wait for them to get more apps, there are a couple of apps they don’t have yet which I use a lot.

Grand Isle, LA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Isle,_Louisiana, was our place to visit today. On the way we drove through Fourchon, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Fourchon,_Louisiana, this is the port where Marcus, Sarah’s nephew, goes out of to supply the offshore rigs. He pilots a 170 foot boat similar to this one,

Had a great time at both places. There is so much to see here, it is the same but different from home.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Church was at, http://www.stjoseph-cc.org/, St Joseph Co-Cathedral in Thibodaux. I have never come across a Co-Cathedral before except here in Thibodaux.

For lunch we traveled out to Nottoway Mansion, http://www.nottoway.com/, we had a great lunch followed by a very interesting tour of the mansion. You can read about the mansion so I won’t go into details about it.

Monday, February 9, 2015

National WWII Museum, http://nationalww2museum.org/, was on our agenda for the today. Now this place is big and one day does not do justice to it, but I really enjoyed it. We saw Tom Hanks “Beyond all Boundaries” a film about WWII. This is a must see if you are in New Orleans but allow two days to see if you want to read all the plagues.

The museum is rebuilding a WWII PT boat, PT 305, http://www.nww2m.com/category/pt-305-update/. To learn more about the PT 305 see, http://www.nationalww2museum.org/see-hear/collections/artifacts/pt-305.html, this boat was built in New Orleans by the Higgins boat building company, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgins_Industries. They also built LCVPs about 20,000 of them for WWII, these boats were used in both theaters of operations and in the Korea and Vietnam wars. A couple of links to Higgins boats, http://www.nola.com/175years/index.ssf/2011/11/1944_higgins_industries_in_new.html,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Higgins

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

We didn’t do much today, hung around the house, had lunch at Bubba’s.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Lunch today at the Fish N Hook, had the T-Boy Burger, a BIG hamburger. I may have to have another because mine fell apart and Bill’s didn’t, he said I did not hold it correctly.

The rest of this week will be getting ready for Bill & Mable’s annual Mardi Gras party, we look forward to helping as much as possible. I am sure Sarah will be more help than I will but I will try.

I wanted more pictures but I can’t seem to find them, not sure where they are.

That is all for now.

Until later.

2015 Spring Trip

A couple of things: this trip is done in our car. We have the camper for sale at Petersen's RV in Elkhorn, NE, I will sell it at a very good price for the buyer, if you know of someone looking for a very good fifth wheel have them bring up Petersen's website and take a look, I will be glad to answer any questions about it. We have sold the truck, it was difficult to do but a truck like that needs to be run more often than I was doing. It went to a good home in Oregon.

On to our adventures:

Friday, Jan 2, 2015

Left Omaha for Kansas City. Not a long drive but we had good weather, I don’t remember the temperature when we left Omaha but it wasn’t too bad outside.

We had hoped to see my latest great nephew Francis, he lives with his parents Vince and Lindsay Ross in Kansas City, but he and his sister, Sophia, were sick and on the way to the doctor. So we will try to see them on our way home at the end of February.

We got to the Hampton Inn, our home for the next three days a little after one. We called Steven and he said they would be home around 1:30 p.m. We had a great time visiting them. Zack is a very good artist, https://www.facebook.com/zach.ruschill?fref=nf, check out his drawings on his Facebook page. Allison is a singer and her other brother Nick is a budding pianist.

We went to IKEA, never been to this store before, and it was huge. It has been in Kansas City for a few months and it was packed with people, now we did go on a Saturday so I guess that should be expected. I found it interesting how they displayed the merchandise. They had whole rooms set up and you could buy pieces of it or the whole layout by giving the cashier the number for the layout and you bought everything that was displayed.

Had a wet heavy snow Saturday night and very cold with strong winds so the temp was below zero.

We had a great time visiting Steve and family. I even ordered Girl Scout cookies which will be there on our way home so I can pick up the cookies then.

Monday, Jan 5, 2015

Left Kansas City this morning and it was single digits, COLD, the roads were good and the sun was shining.

We made it to Liberal, KS in midafternoon, we checked into the Hampton Inn and got settled in. We didn’t do any sightseeing here, not sure how much there is to see in Liberal. We had dinner at the local Applebee’s because I had an ecard with money on it and I wanted to use it. Good hotel, although the lady who checked us in had the wrong rate for us but a nice young man got it straighten out for us.

Tuesday, Jan 6, 2015

We decided to spend the night at Alamogordo, NM at Holloman AFB Inn. This is located on the base and is very affordable. We had a room with a full kitchen. It was the first time I had stayed on a military base since 1968, so I enjoyed it. This is a fighter squadron base but they also train drone pilots and I saw a couple drones in the air. The base also serves as a training facility for the German Luftwaffe, they have their own planes and train there because of the weather.

White Sands National Park, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_National_Monument, this was a very interesting place. The link is a good read and explains more about the park.

Thursday, Jan 7, 2015

Arrived at Debra Baker’s home in Tucson, AZ.

Friday, Jan 8, 2015

Boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB, http://www.visittucson.org/listings/Davis-Monthan-Air-Force-Base-Aircraft-Boneyard-/1134/?fromMenu=0&maxshow=10. This is a must see for anyone who is interested in airplanes. They have quite an extensive display of aircraft, some of which there aren’t any left in the inventory. 

Lunch today was at the Blue Willow, http://www.bluewillowtucson.com/, very nice restaurant and the food was very good.

My favorite place in Tucson is Frost Gelato, http://www.frostgelato.com/. Great gelato with lots of different flavors and made at the store.

Saturday, Jan 9, 2015

We did some sightseeing today, below are the places we saw and where we had lunch.

Saguaro National Park, http://www.saguaronationalpark.com/.

Lunch was at Grumpy’s, http://www.grumpysgrill.com/.

Sabino Canyon, http://www.sabinocanyon.com/

Both places were great, I can't begin to describe them so I will let the websites do 

Sunday, Jan, 11, 2015

Went to church at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, we have been here before, I like the interior of the church, http://seas.seastucson.org/

We had visited here before, San Xavier Mission, http://www.sanxaviermission.org/.

This was an interesting park, it was founded in 1691 and the San Xavier mission was founded in 1692, the links give more detail, Tumacacori National Historical Park, http://www.nps.gov/tuma/index.htm

The Hub, http://hubdowntown.com/.  We had dinner with my great nieces, Delaney, Kendall and Kylie, they are students at the University of Arizona in Tucson. It was great to listen to what they are involved in and how school is etc. They are great young ladies and I believe they will do great things in their life time.

Monday, Jan 12/2015

Not much going on today in the way of sightseeing. We did have lunch with Sarah’s brother Bob’s widow, Judy Cain, had lunch at Coco’s restaurant, good food. We had a nice visit with Judy.

Tuesday, Jan, 13/2015

Left Debi’s at 1:30 p.m. and arrived at Colleen & Darrius’, in Phoenix, around three.

Wednesday, Jan 14, 2015

Our day today is filled with seeing folks we met and worked with in our time in Mesa.

First we went to the Cal-Am workampers place of work. There we saw a lot of the folds we have worked with in the past and met others new to the job. We got to see, Mikki, our boss, Bob & Bobbie, Colleen, York was home sick, Steve & Teresa, Bob & Judy, Van & Delores, Linda & Bill, although I didn’t get to say hi to Linda, and many others. Some I know I know but can’t think of their name at this time and others who were new to me.

Bill & Ludella, these folks we met at the Excel service center and we followed them to Mesa our first year to AZ. We had lunch with them and enjoyed visiting with them. They live in Olathe, KS, so sometime we are in Kansas City we are going to call them and have lunch.

We worked with Steve & Teresa our first time in AZ. Teresa and Sarah worked in the costume shop and Steve and I worked on the trucks. They invited us over for dinner. Steve made a shrimp boil, with new potatoes, carrots, corn on the cob, sausage and shrimp. It was very good. We had a great time visiting with them. They have a New Horizon fifth wheel and they had it painted, the painters did a great job. Steve & Teresa are working next summer at a campground north of Jackson Hole, WY, sounds like a nice park and a great Workamper job.

Thursday, Jan 15, 2015

We didn’t do much all day, just a day of relaxing and enjoying being at Colleen & Darrius’.

We were invited to Nikki & Jack’s for dinner tonight. We had a great time, Meredith played the guitar for us and evening did a bit of composing on the guitar for us. Jack showed us a video of him and his dad & brother catching crabs. They anchor a line and bait it then scoop the crabs off the line. I guess the crabs are too dumb to let go after they eat the bait. Anyway, we had a great time and the food was very good also. I always enjoy seeing Nikki and her family.

Friday, Jan 16, 2015

We went to Costco the first thing this morning and bought a new IPad. I spent the rest of the day getting the apps etc. I wanted on it. Great computer quite a bit faster than my old one and a bit lighter. I was going to get a surface tablet but this was half the price and maybe I’ll get the surface next time around.

Saturday, Jan 17, 2015

Darrius and I went to the Apple store, we got there shortly after it opened, to buy new IPad covers. We got there about 10:15 and there were a bunch of people in the store already. Don’t they have anything better to do? Lucky for them they weren’t buying anything so they didn’t delay us any and we were out of there by 10:30. I may have said this before but I don’t like to shop, I go to a store knowing what I want, I buy it, I get out. The only exception to this rule is a book store and maybe a toy store, and then there is the tool section of Sears and also an Electronics store but that is all.

Sunday, Jan 18, 2015

Went to breakfast at Wonderful Wanda’s, http://www.wonderfulwandas.com/, small but good place to eat. I had the blueberry pancakes, delicious.

We went to church with Colleen to St Benedict’s. We met Linda Stratton and Tina, I don’t remember her last name, but after a few minutes of talking Sarah realizes she knows Tina, she is a hair dresser from Burlington and Sarah knows her. She was also married to the brother of Francis Jones, she owned the duplex next door to where I grew up in Burlington, IA. Small world isn’t it.

Sunday afternoon was spent watching the Packers give a demonstration on how to lose a football game.

Angela & Tyler, Colleen’s daughter and son-in-law, came up for dinner, ham, scalloped potatoes, and baked beans. It was a great meal. Two of Angela’s daughters came over later and we all had a great visit.

Monday, Jan 19, 2015

Colleen and Sarah went shopping, I stayed home and played on the computer and read.

Tuesday, Jan 20, 2015

Today Sarah and I went to a Walmart Neighborhood store, this is the first time I had been in one of these. They are much bigger than I thought they would be.

Darrius had an appointment and the ladies had a lunch date, I stayed by myself, which I don’t mind at all, I did some reading and computer playing etc. I did get out and take a walk up the hill to the cul-de-sac, only about a block but uphill and it did give me a challenge. I hope the strength comes back because I don’t have much at all these days.

Tomorrow we head out for San Antonio, TX with a stop or two, we’ll see what the trip brings.

I will end this for now and pick up from here later on.

Until Later

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The best laid plans etc. are not happening for us. We have seven grand kids and have manged to see only two this month. We had Christmas for Bryon and Alexa early this month. Last week we were suppose to go to Beloit, WI to see Mason and Madyson and their parents but Sarah got sick and we didn't go. Sarah is finally feeling better after getting medicine from her doctor. Well, Sarah gave me whatever it is she has and I started coughing yesterday and it got worse during the night. So this morning I went to the ER at the VA to get something, I don't want it to turn into something worse. The doctor prescribed the same thing Sarah is taking, Z Pak, the doctor said to wait to see if I got worse, I don't think so, I started taking it right away.

Today we are suppose to go see Emily, Isabel and Eli in a program at their church and then they were coming over to our house for dinner and open their presents. Well, that isn't going to happen, Sarah may still to to the program, I won't, and the kids won't be coming over here. Sarah will most likely go to their house, she has the fixing's for oyster soup and Daniel requested it and I don't want to waste the oysters.

Tomorrow I'll see how I feel as to whether I go to church and to the kids house. What a bummer.

A bigger bummer is we are suppose to go to WI, Friday, to see Mason and Madyson, I hope I feel good enough to go. Also, Jan 2 is our planned date to head for AZ via Kansas City.

As I said the best laid plans etc., I am glad we are flexible in our scheduling.

Sarah and I want to wish each and everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Update 12/10/14

Met with my oncologist on Monday, had lab work and a CT scan, bottom line is the doctor was happy with what he saw and said he would see me in March 2015. Happy days are here and Praise the Lord.

This doesn’t mean I have no cancer, I will always have it but the chemo has taken the cancer to a level where hopefully my immune system can keep it in check, along with the shot I get every 90 days. I take one day at a time but still plan to do things in the future.

We haven’t been doing much since my last posting. We have met with friends, Norma & Orren, had Christmas with Tiffany, Matt, Bryon and Alexa. We also went out to eat with them. Great to see them, don’t get to see them that much but maybe if the treatments hold off we can do that more next year. My brother Larry and his wife Kathy came to visit right before Thanksgiving, Cynthia came over Thanksgiving Day and we all went to Ernie & Shirley’s for Thanksgiving dinner. Their boys Michael & Daniel and their families were there also. We had a great time and more food that anyone could imagine, all of it was delicious. It was a great time.

We met John & Cindi for lunch one day at Out Back Steakhouse. They are staying put this winter and not going south. We had a good time visiting, then we always have fun when we see them.

Carl & Merilee are coming to our house today and tomorrow we are heading to Texarkana, TX for nephew Eric’s wedding. It will be fun to see some of the family we haven’t seen for a while.

Not much else to report, so I’ll end this with a

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to All.

Update 11/17/2014

I have hit a milestone, of sorts, in my latest journey. I have completed six, three day chemo treatments, this journey began on July 1 and ended last Friday. What we do from here will be up to the Good Lord and my doctor on Dec 8. I am scheduled for a CT scan and lab work to see what the status of the cancer is in my lymph nodes and body. I feel good, other than the metallic taste I get in my mouth but if that is the worse it gets I don’t have much of a problem with it.

I have been truly blessed, beginning with Sarah, without whom I would have a terrible time getting through these treatments. I get chilled when I read or watch TV so Sarah asked if I would like a blanket, sure I said. She went out and bought the fabric and made the “tie” blanket all in one day. The results:

  I love it.

There are so many others who have helped me with your prayers and well wishes, our children, our relatives, longtime friends who I grew up with and have known for most, if not all of my life, and then the truly amazing family of RVers who we have met in person and in some instances only know through the internet. They say for you to stay positive you have to surround yourself with positive thinking people and I have been very blessed with the most amazing circle of positive thinking people one can hope for, so for all of that I say a BIG THANK YOU for your continuing support.

Ok, what happened to the weather, it is more like January than November? Today the high is only going to be a high of 17, which is supposed to be a new low for this date and tonight the temp is supposed to be 3 with wind chills below zero. I want to go south.

Actually if all goes well we are heading south January 2, my December 8 appointment will be the deciding factor for that.

We haven’t stayed at home lately as much as I did the first three months of treatments, the doctor told me if I felt good get out and do things so we have been doing just that.

After the fifth set of treatments we left the VA and drove to Beloit, WI to see the kids and help Mason celebrate his 10^th birthday. I really enjoyed the time there, it may have been a bit on the ambitious side but I was fine except a bit tired. I enjoy the kids but I wish I could have some of their energy, they wear me out just talking with them. As I found when our kids were growing up it is very satisfying to see the how much they have grown each time we see them. I remember one day thinking to myself when did Tiffany, Robert and Daniel begin sounding and talking as adults.

We drove to Hastings, NE to visit a long time dear friend Patsy Kelly, she and her husband Tom moved to Burlington in the late seventies, he and I worked for Trailways Bus Systems at the time. In fact Tom is the one who got me into the trucking industry. Sadly Tom passed away a little over a year ago from cancer. We had a great visit with Patsy and got to see her son Trent and daughter Tabitha and granddaughter, I apologize I don’t remember her name.

October 31 ended up being a much more expensive day than I had thought. We took the car in for an oil change and as always I wanted to look at the new cars. Actually, we had decided we were going to get a newer car before we went south and at the suggestion of son Daniel we drove an Acura MDX, a very nice car, so I had arranged to drive the Lexus RX350 when we took the car in for the service. We drove a new RX and really liked it, so I asked for numbers, that and our car didn’t pass its battery test so I reasoned it was time to trade vehicles. Long story short we traded for a new RX:

 This is our new car as it sat at the dealer, we picked it up on the following Monday.

November 1 found us driving to Moline, IL to spend the weekend visiting with some folks I worked with at Ruan.

 FR: Me, Roger Mason, Tom Gerdes; SR: Sarah, Debbie Mason, Cathy Gerdes, far right; BR: George Granberg, Barb Granberg, Chris Walkup and Amy Walkup.

We had a great time, ate at Johnny’s across the street from the Radisson on River Drive. This is a great restaurant, we have eaten there every time we get together and the service and food are exceptional. Thanks folks for a memorable visit.

We stopped in Des Moines on our way back to Omaha to see Cynthia. We met her at her place for some great pumpkin pie, I can always eat pumpkin pie, well actually almost any kind of pie.

Before we left town we met Norma & Orren for dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant, http://islacozumeldm.com/about/, Isla Cozumel, I believe this is the correct one. One thing we found out is their portions are quite big so you better have a good appetite when you go there. It was good to see Norma & Orren but before it got to late we headed west, arriving home about nine.

Monday we went to the Lexus dealer and picked up the car. Now a days with the electronics etc. they have delivery specialists who go through all the gadgets, and I love gadgets. I did get one add on and that is a coating on the windshield to protect it from rock chips etc. but the main reason I bought it was we were told it would cut down on the glare of the lights at night. When we left the dealership it was raining and dark out, the first thing Sarah said is the glare of the lights was not the same as before, and I agreed the glare is less than half of what we had in the old car, so I did good with this option.

On Tuesday we headed north for the maiden voyage of the car and to see Carl & Merilee. Carl retired from Whirlpool this past year after 42 years in the appliance mfg. business. They are in Mitchell, SD close to Amy, their daughter and four grandkids. We had a great time and are planning on traveling together to nephew Eric’s wedding in December in Texarkana, TX.

As mentioned in the beginning of this piece, I finished my sixth, three day, treatment session. I feel good, a bit tired, but overall good. So now we wait and see what the December appointment will show.

So for now that is all I have.

From Sarah and me we wish each and every one of you a Great and Happy Thanksgiving.