back in Ohio

Interrupted our planned holiday to get Charlie back to Ohio to his oncologist. A 4 1/2 day trip =Bellevue WA to Centerville OH, and I even did some of the driving! 300 miles first aft, then 500 each day after--

2007 January through July

January 2007

Jan 1 and wishes to all of you for a better and happy 2007

After dancing in the kitchen at midnight and going to bed late, we slept in and were doing our computer stuff when we saw a geocacher out the window and across the pond at our cache "Wave to Charlie". We waved to her and yelled back and forth and invited her in out of the freezing cold. Always nice to meet another cacher! After she left we went caching and at the first one, that we had not found in the dark before, we were still stumped when we heard someone yell 'Hey that's private property- what are you doing here!' and turned to find Charlies son Chuck and 8 yr old Nikki laughing at us. They helped and Chuck found the cache lying on the ground not where it was supposed to be. After that we took them to 3 more and Nikki found 2 and Chuck found another. It was fun introducing them to caching and Nikki enjoyed it. We will take her with us when it is warmer. We left them and put out 5 new caches for other cachers to find. We have not done our share of putting them out so with the 2 yesterday we now have 7 new ones out. I must mention that the HIGH temp for the day was 37 and it was dreary and overcast and begin sprinkling before we went home! We cached until my fingers were to frozen to sign my name and then home to the nice warm house where I fixed us a New Years dinner of Pork Loin, broccoli and a baked potato.

On Tuesday Charlie went to the factories and I stayed home and did stuff around here. Spent the evening just hanging out-an unexciting day for us. To bed cause tomorrow is an early morning!

Wed we left at 7:20 for Columbus where Charlie has an appointment with his leukemia doctor for his 3 month check up. We did one cache at a rest stop on the way and then to the hospital where they took 12 vials of blood from him. The doctor says he is doing well and we left. Then spent the rest of the day caching in the Springfield area, getting 11 but DNFing 8! That is the worst day we have ever had for not finding them! Stopped by friends John and Barb and invited them to join us for supper later. Cached till dark, visited at their place a bit, then to the Texas Roadhouse for a delicious filet mignon, and finally home, late!

Thur was not as cold as it has been. We were going caching with Dar but she was tied up with the remodeling of one of Charlies 4 Duplex's that she manages for him. We went to look at them - Charlie said he hadn't been in one for years. They are very nice and spacious and are always rented. This one will be done soon. Then off to cache and ended up in Dayton for the day. It sprinkled a few times but not supposed to rain hard till overnight. A nice dinner-herbed angel hair pasta with ham strips, salad, beer bread and fresh orange slices. Computer stuff and bed, late as usual!

By the time we went to bed last night, at midnight, it was raining and still raining this morning, but the temp is in the mid 50s so that is better. Charlie went to his factories today while I stayed home putting all traces of Christmas back into boxes and down to the storage room. Then a long and hot soak in a bubble bath.

Charlie went to his Springfield guy breakfast and I slept in- for about 15 minutes! Got up and did stuff around here and talked to Darlene and we will meet late this morning to cache. Her son Jimmy had liked the pillowcases I made for Christmas so well that he wants more so on the way to caching we stopped for more fabric and I will make 2 more for him. Makes me feel good that he likes them that well! We cached up in the Springfield area in a high of 47 degrees! Frozen hands! Home to a warm house and fixed a hamburger and refried black beans. Charlie found cache # 1200 today.

Found this in some old notes--We are getting lots of hits on our new caches. It finally sorta stopped raining about 3 pm but still on 42 degrees and we decided to go out caching till dark- 2 hours away. We did 9 caches and had fun, as usual. Then drove by to check on the piper cub that is all torn apart for its annual inspection. Yesterday Dar and I had bought more fabric to make Jimmy 2 more personalized pillowcases so I worked on them tonight, getting them done before bedtime. My computer has some kind of serious problem and I am not even turning it on! It has pink vertical lines and small pink horizontal dashes all through the page that get increasingly more and by 1 minute on you cannot use the computer! Scary so not touching it till we get back to AZ! Which means we will not have internet until it is repaired! WOW!

Started packing and may need to buy another suitcase! To many Christmas gifts! LOL.

Monday morning we slept in again- feels so good to be able to do that-and by noon Charlie headed to the factory and I am here using his computer.

Slept in till almost 10 this grey Ohio Sunday morning. Logged onto computers to see if any of our newly put out caches had been found. Only 5 were posted on line and only three of those were found! Two are quite sneaky and may be a bit frustrating! Two more have not posted yet. It's almost as much fun to put them out as it is to find them - especially when you read the comments of the satisfied and the frustrated cachers.

February 2007

Feb 1 This month started with a dreary day and rain last night. Charlie was up before me again. We got the gas bill yesterday and for the few days we were here this month it was $81, this is just the gas, not the water, electric or anything else for the house. Charlie spent a lot of time on the phone again today, getting ready for a big meeting tomorrow that he will monitor via phone. His company let a president go today and so many changes are happening. As I write this, mid afternoon, he is sitting in the chair taking another nap! We need good weather so we can get out and do stuff. Finally evening and ‘date night’ – We went to ‘Outback Steak House’ - it is one of our favorite places for a good fillet, good service and atmosphere. This morning I sewed the new curtains for the kitchen and they turned out very good, and look good. We also had a mobile home realtor in today to talk to us about selling, and will probably go with him. We expect to spend our time in the new coach traveling and at his place in Ohio so really don’t need this one, though it is beginning to look really nice with the stuff we have done to it! I will be able to put the purchase price and the annual fees of $500+ per month in the bank and when I need to will be ready to buy another place. On one hand I am sad to sell it but on the other I am excited about being able to travel again.

Friday morn was late for me but Charlie was up before 6am for his important company meeting. He spent 4 hours on the phone-one call- and was able to participate in the meeting that was being held in Dayton Ohio. Technology is wonderful! Then out to the post office, picked up the wallpaper, several other stops and home. In the evening I started the papering and am happy with the results-though only half done.

Saturday morn we were up early and off to Apache Junction for breakfast with friends. The park was having a big sale so spent some time looking but only buying cookies. Then out caching, but didn’t do many as we were having such a good time ‘jeeping’. Today is Nikki’s 9^th birthday so called her, but no answer so grandpa left a birthday message for her. Home to fix a spaghetti dinner and spend time finishing the wallpaper and cleaning the house so the realtor can take photos on Monday.

Sunday was spent fixing up the house-lots of little finishing touches we had been ignoring, pictures on the wall, that kind of thing, and when done it really looks good. A very comfortable place! Then out to cache for a while in the beautiful blue and warm (73) weather.

Monday up early and finished sprucing up the house for the Realtor that was coming at 9am. He arrived, I signed papers to sell and he took photos of the house. They will be on 3 internet sites and hope it sells, but not too soon because Charlie called about new motorhome delivery and they now are saying mid April instead of first week in March! That could complicate things as the old motorhome is on a consignment lot and unavailable to us. Out for haircuts and found a delightful gal to cut both of ours and we will continue using her for cuts in the future!! Then a bit of caching and home with lots to do but not getting it done. Tomorrow we head to Las Vegas for a trade show.

Up Tue the 6^th and eventually started packing. No hurry because the Trade Show doesn’t start till Thursday and we plan to have a very leisurely trip north, caching of course. We left the house about noon and headed north. It took just an hour to get from our house to the north edge of Phoenix. On to Wickenburg where we did several caches, then a few more on the way to Kingman where we arrived at dusk, grabbed a motel, did some computer stuff, logged caches and out to eat around 8. Back to the room and headed to the hot tub for some relaxation before bed.

Wed morning was breakfast at the motel and headed out to do so caching in Kingman. We did several including one I had tried before and not found and today I went directly to it! Another I hadn’t found before we spent a long time at and still didn’t find it (somewhere on a train engine and caboose! A zillion places to hide it!!). Then headed toward Las Vegas and cached till the NV border where we ran out of planned caches. My fault for not getting more downloaded! Charlie grumbled at me all evening about that-he does not have any NV caches and these would have given him another state. Tomorrow and perhaps Friday will be taken up with the trade show so no caching till after. We walked a lot, had a buffet at the Mirage, got out just in time for the volcano show, walked a bit more and watched the Treasure Island show, watched the volcano again, walked some more, toured Caesars, had a beer somewhere, stopped to watch several performers and home-at 11! But a fun time. I did wear shoes that were not made for walking so will wear something different tomorrow!

Up about 8, had breakfast at Denny’s and on to the Surfaces Trade Show. I was fascinated by all the stuff there-many carpets, more wood and laminate floor dealers than you can ever imagine, Just a huge show and we only did one floor and part of the other. Charlie’s booth was nice looking and was very busy any time we walked by. In our walking around he got 13 leads on potential customers. We found chocolate candies at many booths and off course indulged! There were also a few places with coffee, hot chocolate and beer. Even one place serving hard liquor and wines. All gratis too. Really enjoyed the entire show though our feet were suffering by the time we got back to Harrah’s. Some down time in the room and then off to downtown and Freemont Street. I had never seen the light show there, and it started about 30 seconds after we arrived. Enjoyed that and then wandered around a while and finally decided on dinner at Golden Nugget, walked some more and home just before 11. Weather was comfortable out tonight – no idea of the temp.

Friday morn up and after breakfast we headed back to the Trade Show where we stayed till about 2, spending a lot of time at the company booth where they were doing quite well. Then left LV and did a bit of caching ending at what we thought would be Boulder for the night, but had taken a wrong road and ended up headed towards California and in a little town of Jean, Pop 0 and 2 casinos, where we found a bed for the night. Dinner and some computing and off to bed. Turned off the TV - have seen more than enough of the death of Anna Nicole Smith!

Saturday morn and breakfast at the hotel and out to cache. Because this is such a nothing town expected nothing but ended up doing 13 caches near Jean! Then off to California so Charlie could get another state on his caching map. We went as far as Baker, doing some severe jeep hill climbing at one cache, then down the lonely road through Kelso to I-40 and on to Needles, doing 2 walking caches in the DARK!

Sunday up and out to breakfast, then some caching on the way home. We did a lot that were on the desert and enjoyed using the jeep for them. Some around Hope and Salome where I used to live were fun desert ones and I was able to tell Charlie about the area and I knew what the roads would be like. At one he came back to the car with a cholla cactus ball ‘attached’ to his leg. Pried it off him and on to home arriving about 8pm. Finally to bed by 11, but he was having trouble breathing and hurt all over. Finally gave him 2 Aleve’s and an antihistamine – that helped the breathing. We wonder if the cactus was doing something to his system.

Monday the 12^th – Charlie slept till noon and still feels ‘awful’. He is now wrapped in a blanket checking his computer mail, but after an hour went back to bed! Our fever thermometer will only register to 95.6 for some reason! We can see evidence that they have had a bad rainstorm just before we got home but the skies are blue today. Charlie slept until after 5 and then was up for a chicken soup dinner before retiring early.

Tuesday Charlie was up late, took a long nap and went to bed early. Still not feeling great, but better. We did go out for groceries and prescriptions but nothing else during the day.

Feb 14^th-We went to bed at 8 last night and we didn’t get up till after 8 this morning. It rained again during the night- 3d night in a row. Charlie spent some time on the phone with someone who might buy his Navaho plane; deal not complete but hope it will be soon. We exchanged valentines, had breakfast and he seems better today. Making plans for an upscale dinner tonight. Well, none of our food choices had any opening so we decided to try a new Mexican, Café Rio, that we had a 2 for 1 coupon for, and it was good and very filling. We will go out this weekend for our Valentine dinner. So home for a dish of ice cream and early retire. Charlie not up to par yet.

Thur. We spent the day here until mid afternoon when we went out caching –getting two toughies! One climbing a small mountain without a trail! Also took my Geo tracker for emissions check so I can get it registered. While out Charlie got a call that his Navaho plane that he has owned for 24 years is 99% sure sold. It will be checked by the buyers’ mechanics tomorrow and then we will know. Then a call that the new motorhome should be ready to pick up on the 15-16 of March in Ohio. Home and cleaned up and headed out to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Scottsdale for a day late Valentine dinner. As always it was excellent-the food, the wine and the service! I had a small fillet with shrimp, Charlie seared Tuna. Dessert of Chocolate Sin Cake that lived up to its name. It is almost like eating pure smooth dark choc frosting, all the way through the cake! It’s fun to get dressed up now and then.

Friday- Blue and sunny and should be 73 or so today. While Charlie was doing something I decided to start on the pile of 300+ bricks on the patio-had planned a wall with them. Well, I overdid and hurt my back. PAIN! Later in the day he talked me into some caching and though it hurt I know it was good for me. Night was bad-couldn’t even turn over and hurt when I got up early---

Sat morning to go to our breakfast in AJ. Charlie gave me a good back rub that really helped (along with Aleve) and after 8 hours of caching out in the desert – (the 4-wheeling kind) I am not too bad tonight. Should be normal by tomorrow- but – the bricks still need to be stacked on the patio! Temp was up to 86 today.

Sunday Feb 18 – Had an email asking for cache help last night so decided to meet them in AJ this afternoon. Spent the morning putting our new mapping program on both GPSs-a couple of hours per GPS – it’s a big program! Met the 4 cachers and after talking a bit they actually spotted this very good hide!! Then out to work on some we had not gotten before and ended up with Charlie climbing a ‘mountain’ and later a ½ mile walk with no find!! So only had one we could count today, but a good day anyway, and ended it with a long soak in the hot-tub and a good pork dinner.

Monday I finally got fed up with my computer with the video card almost out – can’t even look at pictures anymore and screen is fast turning pink and blue! So ordered new one-BUT-cannot use my T-mobile Internet with it-the card is different and T-mobile does not have the new card available! (And I still have over a year on my contract with them!!) They say they will EVENTUALLY get it!! Now we have to get Charlie hooked up to Cingular Broadband with the new card I ordered for him! We may be without Internet around here for a bit! Other than that it was a cool and overcast dreary day.

Tues started early with a doctor appt for me. Arriving home midmorning and after some computer stuff we headed out to cache, mostly doing stuff we had not been able to find in the past. One involved a gallon of water to make the cache float to the top to be grabbed! Then several that involved walks in the desert and today was a perfect day for that- about 67 degrees and no wind. Some stir-fry for dinner and did house things for rest of evening.

Wednesday and up early again, this time for a caching trip to the Globe area. We were out for 10 hours and only managed 8 caches! These were all real ‘jeeping’ challenges, but we never had to use 4WD! We climbed some challenges on foot also. We met a couple camp hosting out in the middle of nowhere also. The last two Pinal Mt caches were not accessible due to snow covering the road. We put out one new cache on the way home. Oh, Charlie left his GPS at a cache and we discovered it one mountain range over, got lost trying to get back, finally into town and started over to get to the right road. When found the GPS was lying where he had left it and pointing right to the cache. Back to Mesa, where we had seen a Catfish Restaurant last week, for a good fish dinner and then home. Two Tired Seniors!! Oh yes, 84 degrees today!

Thursday I slept in, Charlie was up earlier for business calls. In the afternoon we took off for a bit of caching and then downtown to the RV show – not a very big one but we had fun looking. Home, a stir-fry dinner, did our computing and off to bed.

A slow start on Friday. One rain shower and gray day that made us just stay at home. Charlie worked on the dialog for a video the factory is making for most of the day, but did take time out to repair the very leaky bathtub faucets. It only involved one trip to the store and now no more drip! Actually it was more like a stream! Tapioca snack and off to bed.

Saturday started out with our usual breakfast in AJ, visit with Lyle and Diane, and off for some caching near Queen Creek. Some very tough and satisfying caches! Home and relax before going out to Tia Rosa’s upscale Mexican where we had an excellent meat, ending a perfect day.

We spent Sunday the 25th doing some house cleaning; Charlie took the jeep for a wash inside and out and later in the day we drove out to Queen Valley. First to get a new cache in the area – it involved a UP and DOWN and UP and Down again walk of about ¾ mile but was a nice day for it. On to the park where I lived for several years for a potluck and white elephant exchange. Good food and fun exchange. Charlie ended up with a ceramic stand with a flowerpot on top (not our type of thing at all!) And I ended up with a bottle of wine – I had at least 4 different bottles taken away from me but finally did end up with one. A short visit with Art and Jan and home.

Monday morn we finished a bit of house cleaning and took off just before noon for the airport, doing 6 caches along the way. We arrived just in time to pick up Carol (from Sherwood Oregon) who is spending 6 days with us. Home and sat around talking and eating and finally to bed at a decent hour!

Tue we were up and ‘socialized’ for quite a while before breakfast. Then out for a drive and some desert, almost 4wheeling, caching. We managed to get 16 for Carol, and a couple for us, before heading home. After showers off to the Organ Pipe Pizza for dinner. A beautiful warm and blue-sky day – Carol loved it and she actually got a bit of color today. My new computer arrived late this afternoon

All slept in this morning and had a late breakfast of a Dutch Baby for breakfast. Spent 2 hours on the phone with both Cingular and Dell trying to hook Cingular Broadband to Charlie’s computer. Never did solve the problem. Then spend a bit of time trying to move things from my old to new computer – never did get that to work. A bad day for electronics around here! Charlie took my Tracker for a wash job – looks so much better. We fixed our meal, talked and watched a tape of Violinist Shoji Tabuchi of Branson MO. A great show! Ice cream and off to bed.

I didn’t realize February was over till Charlie told me last night!

March 2007—Another beautiful day in Arizona - the kind of weather we come here for! Carol and I are up early as Charlie sleeps in. Scott came by about 10:30 and the 4 of us went caching out in the hills around Box Canyon. We stopped short of going down the Box Canyon drop-off! Home and socialized for a bit and then off to the hot tub for a good soak! Carol swam a bit and we stayed in the hot tub. Home and fixed a stir-fry and muffins. A beautiful blue day, a bit cool but very comfortable. This and Tue were Carols first ‘jeeping’. She is not as enthusiastic as we are!

Friday March 1 – Before we had breakfast we had the realtor come by with a prospect and he liked the house - but- no Air conditioner- I have a swamp cooler, and he just walked out! We ate and Carol and I set out on a shopping/talking trip – one garage sale, several stores and the HUGE Mesa ‘Swap Meet’. We were able to only do 2 of the 4 rows of it when we needed to come home to get ready for our night out. We had gotten tickets to Barleen’s Arizona Opry. This was fantastic! Never such good singing- and George plays over 60 different instruments AND sings! He was famous for his ‘The Lion sleeps tonight’ back in the 60’s. Just a fantastic evening! Finally home and ice-cream and bed!

Sat morn was up early and took Carol to ‘our’ AJ Park for breakfast, then reluctantly off to the airport for her flight back to cold Oregon. Sure hated to see her go-and really enjoyed her visit. Charlie and I came home, reloaded our computer and out to, what else, cache for a while. He found 19 and I found 9 new ones! A lazy dinner, some computer and some TV, some ice cream and off to bed.

Sunday morn promises to be another warm AZ day. We spent some time in bed pillow talking and I got a back rub for my ailing back. Between the bricks I am ‘arranging’ around the patio and the 4 wheelin’ I have injured my back again. Lazy till 12:30 when we decided to drive to Scottsdale and ‘tourist’! Weather was somewhere around 74 and beautiful – life is good! We did a couple of caches and then parked near the old town in Scottsdale. Out walking, ending up at the Historical center (a cache here), a wonderful community center, outside with a concert going on and a couple more caches while we listened. More walking and exploring the quality shops available here and finally a lunch at the ‘Sugar Bowl’ –sandwiches and specialty ice creams. A couple more caches and a stop for groceries and it was dark as we arrived home. Just a perfect and special day.

Monday Mar 5 – Is a Special day for us. It was just a year ago that we had our ‘sorta blind date’ and met at the Waffle House. What a year this has been, for both of us! Neither of us could have imagined the pleasure we have gotten from each other. Good things do happen! Putted around the house, Charlie washed the living, dining and kitchen windows, finally did the grocery shopping, home and eventually got ready for our ‘anniversary’ date at the Outback Steakhouse, our favorite steak place! We had originally planned on getting up early and going to the Waffle House, but laziness got in the way of that plan. While there chatted with a lady with her 2 month old son- commented on how young the baby was; she left for a moment and returned with her grandbaby that was only 2 DAYS old!! What a tiny little thing. Its father was leaving this week for Iraq. Weather wise it was overcast and 75 degrees.

Tue and Charlie up late. He spent a lot of the day on his computer. I still don’t like this new one with the Vista on it but am learning to use it!! Not able to transfer many of my programs to it- they are obsolete! And many I won’t be able to redownload till I get internet again! Anyway we finally left the house and took the Jeep for servicing and drove my Tracker. We also got haircuts from the gal we found last month and enjoyed – she has raised her prices but does a great job and is really entertaining! In the low 80’s today but clouds came in late. Figures, since Charlie washed all the house windows today!

Wed March 7. I had a doctor appt this morning for allergy tests, then blood work and shopped a bit, including a cute and tiny chocolate cake for Charlie’s 74^th birthday today. Later we dressed up and headed to Cave Creek for dinner at El Encanto Mexican. Darlene had given us a large gift certificate for Christmas. It is almost an hour drive, but having 91 degree weather when we left here, 82 at eatery and down to 70 when we headed home made it a very enjoyable dinner. And the food was good too. All of Charlie’s kids and grandkids phoned today, most singing to him! I had gotten Charlie a small birthday cake, chocolate of course, and put those frustrating can’t blow them out candles on it! Another good day for us.

Thursday we cached in towards Phoenix. We have run out of caches in our immediate area, but there are hundreds more in that area just waiting for us! We even managed to find a few that eluded us in the past.

Friday was more of the same with a cache on a small hill where we found the Rustlers Roost Steak house complete with a HUGE bull penned in the front! The views are fantastic and we plan to go back as soon as we can work it into our busy schedules! The weather has been in the high 80-low 90’s.

Our usual Saturday breakfast in AJ and then home to download some new caches for the area south of us-around Casa Grande. A great day of caching and just enjoying the desert, with a stop at Dairy Queen for a Blizzard where we had a buy one get one free coupon. Our caching day ended with a total of 1600 for Charlie and 3200 for me. He is 41^st in Ohio and I am 7^th in Az. We have got to get a life!! But then, this is a good life. The caching gets us out of the house and seeing places/things that we would have never discovered without it.

A late start Sunday morning and we have designated this clean the house and shed and patios day! We will see if that really happens!! Well- we did stay home and we did finally get the house inside cleaned, but did not get the outside done or do anything about the battery that is dead in the van. Charlie grumped about wasting an entire day at home.

Monday morn stated fairly early and about 10 Don and Anita, from Salem showed up. We spent hours chatting, Out to lunch and to Home Depot for plumbing supplies and then Don and I –well Don—replumbed the bathroom sink and put in a newer, and white, bathroom sink! Looks better and no more water under the sink. We talked all the rest of the day and then out to dinner at “the Fishin’ Hole’, a catfish specialty place we had found last month. They left about 8 and we finished up some stuff around the house, had our ice cream and off to bed.

Up early Tue – going to be a busy day—Company this morning, I have to give blood –again-and we have to pack – Haven’t even started that yet! Tue aft- First to have bloodwork, again, then take returns to two places, stuff to Goodwill, have car washed and finally home. We are sorta packed but will get serious about it tonight. The difficulty is that we will be coming back in the new motorhome and it has NOTHING in it! And we don't want to bring more from Charlie’s house back to here! We have the previous owners stuff (yes, still have some of that!), my stuff, his stuff and the stuff from the old motorhome here already! So trying to be reasonable about what we take and still have enough to exist for the days it takes to get back here. I will be taking both laptops as I have only begun to transfer stuff- and much will not transfer so having to figure out what to do about those needed programs! 90 degrees here today.

Up at 4:30 Wed morning, showered and packed the jeep -then headed to AJ where we had breakfast at the Waffle house-the site of our very first 'date'. By 7 we were at Al's and he drove us to the airport. He will take our jeep back and he and Joy will use it till after our second trip to Ohio. Easily went through security and less than an hour wait for our flight. It was uneventful, though weather did cause us to do some 'rock and roll'! Darlene met us and we were off for Dayton. Took much longer than usual due to a horrific wreck. A car under a truck that was just a rolled up ball of steel and compacted to litterly nothing! No word on it at this time. It was dry and overcast at the airport but before getting home the sky turned black with much lightening and torrential rain. On home to find Dar had painted and done some decorating for us. House was warm and welcoming. She chatted a bit and then left- we went out for groceries, fixed supper, did some stuff and realized it was midnight Ohio time! Went to bed and the bedroom was lit up by an hour of lightening. (We saw that it was 96 degrees back in Phoenix!)

We didn’t get up till almost 10 AM and it is still raining but in the 60's. Messed around here till Charlie went to the office, coming home about 6 and then leaving for the viewing of his friend’s son that was killed last week in a traffic accident. I spent most of the afternoon on the phone trying to get my internet card changed and working. T-mobile said I both can and cannot use the dell slot card with my SIM card. Now they are downloading installation for me to use and hope it will work. I talked to 6 different people today and don't feel like I got any real help, and have my doubts that their solution will work but will try it. We both scavenged for supper and fairly early bed! Tired.

This 3 hour time change has gotten to us- We didn't awake till 9:30 this morning - Then did house stuff till about 11 when we headed to Springfield meeting Charlie’s friend John M for a biscuit and gravy at Bob Evans - a favorite place of ours! Then on to the RV place to finally see our new motorhome! It is beautiful!! It is A Tiffin Phaeton, 40 foot with 4 slides. While we were going through it 3 more of Charlie’s friends showed up to admire it with us. They finished the cleanup on it including a new tire; we paid for it and headed for home! Charlie was not happy with the ride home- I was following in the Lexus - it pulled, shimmied and the steering wheel is not 'straight'. He called and we will be taking it back on Monday. I'm glad we have extra time here. Took it to a parking lot for the evening, had dinner out and home to read all the books on it. High of 39 here today! And I did not get the stuff from T-Mobile to install the internet yet.

When I got up at 8 Charlie was gone - to his Sat breakfast in Springfield. It was only 25 degrees at 9 am! 27 at 10! Not going to be a very warm day! There was supposed to be snow flurries last night but none, at least here. We will start some loading of the new motorhome today. Instead of loading stuff into it we just went where it is parked and admired it-with the heat on-high was 40 today!! We read through manuals and tried to figure out how to work all the appliances, and then admired it some more. After supper and a chat with Darlene we went to Wal-mart where they actually had some slip covers for the chairs-readymade- now I don’t have to find time to sew some. We don’t really care for the chair cover color but they were the best of the 3 choices. This way we can have a color we like better than the original and the chairs will stay cleaner. Back home for a bit of TV and the peanut butter pie I had made earlier and off to bed. Lots to do tomorrow.

Awake and a morning of some pillow talk before getting up. A late breakfast and then spent some time around the house gathering up stuff to take in the new coach. We have soooo many duplicates with all the homes we have! Over to the coach and bring it back here where we put a few things into it. The off to a park near Darlene’s where we parked and all the kids and grandkids came by to inspect it. Left it there and on to Darlene’s for a late Birthday party for Charlie. He got a new set of sheets for the coach and a wireless hookup for a printer. We had burgers with all the trimmings and a brownie with ice cream and all sorts of topping to make a great Sunday. Finally home at dark – parked the coach at the Cub Foods again and home to finish up some projects around here. Oh yes, It was 24 degrees this morning and a high of somewhere in the 40’s. (But it’s a dry cold!!)

Monday we were up fairly early, for us, did a few things around here and then off to Springfield to deliver the motorhome back for some kind of alignment problems and a few little things that needed attention. We took our caching stuff planning a day of caching, but just before we left Spfd. it began thunder and lightning and a torrential downpour and ended those plans! While there Chuck had called asked if we could babysit Nikki and Charlie3 this evening. They arrived mid afternoon and had us completely worn out by bedtime!

Charlie3 was up before me this morning and had all the computers running, though he had been cautioned not to turn them on—fixed pancakes and bacon for all of us. Chuck is to return for them around noon. He has them while Kim and the older girls are on a short vacation. Chuck finally picked up the kids at 3pm—it’s now so peaceful here! I didn’t remember how much 2 pint sized bodies can disrupt things and life! Glad not to be a parent at our ages! But we survived and so did they and we will do it again—Charlie finally got his shower-and is going out to when the Piper Cub is being reassembled after its annual inspection. Doubt we will have time to fly it this trip but should the next trip in April. The temp last night was 49- a nice change from what it has been! All the trees are covered with buds and should be blooming when we get here for Easter. While Charlie was at the airport I spent nearly all the time talking to Suzie on cell phone- really enjoyed that. We had a stir fry dinner when he returned and talked about the ‘cub’ and the motorhome and finally ice cream and off to bed.

Wed was just another morning – we did pack up a few more things and around noon we headed to Springfield to again pick up the motorhome. This time it was all cleaned and ready to go. The shimmy and pulling seems to be gone so we are happy (it was something to do with how they put the replacement tire on). Home with and begin packing things into it. Not much though as most of our stuff is stored at my place. We have just enough to get us back to Arizona. Then we got ready for our ‘date night’. This time at the NCR Country Club where Chuck had some unused ‘dinners’ to use before the end of the month and offered them to us. We both had fillets and drinks and desserts and really good service. A very good evening and even nice weather finally! But when we arrived home and tried to open the garage door it would not open. Finally dismantled it and found that the gears were stripped so will have to deal with that tomorrow. We are getting excited about leaving in the new coach. It is really beautiful, inside and out and with 4 slides we will have LOTS of room.

This Thursday morning Charlie had to go to the store before breakfast –no orange juice and milk-staples we need! This morning started out sunny and bright but quickly changed into a thunder storm and lots of rain and now just dreary out. Charlie is off to lunch with daughter Darlene, and I plan on a long and hot bath with lots of bubbles while he is gone! Charlie returned and we discussed the day, had supper, a shrimp casserole, tried to get stuff caught up around here and finally off to bed at midnight!

Charlie was up early for a meeting at the factories. I was up before he left, spent the day looking for stuff we needed to take with us in the motorhome. This will be the last night here at the house. After Charlie got home, almost 4 pm, we brought the coach here (it had been at Cub Foods but they had called today and asked us to more it or they would have it towed!) to load all we could – then took it back to Wal-Mart, did some last minute shopping and home for dinner of ham and cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

Charlie was up early this Sat. morning for his breakfast with the guys in Springfield. But before he left we brought the coach home where I will finish loading before he gets back. I have the kitchen stuff together and checked the house once more for things we might need on the way home. Then off to the Dayton Mall with the coach. There is a geocache event there today honoring all the valley cachers with 1000 or more caches. That includes Charlie with over 1600 now. We were early and met Darlene there, chatting with her till time for the event at Panera Bread, where we met quite a few cachers and since we only knew a couple from earlier really enjoyed it – good food too. After we ate and talked we were given a list of the 10 caches and all headed out to find them – they were all in one very large park which presented all kinds of logistical challenges! The first one we found was the one for Charlie, Hail to Cubpilot, and he was first to find on it! That was exciting and then on to the second where we were also first to find. It has rained for days around here so the entire park was a challenge/Muddy. We slipped and slid all through the park, so glad we had brought our waterproof boots as we waded creeks, down muddy ‘trails’ and cross country. On one we slid almost the entire way to it and we were all 2 inches taller due to the mud on our boot bottoms! Finally back to the parked coach a bit after 5 and said bye to Darlene and off toward the west. We saw evidence of flooding all along the highway. We were tired and finally stopped at a rest area just west of Indianapolis on Hwy 70. A quick supper of soup and BLT, did some paperwork and of to bed, the first night in the new coach. And it preformed just perfectly today – we are very happy with it.

Sunday morn we awakened and found we were 400 feet from a geocache! A quick find and on our way. Stopped at a McD’s for coffee, and later stopped at a rest area for breakfast, and another cache. While going through St Louis we drove right by The ARCH that I have wanted to see, as close as you can get and stay on the freeway and it is much prettier than the photos I had seen. Drove on westward and did 6 caches for the day and ended up at a Wal*Mart in Joplin Missouri. It was hot and very humid all day and I had no summer clothes with me so a quick shopping trip for a shirt, shorts and a nice BBQ’d chicken for dinner. Had planned on a nice hot shower tonight, but we cannot figure out how to turn on the hot water heater. Is it malfunctioning or are we? Didn’t get to bed till almost midnight.

Awoke to clouds and sprinkles of rain. Charlie called the RV dealer and found some things to do to try and fix the hot water. Ahhhhhh - we still had the hot water bypass on and no water in the tank! Now we will get a shower this morning!! After showering we headed toward Oklahoma and the town of Miami in the NE corner where my ‘birth’ aunt and uncle, Millie and Oran live. Oran is 91 and Millie is 88, and they are still living at home, though they do eat nearly all their meals out now. Yes, he is still driving that huge red pickup with the duelies. We arrived about 10, spent the morning and then out for a meal with them and back on the road about 3pm. A grey and cloudy and some rain sprinkles day. We drove on through Tulsa and Oklahoma City and finally pulled off for the night at El Reno - about 15 miles out of Ok City. Had to laugh at technology this morning as we were driving the coach down the toll road, Charlie on the cell phone doing business and me on the computer doing caching and emailing! We had Chinese buffet at noon with Millie and Oran so just snack on the leftover chicken tonight and then bed – we still have a lot of driving ahead of us.

A dreary and wet morning. We listened to the news before heading out and found that the I-40 and I-44 exit was closed due to a jack-knifed truck and would be closed for several hours. That was just a couple of exits back and now glad we drove on this far and will not be in that traffic snarl! Drove on through Ok, Texas and almost to Albuquerque NM before finding a rest area for the night. We wanted to get a bit further but it is quite windy and it has been a long day – time to stop. We don’t know what time it is-8pm in Dayton, 6 Mt time and 5 AZ time! Where we are parked you can see for at least 100 miles in any direction, with nothing out there except a few junipers! It has finally stopped raining and is rather warm but the wind is now rockin’ and rollin’ us pretty good!

March 28^th – It blew hard all night and we were up very early so decided to get on the road and shower and eat later on. Almost through Albuquerque when lots of brake lights (it is about 6:30 am) and it then took us at least an hour to go the next 2 miles due to a tanker wreck that totally closed down BOTH sides of the freeway! We later heard that the freeway was not opened until around 11 am! What a mess! We did a couple of caches west of town and then on west – crossing the Continental Divide, where it was very cold and snowing and turned south just after the AZ border toward St Johns, through the Salt River Canyon and finally home around 4 pm. We unloaded the coach, showered, (finally,) and out for a catfish dinner. Very tired but a good trip home and the coach was just perfect. We will be very happy with it.

We were up early Thur morning. Washed more clothes, put away more stuff, then Charlie brought the motorhome back out front so we could start loading stuff into it. This turned out to be an all day job and a hard job-Heavy stuff and each 5 minute chore would take an hour, you know how it goes! Yesterday I had turned my ankle (heard a small snap) in the bedroom area and had wrapped it. Hurt all day and tonight I undid it and it is very swelled and very black! Only sore if I move it wrong, but I think only (?!?) a torn tendon or ligament! Before dinner he was just dog tired and I hurt so we headed to the hot-tub for a relaxing ½ hour! Felt good to both of us. Then dinner, and later tapioca pudding and off to bed. We couldn’t do too much loading cause we need to have stuff in the house for living till the 27^th when we take off. It is a challenge combining his stuff from his house and his old motorhome and my stuff from this house plus stuff the lady left here! We could fill several motorhomes! There are so many decisions to be made-which fry pan is best, which pillowcases, wine glasses, butter dish-and on it goes! If my house sells all my stuff will go to storage, if not, then it will just sit here till sold. And tonight I have 3 interested parties for buying the Tracker!

Friday morn and the sun is shining! The sky is blue – so nice! We have much to do but are just doing nothing so far! Finally out to Wal*Mart for a battery for my van. Did some grocery shopping and home to sort through more stuff! Both tired tonight and my ankle is black and blue and swelled so off to the hot tub. All the other times over there we have been alone, but tonight there were a couple and 2 guys joining us. Really enjoyed it! Home about 8 and fixed supper, did our computer work and off to bed! We are making progress and after we return from Ohio on the 18^th will get serious about packing it. Right now there is so much we need to be using – it will be a last minute rush.

Saturday the 31^st- we thought this was only the 30^th our flight on Wed the third but now see it will be Tue the 3^rd. Going to have to make some changes in our rides to and from airports!! Off early this morn for our Sat morn breakfast at Countryside RV in AJ, and a good visit with friends there. Stopped by Marti’s for a minute to pick up something and say hi and off to the Mesa swap meet, one of the largest in the USA. Four corridors with 2 sides each, plus stuff in the middle, and each is at least ¼ mile long, probable longer! We didn’t do much of it but it was Charlies first time here. Then on to do some caching, grab a milkshake and home about 4 pm. When we stopped at a favorite riparian park it was FULL of people, boy and girl scouts and many exhibits – so many we could not do the cache there, but as we were leaving the guy at the gate asked if we would like a free salad. Of course we would. So 2 ready to make up salads in packets and in a plastic bowl. Really nice and that will be supper tonight. So much to do and so little time, and you all know that as we get older it takes so much longer to do everything!

April 1 2007. A busy Sunday – we finished cleaning and sorting and sweeping the patios. I’m sure our neighbors will be happy about that! Took loads to the coach and to the dump. Argued about what all we should take with us. Called Al, who will take us to the airport, to give him the correct day and learned that early into their motorcycle ride yesterday he had to stop fast for traffic in front of them (on 6 lane Hwy 60) and laid the bike down. Joy ended up with a broken leg! What a way to end the season down here! We were going dancing with them and Diane and Lyle tonight but that is now off. We are still trying to get the swamp cooler to function so we can have some ‘cool’ in the house! We drove to AJ to check on Al and Joy and he has bandages on both arms and legs and she was ‘out’ on pain pills. He will take her in tomorrow for casting, he and we hope! This had cancelled our dinner with them so we went on to AJs alone (Arizona Joes – food, bar and dance). We had a pleasant dinner of broasted chicken, then to the bar for a beer and some dancing. We have not danced together much at all, but did just fine. The band was good and the lead singer was from the Arizona Opry that we had recently attended. Home about 9:30 for a chocolate banana shake and off to bed. Oh, we had to help each other get out of our cowboy boots!! My left foot is still swelled and present a bit of a challenge but Charlie got it off!

Monday was busy-paid bills, argued about the messy house –hey we are moving and sorting and all-post office, doctor appt clear up in N Scottsdale, another trip to Goodwill, got the van washed and cleaned and finally home. Dinner tonight of a chicken salad with the left-over broasted chicken. We finished packing, played some computer games, Charlie invented another drink concoction-this one was strawberries, milk, and chocolate syrup beaten and foamy! Very good! He makes a similar one with bananas too. A call that Al cannot take us to the airport but Lyle will. Joy is being MRI and Cat Scanned tomorrow as there is apparently knee damage plus the break. Al seemed to think there may be surgery involved. We will keep in touch with them.

Tue and we are up early, shower and grab a quick breakfast before our ride gets here. Our usual, 2 large, 2 small suitcases and our backpacks + a bag Charlie always carries. Lyle showed up at 6:30 and we were almost ready to go. No problems getting to the airport or security and had a bit of a wait at the gate but we filled it up showing Charlie how to do a jigsaw puzzle on the computer. Onto the plane and sit while they spent about an hour working on the air conditioner, and finally we taxied, but there was a bad screech like a motor trying to start. That finally stopped when we took off, and started again when we landed! Uneventful flight with a good movie. ‘Miss Potter’ was great. Mary picked us up and almost home it began to POUR rain and thunder and lightning!! Funny but that is what happened last month when Dar picked us up. Took Mary to dinner at Appleby’s, did our essential shopping and home to unpack. It is now almost 10pm and still pouring and windy and I went to bed an hour before Charlie-I was falling asleep in my chair!

I was up early and did some computer stuff till Charlie was up after 9! It is 34 degrees and very windy! High today supposed to be in the 30’s! A lot of trees are in bloom here, but the ones in our back yard are not yet! They had buds when we left so we thought they might be. Charlie to the factories and I spent my time arguing with T-Mobile – They don’t have the right card for my computer, one that all the new computers need, but they will not let me out of my contract. We went round and round and I finally gave up in exhaustion! I will pay then the big cancel fee and be done, but I still contend it is not my fault I cannot use the service! Only way around is to find someone to use my service to them and take over my contract. Called Carol and cried on her shoulder – that helped! I did order the Cingular system that will work and should be back online in a week or so! This afternoon was snow ‘flurries’ – very fine and very dry flakes floating around. Tired again tonight and going to bed early. So much pending-house, motorhome, van, tracker, airplane sales, stocking the new motorhome, sorting the stuff I want to take or store and then all the normal everyday things! Just toooo much for old minds!

April 5^th-Thursday –Not up till 9 and there are patches of snow on the deck. It is 29 degrees and snow is floating around. This is the strangest snow I have ever seen! It just floats around and finally lands and then blows away again! Charlie left for lunch with his friend Gary, back about 6:30 with groceries for supper. I got the new internet stuff, installed it and it does not work. Will have to spend tomorrow on line with Dell. Darn-I had hoped this would go smoothly. A chocolate banana shake and off to bed.

Charlie is off to a meeting at 10 and I called Dell and it is now 2 pm and still on phone with absolutely nothing resolved! And he does not speak English! Now trying the online chat, and he has foreign name- Nishant. Not expecting any help! After 2 minutes I was cut off. Have to start over again! Now I have Shankar to help me! And it is snowing again, may even stick this time! It was 24 last night and is up to 39 right now at 2:22 pm. The ground has been white a dozen times today and melted but it is now 31 degrees at 6pm and if it snows any more may stick! I was on the phone 6 hours today and got NO real help. In desperation I decided to reinstall the program, had to do it twice, BUT, I now have internet. Don’t know the cause but it seems to be fixed, finally. I kept asking them if that might work and they all said no. So we no longer have to share one computer- so nice to be back on my own! A nice dinner of pork loin and some SW scalloped potatoes, some ‘puter stuff, some ice cream and off to bed.

Update on Joy from Al: We visited with Joy's ortho dr. a bit ago and he informed us that the leg is not her only prob. She has a torn rotator cuff in both shoulders also. She is still scheduled for surgery at 1pm Fri. then will remain in hospital till Monday am then transferred to a rehab center for possibly 4 wks then we are going to look at having the right shoulder done then wait couple months then have the other one done. We will be in Az. for month and half or so longer than we planned.

Saturday morn and Charlie off for his Springfield breakfast with the guys. It was 21 degrees at midnight!!! And 27 when I got up at 8:45! The deck is white with the fine snow of last evening and is frozen. There are a few flakes drifting out of the sky again. A cold day in Ohio! Charlie came home with 2 big boxes of potted plants - from his friend Jake who owns a large nursery (16 acres that supplies Wal*Mart and Lowes and that type place), at least 20 potted plants and we will take most of them to Easter at Darlenes tomorrow; lilies, mums, and lots I don’t know what is what! We decided it was ‘date night’ so off to The Outback for a fillet dinner. Then grocery shopping and home. I had my internet working once today but not now. It is putting the wireless into my device manager in Modems instead of Wireless and that is a conflict. I just don’t know how to resolve it. Ice cream and off to bed.

Easter Morning and it is spitting snow! It is 10 am and I have been up for several hours and Charlie is still in there sawing logs –rather loudly too! A few minutes later he finally awakened! Fixed him a German pancake for brunch, discovered I was wrong on the internet-his is configured the same way, so still no solution. And it is still spitting that dry floaty snow but nothing is sticking. The last time I had snow on Easter was in Queen Valley AZ where we woke to a couple of inches of the white stuff! About 1:30 we headed out to Dar’s place for a family Easter afternoon and food. Really a great time and enjoyed all the adults and the kids. Dar fixed a great spread, as usual, and as usual sent us home with enough for a couple of meals! It has spit snow all day but all melted immediately. 36 degrees now at 7 PM. Watched the movie ‘Happy Gilbert’ tonight and it is funny-a golfing spoof movie.

Charlie up and off to Columbus early this morn for a doctor appt. I was on phone with Cingular again and this time we managed to work out a ‘go-around’ and now I have a way to get online-Not the way I am supposed to bit it does work! At last. Charlie called on the way home and invited me to breakfast at our favorite biscuit and gravy place, Bob Evans. I talked to son John, (twice today), and to Jeanie – a college roommate whose husband died unexpectedly March 31^st. After breakfast we headed to Wal*Mart for some groceries and ended up both having a pedicure! Really felt good and something we needed, but still a real treat! Oh, doctor report was good, next checkup in 3 months.

Update on Joy from Al: we got Joy moved today. She is at Springdale Village Rehabilitation center. She is in room 60. Go figure, Accident happened on us. 60. She is feeling much better than a couple days ago. Road rash looks to be healing but still looks bad. Is getting sense of humor back. We have the leg bending at limit dr. set, so will call him tomorrow to see about raising numbers. Am told she shouldn’t put weight on foot for 6 to 8 wks.

Tuesday the 10^th – Happy birthday to Charlie’s son Chuck. We went to Chucks offices for a ‘potluck’ surprise party for Chuck – and he was surprised! Stayed around eating and talking and finally home where Charlie changed clothes and headed back to the factories. I had a long phone call with both Sharon and Suzie –really enjoyed them. Charlie came home about 7 and we had a late dinner and finally off to bed.

We lazed around this morning and about 10:30 decided to try a ‘landmark’ pancake house that had just reopened Friday after a fire 2 years ago. There was a line way outside the door and took us about ½ hour to get seated. Good meal, and when we left the lines were even longer! The community is certainly welcoming them back. Raining now and still cold.

Charlie off to the factories again. About 5pm the lightning and thunder (close by) started and it poured rain for about an hour! And in the evening another storm! Worked on my taxes today.

Charlie spent most of Thursday at the factories and I spent it cleaning house here, ending with a long soak in the big tub full of bubbles!

Friday was finally above freezing- actually up to 51 degrees! Charlie went out to trial fly the cub-first flight after its annual checkup. He wanted to do that alone, and all was properly repaired and now if we get a warmer day before we leave will get a flight in it. Home for a quick lunch and back to the factories. I can’t believe it! They just announced cold and snow for the weekend! Out for groceries and a quick supper at Fazios, home, computers, ice cream and bed. Saw on the news of a VERY BIG STORM headed directly towards us. Tornados in Texas and all along the storm route.

Sat morn Charlie headed for Spfd for his breakfast and I fell back asleep till almost 10, just before he arrived home. It is a cold and icky day out, rain and wind. The biggest part of the storm may miss us –we will know by morning. The high today was 39 degrees! We are getting cabin fever, esp me! He goes to the factories most days but with no 2^nd car I can’t go anywhere! We will be glad to get back to AZ where we can get ready for our next adventures, and he will only contact the office once a day via phone. A fajita supper, some computer games, a chocolate banana smoothie and off to bed.

A high of 42 for this Sunday! Grey and windy but nothing like we had expected or like the east coast is getting! We both have ‘no sunshine’ fever! Be glad to leave here. Charlie is soaking in the tub as we waste this day indoors with nothing to do. Had planned on a geo-event today but just too cold for an outdoor event. Finally out about 7:30 to pick up a prescription (but they were closed!) and a quick dinner at Skyline Chili. This is a regional chili- a bowl of spaghetti noodles, a not very hot/spicy chili over them and gobs of shredded cheese over both.

Monday Charlie had stuff to do most of the day. I spent most of the day glued to the TV watching the massacre of 32 persons on the Virginia campus. So very sad. Later on we drove up toward Dayton to meet John and Barbara at Red Lobster for a fun filled evening. Lots of laughs and good friendship. I really enjoy them. Back home and more on the killings and off to bed. We did have sunshine and a temp of 57 today, the best since we arrived!

Today we have to get ready to leave. Laundry, clean house, water plants and all that needs to be taken care of before heading out tomorrow. Charlie went to post office to mail taxes and last minute visit to the factories. I think we are packed and ready to go. I have watched the Virginia Tech tragedy all day. Hard to be happy with all that going on! Again, so very sad! How could one person do that to others! So selfish, among other things!

Up early, showers and breakfast before Darlene arrived at 7:45AM. And off to Columbus airport on another cold morning. But the sun is actually shining today! We were plenty early and forgot that getting on a SW plane is a cattle call, no reserved seats. Our dawdling around cost us a good seat- In fact only 4 persons got on after us! I was in the last seat to the rear and Charlie in front of me and we were lucky to find 2 that close together! 4 interesting guys by us (2 by me and 2 by him). Turns out they lived in his old neighborhood in Cincinnati and several of Charlies employees now are friends or colleges of theirs! Small world! A bit rough coming into PHX, quickly got our bags and Al was there to pick us up. Took him to his place in AJ, back to our hot house. The swamp cooler had quit before we left for Ohio. I heard noises and realized Charlie was on the roof!!! But he was able to repair it, though maybe temporarily. He thinks it needs some major overhauling soon. After unpacking we headed out to visit Al’s wife and our friend Joy at the rehab center. It was good to see her and she seems to be improving, though it will be a long time for a full recovery. A few groceries and home and the swamp cooler is still working and the place is cool!

We tried to sleep in but hard with the 3 hour time difference! Today took a jeep load of stuff to the motorhome. A start on getting it packed and us out of here. The swamp cooler is working so nice in here now. This afternoon had a birthday party next door for Georgi, Cals wife. About 20 people attended, some we had met before and some new to us. A fun afternoon. Then home, (about 15 ft to home), and ready for our ‘date night’. We are going to ‘Rustlers Rooste at the Point’ in Phoenix. We found it last month and decided we would try it out. We had word that Joy was able to leave the rehab center a week early and go home – good news. Back from a wonderful dinner in a great setting! We were there before dark and they had a window table waiting for us. To get to the eating level you can either walk the stairs or slide down the tin slide. Of course we chose the slide-fun! A great filet and a margarita with cactus flavoring, the sky darkened and the lights of Phoenix came on-from our window seat high on the mountain it was a terrific sight. After dinner walked out onto the patio for a bit and then up the stairs and one more slide down the slide! Another good day in our lives!

Friday the 20^th-We, no I, spent the morning taking things from the bedroom, bathroom, spare room and hall closet to the motorhome and finding places for them. Since it was an overcast day Charlie washed the motorhome outside. Now we hear the report is for rain showers tomorrow!! Of course!! Then some ‘for the motorhome’ shopping and home to a nice supper.

Up fairly early and off to AJ for breakfast at the Waffle House, then a visit with Joy who is home from the nursing home – Al can take better care of her at home then they were doing at the rehab!! So she left! Then a visit with Diane and Lyle and off to do some caching, the first we have done in 21 days! We did 8 with one we could not find. Home again and another small load to the motorhome, a margarita, and off to meet Ken and Joan for dinner at Yen Ching, a favorite place on Power Rd. After dinner they came back so we could show off the new coach and talk some more. A nice day.

A lazy start for the day, and finally took 2 jeep loads to the motorhome and are almost packed. Should be able to complete it tomorrow. There is a lot of compromising being done around here! We are getting to like those margaritas that Charlie makes in the evenings. I think he has a sunburned back but he will not admit it. We did find that the elec cord between the motorhome and the tow dolly is a couple of inches to short and that will be his project tomorrow.

A late start and I did shopping, got hair cut, ear doctor, post office, all that kind of stuff. Charlie spent till about 3:30 working on his little project, but it is now ready to go. Packed a bunch of stuff into the motorhome- it is really getting loaded! Scott, a caching friend who also owns a balloon ride company met us for dinner at the Fishin’ Hole, and back here to see the motorhome and talk till 9:30. I don’t think we will get out of here very early tomorrow. Charlie has to wait to get the money from the, finally, sale of his old motorhome! Today he was ready to tell the police it was a stolen motorhome—no motorhome, it is gone and no money! He was very unhappy with them! They said they would have it tomorrow morning-we shall see…..So only a few personal items to pack and clean up this house so it can be shown and hopefully sold. Now off to bed—tomorrow will be a big day.

I was up early, couldn’t get Charlie moving! He finally got up and just messed around. Couldn’t bring the coach here till after the garbage truck had come through anyway. After 10 he left to pick up the check for his sold motorhome and after returning we finally got it moved and I started the final loads while he was off to deposit the check but they had given him a wrong address so he returned, just as I finished the loading - At last said our goodbys and left the house just before 1pm. First stop was in Scottsdale to a Charles Schwabs to deposit the check, and finally out of Phoenix area! It was a nice day, warm in the valley, and we can’t figure out how to run the air conditioning in the front! Called a park in Sedona but they were full, and finally decided on a RV park in Munds Park. Settled in and decided to drive into Sedona, a choice of 40+ miles on the freeway or take the 12 mile Schnebley Road. It’s a 4 wheel road so you know what we chose!! Along the way saw a field of deer, one large elk that walked out in front of us and a jackrabbit. It took 40 minutes to drive it but the views were worth it! Drove around town a bit and made a reservation for dinner tomorrow evening at Cowboy Club – it had been recommended to us. A 40 minute trip back in the dark and ready for the first night of our adventures.

Up and did more re arranging here in the coach- We have just stuffed things into any available spot and now need to make it all nice. Finally headed back to Sedona over the same 12 mile road and enjoyed the views again. We did 2 caches along the road. Scott had told us of 2 jeep roads and we didn’t find one but found the Broken Arrow jeep trail and it was fantastic. Really good jeeping and challenging too! We did every bit of it plus a bit that was not on the trail (well, the trail is hard to follow on the slick rock!) except for one downhill, VERY steep shute with a rock or two at the top that were weren’t sure we could cross without hanging up. Since we were alone we backed up – that was a challenge too! After leaving that area off for a ride to the top of Oak Creek Canyon and the views from there (paved state road). Back to town where we found a margarita at a place with outside seating and a terrific view of red mountains all around. Then over to the Cowboy Club for our dinner. We were in the Redstone Cabin area- a very intimate and upscale area with only 8 tables and very attentive hosts. We had wine, an appetizer, Charlie had Caesar salad and I had tortilla soup, then sorbet to cleanse our palettes, and the main course—11 oz Buffalo fillets, fresh asparagus and carrots cooked 2 different ways, and all presented beautifully on the plates! The finale was 2 huge chocolate dipped strawberries with melted white chocolate drizzled with dark chocolate on the side! The fillet was excellent! We both feel this was one of the best overall dining experiences ever! I know it is mine, but Charlie, with all the places he has eaten, even thinks it is. Finally back over the 12 mile bumpy road and home to our very comfortable new home. What a great day.

Thur the 26^th and a lazy start. Did more here at the ‘house’ and by the end of May we may feel organized!! Fueled up a bit-at $2.99 a gallon for diesel and headed the few miles to Grand Canyon, staying in an RV park just to the S of the entrance gate. After getting set up we headed to the canyon and spend a couple of hours touristing. It is a somewhat warm day and visibility is pretty good. This place is always just overwhelming to me. Finally back to the coach for relaxing and a meal with the left over Buffalo fillet, fresh asparagus, salad and potatoes. Dishes done and we walked about a block to the IMAX Theater to see the IMAX movie on the Grand Canyon. We both liked it, especially the scenes where you are ‘flying’ down the canyon! We are really enjoying the new coach-but get frustrated when we can’t find stuff we know is in here somewhere!!

Another lazy and slow start to a day—finally headed towards Grand Canyon and decided we had seen enough of it—scenic overload!! But as we left the park found two places we could pull the coach over and both agree these were the most spectacular spots in the park. We stopped at the Watchtower and climbed to the top for a spectacular panoramic view of the canyon. We stopped in Cameron for a lunch break-this is where we stopped last year. Another stop in Kayenta hoping for a place to spend the night but nothing there. Then on and this time turned toward Monument Valley and stayed at a delightful campground that I had stayed at before. No phone or internet for the night.

There was a time change and we didn’t know it. I was up early but Charlie slept till 10 or 11, or is that 9?? Anyway, a late start for the morning. Blue sky and Monument Valley in sight from here. Just beautiful! We packed up and pulled outside the park into a large parking area and went for a short Jeep ride, back to the coach and took off. Heard an awful noise and realized very quickly that we had scrapped the big billboard by us – we had seen it but thought we were far enough away; what we didn’t allow for was the soft sand the tip of the motorhome as we went up a highway shoulder!! This tore our big automatic awning off, probably ruined a slide-out awning and possibly the door and bedroom ones! Arms sticking out every which way! We tied, bungeed and wired it the best we could and sadly took off for Moab, driving quite slowly all the way. We did stop for a break in Blanding, took the jeep off and did a few caches. We arrived at Moab just in time to get through town before a huge parade. There is a car show, and a Jeep Meet going on. Our reservation is for tomorrow night but they were able to accommodate us for tonight-last available site! We were able to get the bedroom slide out and the living-room/kitchen out far enough to get into all the storage places-like where the food is! Needless to say the mood around here is less than cheerful! All I can say is I’m glad it wasn’t me driving!!

Charlie was up early and didn’t sleep much. He was messing with the TV and DVD players and all that we have not been able to use yet. He talked with a few neighbors; I did some more rearranging in here. Finally decided to go out for a drive, and look for a towel rack for the kitchen. Found nothing nice here and went to Radio Shack for something and saw an elderly man walk in carrying a GPS like ours. Got to talking and he was a 78 year old Physics professor at Cal state and he had cached a bit but didn’t know how to do many things. We did a cache 400 ft away with him and then the 3 of us drove to 2 more. Back home to show him how to download caches and delivered him to the PO where he was heading when we met. Oh, and he is also a jeeper. A character! Then we decided to go up to the rock crawling area just to get a pass for later, BUT, and you know we would, we went on in, and caught up to 5 jeeps on the Fins and Things trail. Winter was hard on the trails and there were some real challenges. We did them all, including a place we had had trouble last year-but this time we went up it as easy as some and better than others! They were awed! They all had raised and all you can do to a jeep and we are stock! Then later did the start of Hells Revenge meeting a guy that was making his 3d trip to town for parts for his buddy who was broke down. We drove out to where he was and hung out for a bit and then backtracked. Big Lions back is closed for some reason – that’s good –now I don’t have to even think about it! We did do Little Lions back twice- there is about a foot of mud/water at the far base but made it through all! Back home with groceries – had a margarita and some bread and dipping sauce at the outside table. Later we were too tired and full from snacking so had a piece of chocolate and called it an evening.

Up and did stuff around the house on this last day of April. About 10 our new friend, Marshall Sparks, from yesterday called and suggested a day of jeeping and maybe a cache or two. He came by about 11 and we were off. We did the Poison Spider trail which is rated 4+ on a scale of 1-5! Remember, we are stock Jeep Grand Cherokee! Everyone around here has $30thou invested in jeep fixes!! Marshall said he would be easy on us and I don’t think he thought we would be able to keep up! But we did! Charlie is an amazing trail driver and did things I didn’t know were possible, esp with a stock jeep. Everyone we met out there marveled that we were still going and with no problems! And Marshall gave up ‘babying’ us in the first ¼ mile! He took us on all the bad places – we only went around one of them! It was a fun day and we even got 2 caches out there! Then we were invited to a FMCA 4-Wheelers get together – nice people and enjoyed it and plan to join them. They are having a large get-together starting Sunday and it will be mostly here at the park we are in! We are looking forward to it. Finally home and sat out and watched the full moon come up, there is some snow on the LaSal mountains and the weather and scenery are just gorgeous. Life is good!

May 2007

Up early to meet some FMCA 4-Wheelers for what they said last night was an easy and short jeeping crawl. It was called Sevenmile Rim, but looking at it in the new trail guide Charlie bought last night find that for difficulty it is #36 out of the 50 (hardest) trails here! We seem to be starting at the top-have now done #s 20, 34, 42 and 44!! Part way into it Marshall decided I would drive his really trail ready jeep-didn’t really give me a choice, but I did it (well, he all but pushed me into the seat!). I did some stuff I cannot believe! And I did good too. Later on I drove it again, but quit after going down a nosedive hill and could see the next was even worse! We were in Wipeout Hill –a really bad spot. I really didn’t think our jeep would be able to make it – we are longer than the other jeeps and stock. It was hairy but with some good help from the ‘spotter’ Charlie pulled it off. I was out walking to take pictures but forgot to take them watching him!! I was so glad to have that in the past! Then discovered an even worse climb to get out of the canyon! A major hillclimb! High terraced rock ledges. All the jeeps had trouble and Charlie was last. He had to try several times at the first very high obstacle and then scrapped all the way over it. Then came the 3 or 4 terraces all together and very tall; all had had a problem here and it was so steep I was really scared for him. He came right up it and over in one try! Everyone out there was just amazed at the things he has done today! They cannot believe an old man in a stock car can do what he does! One guy was even going to bet $100 that he would not get out and would have to be towed! So it was a long 5 hour trail with a lot of challenges but we did it and felt good about it. Marshall had to take his jeep into the shop for some transmission problem (but not caused by me driving it). We enjoyed the group and they are having a jeep rally here starting Sunday and we plan to join them. Looks like a storm and rain tonight and we are glad to have a reason to stay home tomorrow. Charlie did buy a CB radio tonight so we can communicate – when I was driving we went off trail and they weren’t happy waiting for us.

Wednesday and Charlie left early to get the 2” lifters on the jeep. While that was being done he and Marshall went hiking in Negro Bill Canyon. This is the canyon Charlie did alone last year and almost had heat stroke before he got back to the jeep! They got lost (in a canyon???) but finally got it figured out!! Picked up the jeep and went out to Fins and Things trail to try it out, and couldn’t get up a rock climb that we had done a few days ago!! I spent the day here rearranging things and cleaning. We keep moving things around and eventually will be happy with where they are. He came back about 5:45, and Marshall was due here at 6 for a meatloaf dinner. He arrived a bit latter and we had a most enjoyable evening, eating, drinking adult beverages and talking. We really enjoy him! He will be gone for a week and we will miss his company.

Charlie was out this morning doing ‘stuff’ around town. It is extremely windy here today, and was all night. A few rain splatters, but lots of wind, all day! Finally did the laundry – just a nothing day, but still nice.

Friday, up early and out the door to go jeeping with the FMCA group. There were 16 vehicles in our group, and the jeeping area was just crowded today-like a Saturday! Lines of jeeps, bikes, ATVs just everywhere! We did Fins and Things – we have done it in the past but today went on parts we had never seen—some real challenges to our Grand Cherokee – though Charlie had 2” lifters put on it and they were worth the money! 2” does make a difference!! We did not do ANY of the ‘go-arounds’ – we did the hard trail every time and had no problems! He is amazing driving that thing!! We had planned on eating out tonight, but after driving into town and seeing lines at all the eating establishments we came home and I fixed dinner. We will be eating out a lot coming up with company coming. Still dreary out and occasional rain. Expecting more of the same for the next few days.

On Saturday it rained, it hailed, it was COLD; it snowed on the LaSal Mts and some of the lower redrock areas! Just not a nice day! We stayed home and did ‘stuff’. Charlie built a terrific wine rack for under the couch in the wasted space. When all the wine/liquor we brought from his place is gone (LOL) we plan to use it for canned goods. Then he built an extra shelf in my bathroom for me, making the cabinet much more useful. Out for an early dinner, well early for us, about 6 PM, and found no lines at the Fiesta Mexicana on Main Street. A good meal and home to mess around till bedtime.

Up to overcast but no rain at this moment. It did stay cold and windy all day. Around 1 we went over to the parks outside pavilion where the FMCA 4Wheelers were having a check in for the weeks jeeping programs and we joined them, both physically and getting a membership. We signed up for 3 trails to run this week, talked and met lets of new people and about 3 had a ‘snacking’ lunch. We had taken a tray of pickles and olives and brought it home empty. While there got a call that Charlies great niece Charli and her boyfriend Adam had showed up so left to met them. What a great couple. I really liked them. After 5 pm we took off for the Shafer trail, the BACK road into Canyonlands and it is a spectacular drive, a small view of Canyonlands and then home via another back road with challenges on it. Luckily they both enjoyed this trip. Back home and they set up their tent, got the 2 dogs settled, we had shrimp and sauce and a couple of margaritas before dinner. We ended the day with them heading to the tent after 11 and us heading to bed about midnight – a great day.

Charlie was up early and I just could not drag myself out of the nice warm bed! At last blue sky and hopes for a nice warmer day. Charli, Adam and the dogs arrived for a buckwheat pancake breakfast, took their tent down and took off to show them a bit or jeep crawling. We had planned just a small run to show them what we do but they enjoyed it so much (sometimes Charli wasn’t so sure) that we went on doing a great deal of Fins and Things. This is a difficult trail and offers a lot of challenges! Several places that we were literally nose to the ground and tail in the air. And other times the other way around. After a few hours of that we headed for Arches Nat Park doing just a small portion of it and finally back home where they gathered up stuff and headed back to Park City Utah. We really enjoyed the time with them and hope for repeat visits. Charlie had some stuff he needed for the jeep so off with our grocery list and his jeep list. Dinner outside tonight, a great change from the weather we have been having! Met some people here in the park, talked with Don and Anita who will be here tomorrow, did some household things, had our nightly ice cream and off to bed.

Tuesday the 8^th – Up early and headed out with the FMCA Jeepers (we are now members!) to do the Hell’s Revenge trail rated a 4! We did this trail last year without knowing how tough it was rated!! We started with 14 jeeps and later 4 Calif jeeps caught up and joined us. We detoured out to Hell’s Gate, where Brian, Trish and we had debated going down and finally came to our senses!! Now find that not only should we not attempt it BUT it should be done coming up, not down! We watched 5 of our group do it, then on and a stop at the Escalator where no one even attempted it! At Tip-Over Challenge we were not able to get up it after may tries and spinning tires so took a go-around that was still a challenge! On the way out, and the last mile of this trail is a big challenge, we got hung up on a flat rock on the edge of a cliff. I walked and some of the guys helped get Charlie moving again. We should have taken that go-around! Another guy laid his down against the side hill. Finally out and it was a fun but long ride – just over 7 miles in 5 hours! When we arrived home Don and Anita had arrived and were inside relaxing with refreshments. We talked non-stop till time to head up the Colorado River for a meal at Red Cliffs Lodge. This place has the most fantastic view around. We had Buffalo fillets, not as good as Sedona, but good. A nice drive back home, lots of talking and finally to bed, late!

When we got up Don and Anita had already polished off a pot of coffee! After a buckwheat pancakes and bacon breakfast we headed out for a day of introducing them to Moab. First up the long, narrow, rough and just beautiful Shafer Canyon, ending in Canyonlands Nat Park. We visited the visitors center, a few outlooks and drove to Grandview overlook. Back to Moab via Long Canyon, a short jeep trail but beautiful, for lunch and then on to Arches Nat Park where we did a whirlwind tour of the arches. This is a place they will need to come back to and spend a lot of time as this park really requires some walking to see many of the attractions. Now on to Sand Flats ‘Playground’ where the bikes and the jeeps play! First stop was Little Lions Back where Anita balked when she realized we were actually going ‘up that!!”. Then on to do the first section of Fins and Things and it has a lot of ‘challenges’ in that first mile or so! Charlie did all on it and I think Anita held her breath for most of the trip, but she was a good sport about it. She had finally had all she could handle so we headed back to the motorhome for refreshments and more talk. We have really enjoyed having them here. Tonight was a dinner of left over Buffalo fillet and then more talk till late, even though they plan to be up early tomorrow and leave.

Thursday the 10^th – Again Don and Anita are up before us and have already polished off a pot of coffee! They wanted to be on the road early to get to the site of the ‘Golden Spike’ N of SLC in time for the re-enactment - this is an anniversary date for the railroads meeting at the site. They did manage to get on the road a bit after 7 and will have about a 6 hour drive to the event. Charlie decided to go golfing today and I stayed home to make something for the potluck tonight; ended up with Spanish rice. He got home just in time to leave for the site. There were probably well over 100 persons and rigs there, and you know how much food that brings! All very good and much fun. We are meeting several of the other jeepers and that makes it more fun. Home by 7:30.

I went to bed at 8:30 last night and caught up on some needed sleep. We were up early because Charlie had a conference call at 7am. Then at 9 we were off to meet the FMCA jeepers for another run, this one only a 3 ½ but still fun and had a couple of challenging areas! In one area we saw an antelope, and a bit later saw the mother and a very new baby-I think it was still wet. What a treat!. But it was a long day and not home till almost 7 pm. A dinner of leftovers and a quiet evening.

Sat morn up early again and Charlie had planned to try to get a ride with someone on a trail we cannot do in our jeep, but at the last minute decided we would do an easier (3 ½ rated) trail. We ended up with an 11 ½ hour day and 70 miles of jeep trail with several easy miles but a lot of challenges for all 16 jeeps in the group. As usual Charlie showed up a modified jeep or two and was really proud of his driving!! We did a back road tour to Crystal Geysers that are up at Green River. The geyser only spouts once every 14 hours and our luck held as it began just as we pulled up to park!! On into Green River to air up the tires and have dinner with 3 other jeepers, and home by 8:30. It was 92 today, our last day here in Moab. Now wish we had planned a longer stay as we did not get everything done that we wanted to.

A busy Mothers Day. Up early and I did the laundry while Charlie grocery shopped. We cleaned up and loaded up the motorhome, with Charlie carefully backing it out with the tow dolly still on. Loaded the jeep and finally off. Up to Green River where we took the scenic Hwy 6 north. We cached along the way where it was possible and Charlie got 12 new ones and I got 5, since I have been this route several times. We had a sorta bad day. He pulled off at a cache and got in a position where we had to back out but couldn’t so went forward through a dirt turnaround that was meant for a maximum 20 ft trailer! He did make it but with a lot of maneuvering!! Then he spilled coffee when he took a freeway turn to hard. Leaving a cache as he pulled onto the road he decided he wanted to beat some truck so gunned it--- and the kitchen cupboard came open throwing 5 salad plates to the floor; 2 of his, did not break, and 3 of my new SW ones are in pieces. Some even conveniently landed in the garbage box!! Then when we got into Draper Utah where we are seeing an RV dealer about the awnings we followed the map directions and ended up WAY north of where we needed to be, through some shopping centers and back and ended at a dead end and had to finesse another turnaround, and finally asked directions and it was complicated but we finally arrived, and they are closed for the day! Back to the Camping World we had seen for the night. Needless to say we are a bit short with each other tonight. It is now 7:30 and no supper yet. Finally a stir fry and some computering and of to bed!

Monday the 14^th - - Up early and off to the RV dealer to see about repairs –arrived about 8:30 and it is now 10 and still waiting for some answers! I left shortly after 10 to go to son Johns place, about 8 miles away. Delivered him some stuff and he took me to the carwash where he works and gave the jeep a good cleaning and a free wash job. By then Charlie called to say he was on his way with the motorhome. They had taken all the broken awning off so now we can have the slides all the way out. When we get to Ohio in July we will have our dealer replace them. Meanwhile John had asked his boss if we could park in the back of the carwash for the night and he agreed. It is a very large and grassy area, almost park like. Very nice! After getting parked we three decided to drive to the Bingham Copper Mine, about 20 miles west of here. This is the biggest open pit mine in the world -2 ½ miles across at top and ½ mile deep. It can be seen from space! Their visitor center is very good, and big, with a well done movie. We were all impressed with this place. Driving back to town we decided to drive up the Big Cottonwood Canyon to Brighton, a ski area. This too was a great ride with magnificent mountains and trees, and some snow. Back to town and John suggested a favorite eatery – HOPPERS Brewery, and what a good choice. We all had perfect meals, and we brought home enough for another meal. Back to the motorhome for a bit and later took John back to his apartment.

Up early this Tue morn to a sunny day. There is a beautiful bird, a fly catcher, just outside our window entertaining us. The motorhome is ready to roll and now John had arrived at work so walked over to talk to him; he took a break and joined us for a few minutes and then we said goodbye. We headed North till SLC and pulled off and parked at a deserted Ford dealership, which happened to be across the street from a car wash owned by Johns boss. Out to do some sightseeing and caching. We managed to find 9 caches, visited the fantastic old courthouse, the fantastic new library (this is a must see when in town-not just outside but inside too), walked about ¾ mile looking, then up to the Mormon square where we spent time just looking around. We has stopped at a Best Buy to buy a satellite receiver for the HD TV in the motorhome so spent time trying to set it up while parked there—finally giving up and moving on. We saw some very pretty birds today and looking them up found they were Yellow-Headed Blackbirds. We drove as far as Logan Utah and found a Wal-Mart to spend the night (and some money). Across the street was a Best Buy and after talking with Randy in the store we moved the Motorhome over there and between him and the setup person at DirecTV it is finally working. Back to Wal-Mart where we are enjoying the TV before going shopping. Only drove 100 miles in the motorhome today.

Logan is a great town and we were both impressed with it. We spent till 2 pm caching, finding 19 in town. Then off heading northeast toward Idaho, getting 1 cache in Idaho and into Wyoming where we found 3 more for a total of 24 for the day. When we went to log them tonight found that geocaching.com is off the internet for repairs and upgrades till ??? We drove on to Afton Wyoming and found a vacant lot for the night. Today our travel miles were 115. It’s going to take us a while to get anyplace, but then we don’t have to be anywhere till July! The DirecTV works great but we do not have the HD subscription like they said we would have so will have to contact them again.

This morning we took a tour of the Avait Aviation Company. This is where they make the Husky, Pitts Special and the Christen Eagle. This was fascinating. These are made the original way with wood and fabric. After this tour we did a few caches and headed out. The drive from Afton (and this town is growing and sprucing up and will be looking good in a year or so) to Alpine is a pretty one. There we parked and did a few caches, cleaned up the coach, took showers and headed for Bondurant Wyoming where Charlies sister Kathy, husband Tom and kids, Mike, Amber, Tiffany and Scott have a beautiful log cabin with the most gorgeous views of the snow capped mountains. They were home from work and expecting us. In fact, they had planned a family dinner with all the kids, Toms mother and some of the kids friends. We had a wonderful time and I really like all of them. Bedtime at 11 and we were both tired.

Friday morning Charlie was over visiting his sister and I slept in. Kathy had to go to work, she is a real estate broker, and Tom had left earlier, as had Scott, the only child still at home. We spent the day catching up on stuff here – Charlie emptied and completely organized the outside storage. We have no cell service here, but can use their internet connection. Kathy emailed Charlie to have us meet them in Pinedale, about 35 miles away and where they work, at 4 – we arrived at 5 to the ‘bottoms up’ brewery and café and met them, some friends and some of the kids for adult beverages and later we shared a sandwich. Later a drive out into the hills (we saw ducks, deer, elk, lots of antelope and moose) and didn’t get home till way after dark so right to bed. The view here is just fantastic –

Sat morn over to the house talk and finally have breakfast of pancakes about 10 am. More putting around before the 4 of us took off to tourist and Kathy was excited about caching. We took several beautiful drives, there are snow capped mounts just in any direction, most over 13 thousand feet. We also found 5 caches; Kathy found 4 of them and needless to say she was very excited. We had a late lunch/dinner at ‘The Place’ out in the mountains. One road was a muddy challenge and we had fun doing it in their pickup. A visit to Toms mom and home by 11 again! Kathy and I talk like we have known each other for years! It is really nice – Coming home tonight I rode with her, and Charlie with Tom- We had to pick up their other pickup that had been left in town last night. Charlies family had 4 children, he being one of them, and then 15 years later had 4 more and Kathy is the ‘baby’. It has been in the high 30s at night here and the snow level is not that far above us. There have been T-storms around the area off and on since we arrived but lots of blue skies too.

Sunday morn and we are up fairly early and trying to catch up on our diaries that we have ignored for several days. The sky is clear and blue and our plans are for another drive. Out we went to see the oil and gas fields and do one cache. Lots of antelope and 2 sandhill cranes! Again rain moving around the valley. Back to the coach and we did a few things-Charlie built the wine glass holder he had been planning for a long time. Amber and husband Doug arrived and we had a fire in the fire pit in the back yard and sat around munching and drinking adult beverages for a couple of hours-beautiful view and weather, fixed dinner out on the porch and the wind suddenly came up so bad that we moved into the house. Watched the pictures of Ambers wedding last July and some pictures I had put on a disk for them, then back to the house by 9 – they all have to get up and go to work in the morning. Another nice day!

Monday morn and we left just after 9 for the Tetons Nat Park. On the way we were able to get phone signal so both caught up on our calls. On into Jackson where we touristed a bit and then out to the mountains. It is about 45 degrees and snowing up in the Tetons. Makes it interesting though as the snow shifts around and different mts come into view. Last time I was here they were completely in fog. We did a bit of caching, there really are not many in the area, and were in rain, snow, hail and wind today. We took several small walks in the park and had a late lunch near the upper road junction and drove back the same was so we could see from a different angle. The only animal we saw today was a very large marmot. In spite of the weather it was a fun day. Home by 8, said goodnight to the Jacksons and back to the coach.

We had planned to drive to Yellowstone today, but weather report last night was 2-8 inches of new snow overnight and today! In fact I can see it snowing in all the hills and Mts around us this morning! The snow covered Mts are not even in view because of the snow in front of them. Now are plans are to stick around here and do laundry and ‘stuff’. It is now 11 am and it is snowing here at the house! Temp is 34 degrees and it is more like ice pellets than snow but so far not sticking. Nice to be snug and warm here at the house! By 12 we had a white ground but by 1 it was gone—we ended up with a high of 42 for the day. Cleaned house, and stuff, Kathy and Tom came over when they returned from a school event where Scott received an award for football (linebacker of the year-and he is still a junior). Off to bed at 11.

Wed morn, the 23^rd, we slept in a bit and up at 8 to blue sky and white mountains all around us. Just beautiful, but only 34 degrees! Finally breakfast at 10am. Around noon we went out for a ride down a couple of dirt roads Charlie was familiar with. This was a beautiful day for this ride. Along the way we saw many antelope, 6 large deer, 7 or 8 Elk and one moose that was right on the road waiting for us. What a treat! Later we drove the 35 miles into town to meet the family since we were taking them to dinner at Lakeside. There were 9 for dinner-Us, Kathy and Tom, Amber and Doug, Tiffany and Lance and Scott - Mike unable to come because of work. A very good meal and a fun server from Louisiana! Charlie managed to get out of there for $307. We were seated facing the lake and another range of snow capped mts. And finally home by 9:30 and try to get to bed early as we are going to try again tomorrow to go to Yellowstone Park.

Up early-6:30 and found all our water frozen – it was 23 degrees at that point and who knows how low it was last night! So Charlie is out in the cold trying to get it thawed so we can have some coffee and shower! By 8 am we had water so had breakfast and headed out to Yellowstone in the jeep. First we checked the transmission fluid that had been constantly leaking since we left Mesa. It has been dripping more and more as we go along. Charlie had been filling it a couple of times each time we drive. Filled it after it got warmed up on the way this morn and then we stopped at a pullout about 15 miles above Jackson and it was dripping rapidly and he filled it again! The engine was also smoking from the oil dripping on it. We finally realized that we could not put it off any longer so carefully drove back to Jackson and eventually found a small repair shop. These guys were wonderful and diagnosed the problem, a faulty hose, like we had suspected, and had us come back after lunch for a repair. We spent the few hours browsing Jackson shops and the Wort Hotel, then a wonderful and fun meal at Bubba’s BBQ. We highly recommend them! They keep bringing around warm chocolate cookies, before, during and after your meal! Back to the shop where they repaired and sent us on our way. It seems to be working and we are sooooooo glad to have it repaired. By now the day was almost over so did grocery shopping and headed home. The internet connection here is ‘out’ tonight so I did my first cookie baking in the convection oven. I have a lot to learn! First tray went to the garbage! Kathy came over for a few minutes-she had had a girls day out in Idaho Falls with gal friends instead of working. And finally to bed at 10. We will try Yellowstone again tomorrow. The high today was 52 degrees.

Up early this Friday morn to 40 degrees, Charlie chatted with Kathy, we had breakfast and on our way. We can see snow falling in the nearby snow peaks. We see on the news that someone was killed in Yellowstone by a Grizzly yesterday. We headed out of here by 8. Stopped for fuel in Jackson and checked on the repair from yesterday and it is not leaking!! So on to Yellowstone. We have both been here several times but it is a place I always like to return to. We entered the south entrance (free with our golden age cards) going to West Thumb and then Fishing Bridge with several caches along the way. Then on to Canyon Village with stops at Yosemite Falls – a very favorite place – with several short walks. After a lunch at Canyon village off toward Norris, Madison and Old Faithful. We arrived there just 10 minutes before it erupted, though it was a feeble eruption today. This was a wonderful day with blue skies and white fluffy clouds, much different than yesterday would have been. The high finally reached 47 degrees, but was still comfortable out walking. We estimate we walked and/or climbed about 3 miles which was very good for us and at that high altitude! We drove a bit over 300 miles, found 14 caches and enjoyed a favorite place, and arrived home a bit after 8pm. We saw so many animals, fields of bison, elk and deer but nary a bear. A small snack and us tired seniors were off to bed.

May 26-Sat. We slept in till 9. Looks like snow in the nearby mts but right here it is sunny and blue. Kathy is are off to town for a partial day of work, Tom and Scott are home but probably still asleep, and we will spend the morning gathering up stuff to take off tomorrow. Spent the day doing little chore things around the house, including washing the coach and windows, washing clothes – just getting ready to leave. The Jacksons came over in the afternoon for a bit and then had to leave for a school graduation. We puttered some more and finally off to bed.

Up at 8, showered and over to the house about 9. Talked and talked and really enjoyed it. I had given Kathy my ‘Dutch Baby’ recipe and we made it, twice, for our breakfast. Charlie brought over his computer and we showed them some photos and finally at 1pm just had to get hooked up and leave. This had been a perfect 9 days. I really enjoyed them, and the scenery could not be better! Next year we are thinking of a longer stay, and hopefully they can meet us in Moab in June. The scenery on the way to Idaho Falls Idaho was nice, really pretty, but just no comparison to the Hoback Valley. We did have one catastrophe on the trip! As we pulled into a service station the drive had a dip in it and we hit it at an angle!! Suddenly we heard such a clatter, I rose from my seat to see what was the matter - we heard crashing, smashing, breaking, sliding and a few other noises!! The cabinet with our dishes, where we had lost some earlier on this trip, and was now rubberbanded shut and seemed secure was NOT!! The rubber band allowed it to swing open just enough for the rest of the dishes to fly out the bottom and all over the kitchen, the table, the counter, just glass everywhere. As before the fragile looking clear glass dishes of Charlies DID NOT break! All of mine did! From my set of southwest pottery dishes that I loved, we have only 4 bowls remaining. We silently cleaned up the mess and found garbage for my dishes and Charlie promised me a new set as soon as I can find something I like as well!! We arrived at our usual parking place, Wal-Mart about 5 pm, did some shopping, had a soup and grilled cheese supper, computered, had adult beverage and off to bed.

Memorial Day - The wind blue ALL night and is still blowing quite heavily. We slept in till 9 and have been here in the warm doing inside stuff. At least it is 60 degrees with the wind. At noon we went out caching; the wind blew steadily ALL day, prob about 30 MPH. It did make the caching interesting and we did find 19 and headed back to the coach at 5 for some adult refreshments (margaritas). Logged our caches and headed out to ‘the Outback’ for dinner. As usual a wonderful dinner. Outback is our favorite place for filets and they have consistently great steaks. Back home by 9, some computer stuff and off to bed. The wind has finally slowed down but not stopped.

Tuesday the 29^th, The wind has finally stopped and the sky is clear and blue. We didn’t get up till 9:30 and at 11 are still here. Charlie is going for a much needed haircut and then we will be on our way to Dillon MT. Well, no haircut, too long a wait, so by noon we were on our way. We arrived just south of Dillon at a park for lunch, I called Steve while Charlie looked for a cache that I had found last August. Steve was in town so drove out to meet us and lead us to where they are camp hosting for a week. We followed him about 30 miles West of Dillon and then about 14 miles north into the mountains! We thought we were heading for the top of the mountains and we could see snow, and we have no snow tires!! Eventually we came to Price Creek campground and Steve showed us to a great campsite across from them. Jody and I hugged and talked and I was so glad to see them. After we got settled in they came over for adult beverages and then friends of theirs (Sally and Joe), that I had met last August, stopped by and the 6 of us spent a long time chatting and ‘debating’ world situations. We had snacked so much that we didn’t have any supper. There are NO hookups here and we are low on water. We thought it was almost full, but the unreliable gauge says empty. It is also cold and it has snowed 3 times since we arrived, but not sticking. This has been a bittersweet day for me; It’s the 3 anniversary of Jim dying. So many things today gave me thought of him but that life is only memories now and I am really happy with my new life.

I woke at 6 am feeling Charlie moving around in the front. Thought he was walking off one of his leg cramps but when I got up found him making a ‘fort’ around the sink area-then he explained that there was a mouse hiding behind the coffee pot. We finally herded him/her into the sink and thought we had won, but the little rascal climbed right out and disappeared! Behind the window blind and then just gone! Later found shredded Kleenex on the couch so think we may have a expecting she somewhere in here! It was 37 last night and there is frost on the car top and the sky is a beautiful clear blue.

Up early and our batteries are low so no heat or electric during the night. Generator on and warmed up. This morning there were mouse poopies on the counter and more tissues chewed up. Jody and I drove to Grasshopper creek and borrowed two mouse traps from Sally and Joe. Then a bicycle ride around the park- me included- it has been 10-15 years since I have ridden! Then up the road to the Crystal place where we dug for crystals for an hour or so! A first for Charlie and wouldn’t you know, he found the first and the biggest one! This could be hard work, but also a lot of fun. Back to the house for lunch and a bit of a nap, then down to the Hot springs where we played in the pool and showered. After that meet Sally and Joe and the 6 of us drove to Grasshopper Café for a meal. We stopped to talk with them for a while after dinner and when we got home Steve and Jody had a campfire waiting for us. Finally home at 10 pm, (I saw a neat shooting star tonight) and discovered our mouse had been here, eaten the cheese off one trap, left more poopies on the counter and taken off! It has been a very busy and full day and except for the mouse, enjoyed it all.

June 1 2007

Up fairly early, to find a mouse in our trap – it was dead but not sure why. Cheese (pepperjack) still on the trap and only its one arm/hand in the trap and no signs of distress. Strange, but glad to have it out of the house. Returned the traps and will get some of our own ‘just in case’. Steve and Jody came over for coffee; we talked and finally and reluctantly packed up to leave. We did leave by 11:30, before our expected time! Off north through the beautiful mountains and finally about 5 PM we arrived at Hamilton Mt. We saw one ram sheep near the road, a first in our sighting of animals. We have had no phone or internet for several days so looked forward to connections. We now have phone and VERY slow and sporadic, now nonexistant internet! My friend Betz arrived just as we pulled into the Black Rabbit RV Park which is overrun with rabbits of all sizes and colors! We enjoyed Betz for a couple of hours then made plans for tomorrow. Dinner of leftovers from our meal out last night. It was in the high 80s today- something we had not seen for a long time!

Saturday the 2^nd- I was up early and Charlie late. We messed around here and I went to see Betz and he did some repairs on the coach- some lights that were out and replaced the hot water element. I was back about 1:30 and we cached for a couple of hours, had a second shower before going to Betz house for a drink and socializing and then toward Darby to a western place, Bradley O’s Homestead, for dinner. A good filet dinner and later out to the patio for a drink, some music and a dance or two. Finally home by 10 pm, but a great day and so good to see Betz again. The last time I saw her was last August on my way to Mesa. Her husband Bernie passed away just before Christmas and she and all her friends miss him very much. And it was 91 degrees here today—We seem to go from extreme to extreme!

Sunday morn woke to find we had left the car door open and the keys in it! Charlie was in a hurry to get in the house last night! Messed around this morning, found that the new heating element in the hotwater heater was not working, But luckily the gas part of the heater still works. Finally headed to Betz home where we were going to her friends for an outdoor brunch. A great time and so nice to meet the people she talks about. We stayed there much longer than we intended but really enjoyed it. Then off toward Como Lake caching along the way. Through Darby for a cache and then back to explore and cache in Hamilton, netting us 10 caches and a lot of exploring, walking and just touristing. At the last cache of the day we had an extra treat – a large turtle/tortoise along the pathway! Dinner at the Coffee Pot and reluctantly leaving Betz at her place and back to ours to log caches and get ready to head north tomorrow.

Up early but messed around and not ready to leave till check-out time of 11 am. A neighbor came over to help Charlie fix a light on the tow dolly and then we were off. A very scenic drive to Polson MT, with 2 caches along the way. Bought groceries and on to Bigfork, on the NE corner of Flathead Lake, where we wanted to spend the night. We took a wrong turn and up a narrow road but finally saw a place to turn around, no problem but it had a bit of a bump/ledge and we clattered our way over it. On the way down the hill heard funny noise and had to stop in a big intersection to check it out. The bolt on the dolly had come out, broke the cotter pin off. Fixed that and around the corner and could feel the jeep dragging; into a service station and unhooked and wheels still dragging funnily! The owner let us park the motorhome and spend the night and after parking we drove the jeep round and round and it seems to be something with the differential. Eventually heard a ‘pop’ type noise and it seems to be OK now. Took it for a long drive and maybe it is fixed?? We had a nice salmon dinner here at home, caught up on computers, had a banana, milk and chocolate concoction of Charlies and went to bed listening and feeling the strong wind that was blowing. I thought it was snowing, but it was the cottonwood blowing about!

Up fairly early and drove around town, 1 cache, visit post office, and took a back road for the view. Then hooked up the car and drove off, hoping all would follow without problems. It seems to be OK. Onward to Glacier Nat. Park and stayed at a woodsy campground that advertises ‘camping like it used to be’. We have electric and water. It was a challenge backing into the space though! Also caused a big rift between us! After solving part of it, took off for the park. We will not be able to do ‘going to the sun highway’ due to a slide that took out 125 feet of the highway! We did drive as far as McDonald Lodge. By then it was raining, and getting heavier all the time. We met 2 gals on bikes who were thinking they could out wait the rain, but after Charlie told them we had a bike rack, and had left our bikes in camp, they rethought 6 miles in heavy rain and opted to let us transport them – BUT –they got back on the bikes about a mile from their parking place and their friends so they could arrive all wet and get sympathy, or something! After a spaghetti dinner we are sitting here listening to the steady rain, No internet, no phones while here!

To bed at 10 last night and didn’t awake until 9:30 this morning. Guess our bodies were trying to tell us we needed sleep. It is dreary and grey out, but no rain right now, so instead of the park we headed for Kalispell to just look around. We took a computer and phones so we could at least check our mail. After doing 3 caches that were walks along the Flathead river we headed back home and by now it was pouring rain again! I did the laundry and then we had supper. We are having trouble with the water pump – It is just dribbling in!

Thur June 7^th- I didn’t sleep well and was up early while Charlie slept in till almost 10 again! It began raining in the night and is still at it. We decided to spend another night here in hopes of seeing some of the park. Charlie tried everything he could think of to get the water pump working and finally just hooked up city water. Around 1 down to the office to up for another night and found we could get net there so both quickly checked our messages. Then off to drive as far as allowed on ‘going to the sun’ road, which is only 16 miles! On the way back picked up 2 young guys hitchhiking who had planned a day hike and found just toooo much bear sign to feel comfortable continuing on. Turns out one worked for, and one owned, with his mother, the Glacier Rafting Company, just by our camp. Very interesting fellows! After dropping them off continued around the base of Glacier on Hwy 2. We stopped at the Izaak Walten Inn, a fascinating train place! A must for train buffs! On up a few miles stopping at an overlook and saw several Mt goats across the river. Coming back we talked with 3 kayakers just ready to ‘put in’, staying to watch them take off. BRRRRRRRRR! River is about 33 degrees, glacier runoff! A mile later found a Mt Goat just off the road on a rock outcropping, and another down near the creek. Also 2 deer in the same area. Back to the Inn for a fresh and warm huckleberry cobbler that was just perfect! Still spitting rain, so time to end the touring and head back to our hide-a-way in the trees. A supper of a creamy wild rice soup with chicken and some TV to end the day.

Today I was the one to sleep in, till 7:30! Showers and breakfast and start packing up to move on eastward. Finally out on the road at 10 am and heading east. Had one cache to do this morning, and there were cachers returning from it and 2 more walked in with us! 3 sets of cachers meeting at a remote caches is almost an impossibility! Chatted a bit, found the cache and off again, this time for a lunch break in CutBank Mt, a place we have always heard of but never been too. A real cowboy town, and construction everywhere-on the roads! At least there is finally a bit of blue in the sky. On to spend the night in Havre Mt at a Wal-Mart, another place we have always heard of – Havre, not Wal-Mart! Out to dinner at a family place.

Sat morn and we are off heading east. There is a lot of big sky country here! But everything is very green right now making it all very pretty. We stopped for a few ‘by the road’ caches and some that challenged Charlies coach driving and turning around! We travelled as far as Williston North Dakota where we found a new Wal-Mart for the nights stay. At one cache along the way we were literally covered with mosquitoes when we got out of the coach. Back in for the ‘OFF’ before we could continue. A 6 inch circle of skin had at least 40 of them critters on it!!

There was a time change as we came into ND so got a later start than we wanted. We did 3 caches in town and were eaten alive at each by the mosquitoes, the state bird of SD!! Never have I seen them like this. Using lots of ‘OFF’ and carrying a fly swatter still didn’t help! By noon we were out of there and headed south toward SD, with a stop overlooking a big valley and the Little Missouri River for our ‘brunch’. On South till we ran out of loaded caches and could not get online so just quit and enjoyed (?) the miles of green fields. Actually, it was beginning to put us both to sleep. We did pass the geographic center of the USA today! On to Spearfish SD and found another Wal*Mart for the night. Ice cream and off to bed.

Off this morning for Devils Tower, about an hour away. When we arrived we decided to walk around the entire ‘mountain’, a distance of 1.3 miles with a lot of ‘ups’ and it seemed, no ‘downs! It was about 85 degrees but we managed to complete the walk. We had a lunch with us so found a picnic table with a great view of the tower. Then off to try a dirt road we had seen on a map. The Grand Canyon Road, and it was a fun and beautiful road till it ran out—then we just had to follow whatever looked like the ‘best’ road and about an hour later came out on hwy 85 and headed back to the motorhome! We did see a large, at least 3 ft snake, looked like a rattler but did not see any rattles on it. We arrived home about 8 pm to a very hot, 102 degrees, motorhome, so off to Applebee’s for a sandwich, then home to a cooler home, some computing and off to bed.

Up earlier than Charlie to find an overcast sky. It is almost noon and we are still here. Can’t seem to get moving this morning! Finally left about noon and went as far as the first RV dealer to see about a fix for the water pump that seems to be ‘out’. They are too busy to work on it, but suggested we try an adjustment that we didn’t know about, and now it seems to be working! We parked coach in Sturgis and toured the town, buying some T-shirts for Charlie and for 2 of his employees, then found a place for a haircut-an old fashioned barber-pole barber shop! Leaving there we drove the jeep to Deadwood, and by now it had started raining, (we are still thinking of hiring out as rain-makers!!) so we stopped at a casino for a buffet lunch, then walked around in the rain a bit. Up to the Mt Moriah cemetery to do a cache in the rain, and later a couple more, then on to Lead to look around and visit the museum. Back to the coach and on to Rapid City, where we turned N from the freeway instead of S and toured the malls, in the coach! Finally south to the local Wal-Mart where we were surprised to find it looked like a large campground. Charlie went out to count and there are 16 RVs that he can see and there is another place to park on the other side of the store! And it has finally quit raining. We are sooooo stuffed from our buffet lunch that I am making tapioca for us later, if we should get hungry!

We got a late start this morning but were only going a few miles to S end of Rapid City to an RV park. Settled in by noon and now that the water is working correctly the air conditioning is refusing to work, frustrating Charlie very much. Finally solved that! Then we took off for Mount Rushmore – we have both been before but always nice! I sat and contemplated the ‘heads’ while he took the strenuous ½ mile walk around the base. Then off toward Custer State park, via the Iron Mountain road. This is a neat road with circular (pigtail) log bridges and 3 tunnels averaging 13 1/2 ft wide and 12 ½ high. Fun! You can look back through each and see the Mt Rushmore heads. We then took the drive through the state park and saw a few animals but not what we had expected. They have 990 buffalo and we only saw 3. But still a beautiful drive. Then back via the Needles road and they are just fabulous! My first time to that area and it will now be a favorite of mine! From there through 2 more tunnels 12 ft tall and 8’4’’ and 9’ wide!! Quite an experience! Finally home after 8pm and fixed a quickie supper. Now 11 Pm and we are just having our banana smoothie and off to bed.

Thursday the 14^th - Up late and did house chores including laundry before going up the street to a BBQ place for a brunch (at 1:30!). Then off to spend some time in Keystone, a small tourist town we had noticed yesterday. Bought a crystal dragon for James and a T shirt for Charlie and then we spied the train station across the street. After investigating we decided to get tickets. It is an 1880 Baldwin steam locomotive (#110) converted to burning recycled motor oil and the only one of its make in the US. The trip was over 20 miles and 2 hours round trip from Keystone to Hill City. Really an enjoyable time. Later we drove to Hill City and came home via a back road with several caches on it, arriving at almost dark again, and having chili and toasted cheese sandwiches. A banana smoothie before bed to finish off a fun day.

We left the campground by 10 going just a couple of miles and parking at a Safeway store to do some touristing and caching in Rapid City. At the second cache we met a couple of cachers and had a chat. At the second cache we met a younger couple on a bicycle built for two. They were from New York and had sent the bike to Seaside Oregon where they began their ride back to New York! He has pancreatic cancer and this was their ride to educate people about it. Really enjoyed our talk with them. Cache 4 was discovered at an executive golf course so we went back for the coach and played 9 holes here! I did get a boogie on one hole! Other than that I just got practice! Reloaded the golf stuff and the car and took off for WALL, where we are spending the night (about a 50 mile day.) First thing today I lost the stylus from my PDA, the third or fourth I have now lost, and now I have lost my phone. Had it this afternoon but now it is Gone!! At least it is not with us in the car or motorhome!! 9pm and got a phone call – on my phone! A lady in a park with her 3 children, and her 6 year old had found my phone! They called Aunt Jean and finally called here, she told them Charlies name and it is in my phone numbers! Wow! I am soooo happy, even though we have to go back to Rapid City in the morning to get it!! Charlie is out, in the dark now, washing the motorhome! It is really dirty. There are 2 other motorhomes here in the park, just like ours, same year and length. Interesting to talk with them. One guy may make us some sliding drawers for a couple of problem areas.

June 16^th- We were awakened this morning by the splat of big fat rain on the roof! Yes, more rain and very dark skies. Just call us the rainmakers! After a breakfast at Wall Drugstore in Wall SD we headed back to Rapid City and picked up my phone—a 2 hour extra trip! Yes, Charlie grumbled! Then out to the Badlands where we spent the rest of the day, and by now we had blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Really enjoyed the park and both of us have past memories of this place. Just as we were leaving the park noticed parked cars and realized they were all watching about 10 Bighorn sheep just up on the bank. We stopped, enjoyed watching and took lots of pictures. Arrived back in Wall after 6, put some Tilapia out to thaw and headed to explore Wall Drugstore. We had fun there acting like tourists and taking more pictures. Home to a fish dinner with mashed potatoes and fresh asparagus. Did house things, worked on route from here and headed to bed. Oh, and it is spitting rain again!

Charlie was up very early and I slept in. No rain but very bad wind. We took our time getting out of the campground and finally hit the road, going east on I-90 then S on 83 to Valentine Nebraska and now E on 20. The wind has been relentless, 30-35 MPH with gusts!! At a place we stopped for a cache the wind was so bad that when I opened the door it whipped it out of my hand and slammed my hand and body against the door. Now I have a bruised and swelled wrist, just sore and not damaged. We gave up and stopped at 3:30 in Ainsworth Nebraska. Charlie had fought the cross and head winds just long enough!. We were directed to a park/sports facility and are the only people camping here, and we are crosswise to the wind that has not slowed down at all today! There is actually a baseball game being played in this wind! We finally decided to go for a drive, in spite of the wind, and explored the town a bit. Lots of cow feed lots and also a lot of power windmills. Back for a late dinner of BLTs; after Charlie spent some time over watching the ball game. Now 10:30 and the wind is still strong.

I awoke in the night to hear rain on the roof! Back to sleep and woke later to hear it pouring! I got up to check the windows and all were shut except the bedroom ones. I walked over to close Charlies and stepped into water! It was coming in his window, onto the side table and pouring onto the floor! We got it shut and cleaned up and then my side was also wet but window only open ½ inch. Finally back to sleep! We got ready to leave and driving out stopped to put the envelope with the park fee into a locked slot. I got out to do it and when I got back in saw the envelope on the counter!! I had taken the envelope for the IRS instead and deposited it in the locked box! Did I feel dumb! We finally drove to the Shell station and they called the city who sent a guy out to unlock the box and trade envelopes with me! What a start for the day! Then on east, doing a couple of caches (Charlie now has 1900) and ending up in Sioux City Iowa. After getting set up for the night headed out to cache for a while, coming home and logging them and then out to the Outback for dinner. Good as usual.

A lazy start for the day. Charlie took the jeep to be serviced, we did some shopping and finally out to tourist and cache. It had been spitting rain this morning but now is hot and muggy. We saw a lot of Sioux City and did 15 caches, some very interesting Lewis and Clark historical ones, and a neat one in a library. My count is now 3500 caches. Back home and we feasted on the leftovers from last night with some fried asparagus. Now logged all those caches and bedtime! Tomorrow we will head NE.

June 20^{th Wednesday}. On our way before noon! Diesel here was $2.71, the least expensive since we started this journey. We drove through downtown Sioux Falls ( I never did see any falls) and on East planning to go as far as Albert Lea MN. After lunch we stopped in the small town of Worthington Mn leaving the coach in an empty lot while we did some caching. This ended up taking us on about a 6 mile tour around a beautiful lake with small parks at least every ½ mile! While on the way around we discovered a municipal campgrounds right on the lake in the huge cottonwoods. It is one of the prettiest parks we have seen, so abandoned the caching and went after our coach! We are now parked in this lovely place, and after it cooled off we were able to do about a mile hike with 2 caches! Back to just enjoy the view before a late dinner and then out again till dark. Log our 14 caches and off to bed. Thunderstorms with half dollar sized hail predicted for where we were originally headed for the evening.

This was a wonderful place for an unplanned stop. Beautiful view, quiet, just what you would pick! I woke late to find Charlie outside, coffee in hand, enjoying the view of the lake and the big trees. We finally headed out after 11 and didn’t drive to far till we decided to call friends Al and Joy (remember Joy-the one that was in the motorcycle wreck just before we left Arizona?). They are home and turns out that the intersection where we had stopped was the one to turn north on to get to their place in Hutchinson Minnesota. So off we went – and a few hours later we were at Wal-mart meeting up with them. Out to their place to leave their groceries and off to a town about 20 miles away to meet some friends of theirs and have dinner. Back to our ‘home’ about 9 pm. We had also called a mutual friend and we and Joy and Al will be meeting them in Hudson Wisconsin Saturday morning and the guys will play golf.

First we went to a RV dump in town and it took forever! First a stop for emptying and then over to another place for fresh water- our hoses didn’t reach so had to jockey motorhome around till we could reach. Had breakfast and decided to cache a bit here. Wrong! Out of 8 we only found 3. This place was wicked! The headed east and around Minneapolis –St Paul and the bypass freeway of 30 miles took almost an hour for the first half, and it was only 3 pm. Crossed the Wisconsin border to exit 2 where a wal-mart was waiting for us! Settled in and then cached for a bit and quickly found 8 with no trouble, but did walk a few ‘hills’. Back home to a dinner of ‘clean up the leftovers’ and settled down to try to get the map program working again! Heard a knock at the door and Lyle and Diane had showed up, with a place of fresh baked cookies. We enjoyed their company till about 10:30, and then I worked on the mapping more. Not getting it right yet, so off to bed!

Diane was at the house early to show us another place to park, but we opted to stay where we are. As we were heading to her place got a call and Al and Joy had just pulled into town so met them in their 5^th wheel and got them parked, then all to Lyle and Dianes for lunch before the guys left for golf. Diane, Joy and I did some shopping then back to the house for more talking. After the guys arrived around 7 we had a great lasagna dinner, more talk and finally home from a fun day.

Up early Saturday morning to get to Lyles for a breakfast with them and Joy and Al. After eating and talking we took off for some caching across the St Croix in Minnesota. We ended up in the little historic town of Stillwater. The town was crowded with cars and people and we soon found out why. A worldclass 5 day bicycle race, this being the 5^th day (http://www.minnbikefestival.com/), part of the search for the Americans to ride for us in the next Olympics. We watched the womans race, 50 minutes of a tough course, including about a 2 block stretch of 22+ percent hill that they had to climb at least 10 times! We could not believe the strength of those gals! We were glad to have come upon this event. After we just walked around the historic town, cached a bit more and before 3 headed back to Hudson where we grabbed our swim suits and out to Lyle and Dianes daughter Mary Beths home where we all, plus a bunch more people and children swam and played for a couple of hours; then had a huge outdoor dinner. We finally said goodby to all and headed home at 8pm. What a fun and busy day! This was a detour in our plans and so glad we made it.

Monday morning and we are slowly getting in gear! Finally on the road headed North in Wisconsin. We stopped at a wayside park for our breakfast, on to Hayward where we parked at a grocery store, found a Laundromat, did 2 weeks of laundry, mailed a package, cached a bit giving us a tour of a lovely town, bought a Blizzard for lunch and off north again. We arrived in Ashland, at the bottom tip of Lake Superior, about 8 pm finding a brand new Wal-Mart for the night. Oh yes, while in Hayward we picked up a couple of hitchhikers-2 ticks! Found and dumped both and hope that was all!

This morning started with a trip to the wonderful welcome center west of town. We spent well over an hour here examining all of their well done exhibits. Then a side trip north to the tip toward Red Cliffs, stopping for a wonderful brunch in Bayfield. We chose the Pickled Herring, sitting out on the porch looking at Lake Superior and Madeline Island. Finally headed back through town doing the one cache in town and exploring all the old homes and buildings. Headed east with the motorhome, ran over a dead skunk, found a couple of caches, Charlie rolled down an incline, not on purpose, and finally ended up at Marquette Michigan, at a Wal-Mart of course. It has been very hot, in the 90s and very muggy the last few days. The bad news today is that we were on a very rough road and my computer jumped onto the floor, opened, and face down! It ‘seems’ to be alright, but can’t get on line yet!

Up Wed morn and packed up to move, then decided to do a few caches before breakfast. This town has about 35 in it. Well, we got started and just kept going – around noon started looking for an eatery, but large as this town is we could not find anything open so just kept on caching and when we finally headed for the motorhome and a supper found that we had done 30 caches!! Really a fun day. 4 were in Presque Park, a lovely place that made me feel like I was on the Oregon coast! These lakes are BIG—like looking at the ocean but from the west! We also did several in the Northern Michigan University, another pretty place. Soooo, we are spending another night here in Marquette and will head out in the morning. I also got my glasses sorta repaired here- I had dropped them a few days ago and they had been in the way of a door opening – really twisted them and popped a lens out. They are now ‘useable’! We are also back on Eastern Time now. The bad news is that one of Charlies employees’ son was killed in Iraq. So very sad for everyone.

Up Thur morn, the 28^th, to 47 degrees! A surprise after the wonderfully warm day yesterday. We drove about 65 miles, stopping in Rapid River and decided to leave the MH and drive the jeep to Escanaba, a town Charlie has wanted to visit. We spent a couple of hours there touring and caching, then back to get the motorhome and take off for St Ignace, about 130 miles east. This day we were on Lake Michigan, and the temp eventually warmed up to a windy 64! Somehow we managed to do another 19 caches today along with a lot of sightseeing. We had picked St Ignace because Charlie remembered and liked the sleepy little town. As we pulled into it there were cars EVERYWHERE and people lining the streets as for a parade (it is after 7 pm) and we realized we were in the middle of a HUGE car show –thousands of classic cars just everywhere! We could find no place to park for the night and finally drove north of town to a casino, and it too was overloaded with vehicles. We did finally find room in the RV lot and as we got settled in there was a parade of cars having a meeting and then they all drove off. We will explore the town and look at more cars tomorrow.

Up to a sunny day and 53 degrees. As we did a couple of caches in town and talked to people we decided to stay another night and watch the car parade tonight. This is the biggest ‘car’ show Michigan has each year and has over 1000 cars. They are just everywhere! We then headed north to explore the shores of Lake Huron, our 3^rd lake so far. This took us to the quaint town of Hessell Bay where we had lunch at the Inn, out on the porch overlooking the lake. Very nice. Back for a run through town to gawk at the cars again and home for a while. The parade is supposed to start from where we are parked! Change of plans- parade started at the airport and we drove to the start and watched them take off. Great fun! We are getting near time to arrive in Dayton so having to plan our time a bit better from now on – we should arrive there the 3d of July. It has been so nice to go off our planned route or stay longer at a place we like. This is the kind of full-timing I like!

Were up fairly early and off by 9 am. We crossed the Mackinac Bridge – a 5 mile long suspension bridge celebrating its 50^th year this year - and headed to Harbor Springs Michigan. We parked there and took the jeep up the coast past Good Hart, back to Harbor Springs and explored it for a while, having brunch in a eatery that has been owned by the same family for 6 generations. From there into Petoskey to explore and then took the motorhome to Charlevoix, a favorite town of Charlies. Flowers everywhere, and little gift shops – Lake Charlevoix on one side and Lake Michigan on the other, a delightful place. We walked all over the bay and the town and ended up eating at Staffords ‘The Weathervane’, a landmark since 1871. A great BBQ Salmon dinner for me and a huge fillet for Charlie. Finally to the motorhome and headed south to our usual Wal-Mart (but this time we had to settle for a Sams Club!) in Traverse City arriving after 8pm. Lots to do on the computer tonight since we have been very limited the last few days. This has been another good and fun month. We have been ‘on the road’ for 9 weeks now and have really enjoyed them; we have seen soooooo much in this time and have plans for much more in the future. I am truly enjoying my new life and hope it continues for a long time.

July 2007

Sunday July 1 - Up and out to cache in Traverse City Michigan. We toured the town for a while; it’s a nice place on a lake. There were people out everywhere, having coffee, down at the nice sandy beaches, just a lot of family activity going on. We were out for 3 hours and found 2 caches – they all seem to be anti seniors- hill climbs, and stuff that us seniors are finding harder and harder. Discovered this morning that we are out of water, again. The gauge does not work. We stopped at a gas station and asked if we could take on water there and the lady was very nice and said yes, so we told her we would fill the diesel tank too. That done we headed out of town about 2 pm towards Ludington where we parked and toured in the jeep. Another very nice town with lots of sandy beaches with lots of people enjoying them today. Finally on to Muskegon where we are spending the night. We spent hours tonight getting Charlies geo online-logs caught up. He keeps putting them off and now had to do almost 50 of them! Finally done and hope we can keep up with them in the future.

Monday - Did a few caches in Muskegon Michigan and headed east, stopping to do 2 more on the way to Van Buren Ohio, 40 miles below Toledo. We are in a real campground on our last night on the road. We needed to empty and clean and fill and plan for getting ‘home’. The motorhome will go to the dealer in Springfield for the new awnings and our list of ‘honey do’s’ on July 6^th. We are both reluctant to end this 10 week holiday and though we will enjoy being in Dayton, will also be looking forward to our planned trip to the New England states in mid August. I also bought my tickets for Oregon tonight. July 23-Aug 6^th.

July 3^rd We cleaned the motorhome and finally got out of the campground around 1pm. No caching today. Stopped for fuel and propane and are now full of everything! Home around 3 and took us an hour or so to take in all we think we will need in the next month; 4 neighbors came by to talk, and finally into the house. Dar had been by and all was sparkling clean and neat. I started dinner and Charlie headed to the factory (6:30). When he came back we had dinner and spent the evening catching up on emails and ‘stuff’!

July 4^th Slept in till 9. As we got up Chuck called to invite us to breakfast at Cracker Barrel to meet his girlfriend Dana. After eating showed them the coach, went over to the new ACE offices, back to Wal*Wart for potatoes and home to make potato salad. At 3 we went to Chucks for a get together with a lot of his friends and kids. A good time and enjoyed all of them. Finally home about 9 and called Mary – She and Joey met us here to go watch fireworks. The 4 of us headed to the fireworks and on the way it was lightning and thunder. Parked near the site and as the fireworks started so did the predicted rain-big splats of it! Mary opened the tailgate of her van and we all 4 crowded under it for protection. The fireworks were spectacular and a lot of red, white and blue. Back to the house for ice-cream and chat till after 11pm!

This morning Charlie is off to deliver the motorhome to the dealer to take care of all of our ‘concerns’, both large and trivial. I stayed home because after it is delivered he is attending the viewing and funeral for the son of his friend/employee who was recently killed in Iraq. We are having rain squalls here today so I stayed in and did stuff around the house. Charlie came home, said it had been a very touching service and on the 20 mile drive to the cemetery the roads were lined with people waving American flags! After dinner Chuck came over and they talked business for an hour or so. We all talked for a bit longer, Chuck went home and we did computer stuff before bed.

July 6^th. Charlie went to the office today and I did other stuff. At least this time I have a car to use. Last time here we only had the Lexus and he had priority! Darlene came by to pick up ‘my’ golf clubs for Jimmie to use today. I went to Wal*Mart to pick up my medicine and my doctor had only ok’ed 1 month and then gave me 1 pill per day when I need 1 ½. Now I have to get a doctor here to get next months pills! My doctor back home won’t give me any more till I see her! After that I had an eye exam and will pick out new frames when Charlie is with me. Next stop was a hearing aid place and in a couple of minutes she had fixed, but I don’t know what she did, my hearing aid that has not worked for the last month! I was home a bit before Charlie and when he arrived he had been flying the Piper Cub and did I want to go for a fly! Silly question! So we flew for over an hour – little wind, blue sky with fluffy clouds and warm – just nice. Then stopped at Dorothy Lane Market- a very upscale grocery store, and bought filet mignons and found the Béarnaise sauce we had been looking for. Home to our own very nice dinner-the filets with the sauce, fresh corn on the cob, salad, French bread, Merlot wine and twice baked potato – every bit as good a dinner as we have had out! Except—we had to do the dishes after the meal. Really a rewarding day.

07-07-07 – Charlie was up early and off to Springfield to meet the guys for breakfast and a golf game after. He left his phone here! He never leaves home without it!! He didn’t have my number cause it is on his phone, so he called his phone from John’s phone! And I couldn’t figure out how to use it! So called John back and Charlie told me he was on the way home—but didn’t arrive for a couple of hours! He was tired so went to bed early. I had spent the day getting a haircut and some clothes shopping.

Sunday we slept in, spent some time doing house things, some computer things and finally decided to go out caching. There is a new series of them right here in Centerville that is a walking tour of the historic section of the town and we really enjoyed them in spite of the 93 degrees and 80% humidity! Back home to shower again and meet Chuck and Dana for dinner at Appleby’s. Really enjoyed that and then home to computer and TV – Enjoy Fox ‘½ Hour News Hour’! Good for laughs!

Monday morning—Charlie was gone to Columbus when I got up. This was his day to see the leukemia doctor. All went well and even though his count was down a bit they are very happy with his progress. Another appt made for 3 months away. Charlie said he would start worrying when they stop making appts for him! I spent the day here at the house, sewed a pillowcase for me and started hemming some pants till I found the iron didn’t work. Charlie went out later to finally get the jeep washed – it was bad! Then to the factory for a while. Leftovers for dinner tonight and going to try to snack less!

July 10-Tuesday – I tried to sleep in this morn but ended up getting up a bit after Charlie. He had an early morn dentist appt. Shortly after he returned Dar and Jimmy came by, and then Mary and Joey so we had a nice chat and Dar helped Charlie get the dinner coupons she had sent him off the computer. I used some fabric and lace I found in the basement to make a fancy pillowcase. We had a big thunderstorm, and the temp is 82, with MUCH rain in the morning and now at 5 it is beginning again. They were supposed to resurface the streets here today and we moved the cars away so we would have access to them, but the rain changed that. Will they try here tomorrow or do the rest of the complex and do our section another time? Are our cars parked in the wrong section now? Stay tuned to find out—Wow- it looks like a hurricane out there! Wind and rain!

Wed morn and Charlie is off to another doctor appt. It is still warm out and still overcast and wind – looks like more rain. He called me at 11 to say his dentist had called and had a cancellation at noon so I went for a teeth cleaning. I have one small cavity and one loose crown that need to be removed, prob cavities under it, and replaced!! Turned out to be an expensive day, or will by the time I am done. Too bad I’m not near Mexico! After Charlie came home we relaxed a bit and then off for our ‘date night’ dinner at Mama DiSalvos, one of my favorites back here. Grocery shopping and home.

Finally a morning we could sleep in till 8:30! Spent the morning working on that pile of mail and setting more things up to be paid and/or delivered to us online. This should make it easier on Dar when we are gone. Around 1 we decided to go caching – got all ready and out the door and realized no cars! We had forgotten they were a couple blocks away where we had to leave them while the street was being resurfaced. We had fun and saw many new places, for me. We were at the Kettering Hospital and unable to find the way to a cache. Parked behind the hospital and our walk took us past a bunch of tables and people filling their plates with good looking food. Found we could not get to the cache from there and walking back we were invited to join them for a meal! It was open to employee, patients, guests, just everyone. So we had a fine and fun meal including musical accompaniment! You just never know where caching will take you!! A total of 16 for me and 12 for Charlie and then home. He was supposed to go to Tipp city with the guys for wings and beer tonight but they put it off till next week.

Friday the 13^th – but it was actually a good day. Got up late, hung around the house till after lunch and finally decided to go out caching. Had a bad day of that-only found 3 of about 8! Down to the factories for a while and finally home to a dinner of leftovers.

Sat morn Charlie was up early and off to Springfield for his guys breakfast and later playing golf with John and 2 younger guys. I cleaned house, then to Wal*Mart to pick out my new glasses. They are to be back the day I leave for Oregon, so sure hope they come early! Charlie arrived about 6 – we chatted a while and then off to another ‘date night’ dinner. This time at the Oakwood Club Steak house, a very dark and elegant place with excellent service and food. Since Charlie had played golf today he was tired and fell asleep at the computer!

Up late and Charlie up even later, did laundry and just hung around the house till mid afternoon. Then out for a bit of caching and up to Huber Heights to visit Greg and Ruda; Greg is a step son of Charlies by Linda. We took them and the kids, Ryan 12 and Jessie 14 out for ice-cream, then back to their place for a bit and home after 9. I fixed a quickie supper with all the leftovers from last night’s dinner, some computer catch-up and off to bed. Today was warm and very muggy. We were in one torrential rainstorm, but mostly just sticky heat!

We were having breakfast when Chuck called to ask Charlie to a company meeting, so he finished up and left. I finally jumped into that big bath tub for a LONG soak, then out to read on my book and fell asleep! That is how Charlie found me when he arrived home. We went out caching for a couple of hours and later met Mary at the baseball field where Joeys little league team was playing. His team won and now two more tiers to the championship. Finally home and fixed dinner-we didn’t eat till after 9. While out caching we apparently met up with some chiggers and both of us have MANY bites! The awfullest itch I think I have had and it is supposed to last for a week!

Tuesday was a lazy start—Charlie finally went out for a haircut and when he returned we went caching for a couple of hours. He is now in 33rd place in Ohio and I have moved up one place to 6^th in Arizona. Back home for another shower – it is very muggy/high humidity around here! He fixed us a margarita; after finishing it headed almost to Cincinnati to try out the White House Inn where we had a $25 coupon from Darlene on Fathers day. It is a quaint old farmhouse with 8 separate dining areas so the feel is very intimate, and the food was good. We choose the outside dining as the weather was perfect for it. We had some rain on the way down but coming home had a beautiful sunset. A nice diversified day.

A good nights sleep and up at 8. I have doctor appt today. My home Doctor would not give me anymore of my heart medicine till I had a visit with her and that is not possible till Jan, so seeing Charlies doctor. He turned out to be a very through doctor and I will be seeing him whenever we are in Ohio. Charlie went flying, without me, then cleaned the hangers so he can rent the one. After he returned we cached for a couple of hours, then home for chicken and dressing, fresh corn on the cob and a salad for a late meal. Off to bed early cause we both have early day tomorrow.

Thursday morn we were both up early. It had stormed last night and still looks stormy out. Charlie took off for Springfield and golfing with 3 friends. I made a quick trip to Wal*Mart in the pouring rain to pick up the drugs I need before dental work. Then off to the Imaging place for a scan of my aorta- something I have to do every couple of years. Back home again to finally eat. Then before I left for the dentist Charlie returned – it was pouring rain up Springfield way. The dentist was taking an old ‘leaking’ crown off, fixing the core that has a cavity and putting on a temp. This was a two hour thing! Back home for a short time and then left to meet Chucks girlfriend Dana for supper while Charlie headed to Tipp City for wings and beer with the guys. We both arrived back home at about the same time, did some computer stuff and then bed. The chigger bites are finally beginning to subside!

Friday morn the weather was friendlier than it has been so Charlie left for Springfield and the golf that was cancelled yesterday. I spent the morning on the phone and internet tying up some loose ends for both of us. We are trying to set up a family canoe trip for Sunday. Such late notice not sure what will come off. I need to return a printer I bought and did not open. I checked online to see if it was compatible with Windows Vista and it is not. Got it returned and home to fix supper before Charlie returned after 6pm.

Charlie left early for his Saturday morning breakfast with the guys. I had to run to Wal*Mart and buy some dressy slacks, and come home and hem them. As soon as Charlie returned we headed to Cincinnati to the viewing and Celebration of Life for his close friend Gary and wife Jill’s mother. She was 94. A nice ceremony and a beautiful day for it. Out to the cemetery, then back home. Did stuff around here, then to Wal*Mart to pick up pills and my new glasses. They are in but no one will help me with them till 12 noon tomorrow! Out to do a cache that had eluded us a couple of days ago- a unique one, though we have done this style in AZ and Oregon. You have to pour water into a pipe till the cache container floats to the top. The first time there we did not have enough water. Tonight we had misread the hint and only had ½ the water needed, so plugged the leaks with 2 pencils and went to a nearby gas station to get our containers filled! Back home, a light supper of soup and salad and I started packing.

A big busy day, well, at least the afternoon. First get my glasses which of course caused us to be late to the canoe trip! Most of the family showed up. Dar and son Jimmie, Mary and son Joey, Chuck and girlfriend Dana and his kids Nikki and Charlie, and us. We were disorganized getting started but finally all got on the bus- It was crowded because some people had taken up a seat for their picnic coolers, causing most of our group to stand. I was in the back seat with Nikki on my lap, Charlie3 squeezed next to me and Joey barely on the edge of the seat! At last to the water and we ‘put in’, me in first, C3 into the middle and Charlie stepped in-----and over we went, dumping all of us into the river. Our pride damaged and a few cuts and bruises and we were on our way! It was a 2 hour trip but with all the stops and mishaps we made it in 4 hours! There were two different hanging ropes that the family had to attack; fun to watch them; I didn’t participate but all the kids and Chuck enjoyed them. Most of the river is shallow, maybe to the knees or hips and we did hang up on gravel bars occasionally, but near the end we hit some swifter water and we managed to get against a snag that just dumped us! And the water here was to my armpits and deeper in holes. We hung onto the boat (the current was holding it sideways against the snag) and rescued C3 and all our baggage. Chuck was ahead of us but saw the problem and came back and eventually we righted the canoe and emptied all the water. At least the water is a comfortable temp. Finally to the end of a fun but very wet day! Mary and Joey headed home, Dar, Jimmie, Nikki and C3 went with us to an elusive cache on the way home and this time I found it! But- I also discovered my wallet was still in my pocket and soaked!! Chuck had called to say he and Dana were getting food for supper and would fix it at our place, so we took our crew to another cache that was fun, then goodbye to Dar and Jimmie and back to our place. They had our meal almost ready (burgers, salad, corn on cob and baked beans) so talked and ate and talked with then leaving around 9 PM. Dried my wallet in the clothes dryer and the money and stuff in the microwave! Luckily I had done a lot of my packing this morning so quickly finished that and we headed north to Springfield where the motorhome is parked in friend Johns drive. We spent the night there so we would be closer to the airport for tomorrow.

It was nice to be back in the motorhome but not there for long as we were up at 4:30 am this Monday the 23^rd and off toward the airport by 5 arriving just after 6. I had taken a 6 oz can of grapefruit juice to drink for breakfast, and security took it away saying it could be used by a terrorist to attack up!! Could I drink it right there? NO-I could go back out of security, drink it, and wait in line again! So I gave it to them! Not too long a wait and I was on the plane and an uneventful ride. I had a stop in Las Vegas with no plane change and 2 hours later I was in Portland. I have wanted to ride the MAX train so bought my ticket (85 cents seniors) for the 76 minute ride, hopped on, looked down, and saw that I didn’t have my suitcase!! Jumped off, ran back about ½ block to the ticket place just inside the terminal ---and there it was right where I had left it. LUCKY! Back out --- and the train was still there so back on again. Everyone was so helpful getting me off at the right place to make my transfer, and then off at the right station. Carol had called 3 times, she is working today, and we made arrangements for her to meet me at 3. I had a book so enjoyed waiting for her. Of course the sky turned dark and threatening rain –you knew it would- rain follows Charlie and me around! Carol picked me up and we were on our way to her place in Sherwood and catching up on news. Later off to my favorite little Chinese place that serves a bowl of noodles just the way I like them. Home and finally to bed around 11. Oh, it did rain, but not much – maybe because Charlie wasn’t with me? He had called and was golfing, but leaving in the motorhome in the morning with friends John and Jake for some fishing, golf and the Oshkosh Wisconsin air show that the guys have attended every year for many years.

Up early and did some computer stuff, breakfast and ready to head for the Oregon coast to visit Wayne. A beautiful sunny day for the trip and we arrived at Wayne’s about noon. Chatted a bit and took off north to do some caching as far as Canon Beach. We did some fun ones and some walking ones including some walks on the beach. Met and cached a few caches with 4 Canadians for 3 caches. Dinner somewhere along the way and arrived at back at Wayne’s about 11 pm! Straight to bed for all of us.

Up early to find Wayne and Carol downstairs having coffee and working a jigsaw puzzle so I joined them. Wayne fixed a smoothie and later a great blueberry pancake breakfast. We drove to the beach, about 2 blocks away, did a cache and then took a long walk on the beach, getting one of Wayne’s caches along the way. Back to the jigsaw puzzle till latter than we meant to stay and finally said goodbye and back to Sherwood. I talked with Charlie who is out in Lake Michigan salmon fishing with 3 guys and having a fun time too.

Up early again on this Thur morn, did some computer before Carol got up and then we just hung around and talked. We do a lot of that! Finally out to pick up Carols contact lenses, did some caching, shop and ‘graze’ at Costco for a while, back to Sherwood and shopped some more and finally home. Charlie had called and it is raining on his vacation. We bought some salmon for dinner – good stuff. I am really enjoying just hanging out here with Carol.

Friday Carol dashed to the store for milk, and when she came back announced she had found a neat close by garage sale so off we went. Back home for breakfast and our again to some neighborhood sales. I had done my laundry and packed so we continued on south looking for sales ending up near Suzie and Lees in Woodburn. Carol dropped me off and she went back to Portland. Charlie had called just as we arrived so I called him back later in the evening. He has the motorhome parked in a primo spot-they can sit in it or outside it and watch the air show. Suzie fixed a wonderful dinner of tilapia, cucumber and onion, green beans and potatoes, fried squash, and ‘just made’ baked homemade honey oatmeal bread! Called Charlie back and talked for a while. Aunt Jean called and we talked quite a while. Watched some TV and chatted and off to bed. I slept so soundly- I guess I needed to catch up on some sleep.

I slept in, for me, and up to spend a day with Lee and Suzie. After a breakfast of cereal and fresh strawberries Suzie and I went off to do some shopping. In the early afternoon we drove down to Don and Anita’s, on the Jefferson road. I had talked with Don earlier; he is in Alaska, was out in the ocean halibut fishing as we talked. We had to cut it short as he had a fish on the line. We spent some time with Anita, then Moore’s left and I stayed to gossip, finally leaving in Dons pickup which I will use for the remainder of my visit. I eventually found Ray and Graces place and visited them for the first time in a few years. Their son Ray was also there so good to see him also. Then to the hospital to see cousin Warrens wife Nancy who is battling cancer. The hospital is expanding big time. I parked in the new parking structure and it was a winding 6 block walk to find the hospital that I wanted! It is an absolute mess there. After the visit I had to find my way back to the car. Called stepson Davis to arrange to meet him at the Mongolian BBQ, a favorite of his and mine where we had a pleasant evening and good dinner. Then to Gary and Sharons – they were still up. Lots more chatting and a bowl of berry cobbler and ice cream. Finally back to Suzies just before 11, where we talked till almost midnight.

When I got up this Sunday morning Lee and Suzie had gone. They had a family day planned at a sons up Portland way. Stepson Doug showed up around 11 and after talking a while we went to Elmer’s for lunch, then back to talk some more. After he left I drove over to the huge outlet mall and wandered around, buying only one blouse. As I returned ‘home’ Sharon called and I am heading that way for supper. We had a nice visit and supper on the back porch and I drove back to Woodburn rather later. Suzie and Lee were up and we watched some TV before retiring.

Monday morn I slept in again – this is the most comfortable bed and I always enjoy it! After breakfast Lee went to the gym and Suzie and I headed out to get a pedicure. First place was busy but second accommodated us and we both enjoyed getting pampered. I have gold toenails now! In the afternoon while they had doctor appts I drove north a bit to visit Maxine and John. She was making pickles so watched - I guess I have never been around the pickle making and it was interesting. Got back in time for supper, watched some TV and I was so tired I went to bed early. Talked with Charlie and his friend John was servicing the motorhome for us, and they had the jeep and motorhome tires aligned so it will be all ready for our next adventure. I’m missing that guy but won’t be long till I fly back to Ohio.

Up early this morn and trying to catch up on computer stuff. I just have not spent much time on it and lots to do! Suzie fixed us biscuits and gravy! Very good and rivaled Bob Evans! She and I went to the outlet mall to take some pictures of the fantastic petunias there and got side tracked with some shopping. I left there and headed south to Anitas, (Don is in Alaska till after I leave). On the way did some more clothes shopping and actually found some things I liked. We chatted and finally fixed a light meal and off to bed. The end of another month. This one, like those the last couple of years, was another good month. I have seen lots and done lots, meeting new friends and seeing ‘old’ ones. Life is good.