Busy,busy June

Hail in June!


Last time to see Merrill peonies

Insulation and ceiling in our trailer-shed



Our leased site in Phoenix

Our trailer-shed in AZ


June started out with a hailstorm. Fortunately it wasn’t very big hail so no damage.

We closed on our Oregon place June 10 but we were not ready to leave. Our buyers have been very gracious to allow us to stay in the side yard to finish getting ready.

Goodyear stepped up to the plate and allowed us to exchange the two remaining tires dated 2008 for newer ones. That is a definite Praise the Lord!

Larry has been sorry ever since he sold his Zuma scooter in 2005 so he bought a Yamaha TW200 motorcycle. Oregon requires a motorcycle endorsement for a license so he also signed up for a motorcycle refresher course. It was an all day class on a Saturday. The following Monday we went into Klamath Falls so he could get his endorsement. The license branch had been closed for a week for upgrades so the wait was about an hour and a half but the good thing is he passed!

Since we are leaving Oregon we decided we needed to take our “valuable stuff” in storage to AZ and ended up buying a utility trailer to make the move. That way we would have to move the “stuff” only once. Our across the street neighbor agreed to allow us to use his pickup truck that just sits in his backyard to take the trailer to AZ and we took four days for a fast turn around trip. We are SO glad that is over with and our “stuff” is safe in AZ at Larry’s mom’s house for now. We leased a site in Phoenix for a year about a mile from Dawn’s place and will take the trailer/shed to Phoenix when we arrive sometime in Oct.

We have been very busy getting everything ready for our “final” move from Merrill. Larry agreed to help our buyers repair some water damage to the hall ceiling in the mobile home and still has that to do. We are hoping to be ready to go by July 6 and will head to the TTN preserve in Bend, OR.

Today is a very special day as our across the street neighbor who loaned us his truck asked Jesus into his heart! It is awesome to see how God works and this is what our ministry is all about, pointing people to Jesus. Praise the Lord!

Cool May

Class picture fifty years later where fourteen of seventeen gathered



The 'Motley Crew' of the class, friends for many years



Sat morning reunion brunch



Friday night pre-party dinner for the reunion



Where we stayed for the reunion--one of my classmates' home



Step mom, Reba and Ellen on Mother's Day



Snow in WY on the 11th of May! We even accumulated ice on the windshield



We stopped to view the Great Salt Lake outside of Salt Lake City, UT



Antelope we saw soon after entering Oregon


We started out the month going to my long awaited 50th class reunion and had a fabulous time! It was such fun seeing many classmates for the first time in fifty years and ‘reliving’ the past. Details one would forget, another would remember so we reconstructed our high school years’ highlights. Fourteen out of seventeen remaining attended and we spent two fun filled days together.
We spent Mother’s Day with my step mother and took her out to eat at MCL cafeteria (her choice) and enjoyed watching the parade of hats that the black church ladies were wearing.
Monday May 9 we set out to make a beeline for Oregon and our home base. We encountered 97º weather in Council Bluffs, IA and a white out snow storm in WY. We arrived at our home base on May 13 and promptly sold it to the folks who had called us in April. We close on June 10 and then set out to be really ‘fulltimers’.

Larry has been busy repairing the trailer as we had another tire lose its tread and blow, causing damage to the trailer fender and side. This makes four of the original six tires we purchased in July 2008 that the tread has come off. Did we get a bad batch of tires? We are a little leery of using the remaining two tires for fear they, too, will lose the tread and possibly damage the trailer AGAIN. We are talking to Goodyear about the issue. Through it all though, God has been faithful to protect us and provide for us. Praise His Holy Name!

Busy April

Sunset behind road bridge over the Tennessee River, taken from the Railroad Bridge we were walking on in Muscle Shoals, AL







Larry and his grandfather, who will be 107 on May 28, 2011 in KY







Formation in Frozen Niagara Tour at Mammoth Cave in KY








Us at the Historic entrance to Mammoth Cave, KY












Brother Bill and Larry on Resurrection Day at the family dinner in Richmond











Sister-in-law Nancy, niece Cyndi and Cyndi's grandchildren, Gavin(5)and Alexa(2 1/2)











Niece Emily, with her daughter, NoraLee and son Cole, with Reba and hands of my brother-in-law, Steve at Golden Corral in Noblesville, IN










Ellen with great nephew, Cole, 5 and great niece, NoraLee, 19 months









My step mother, Reba at her home after our family get together





We had several nice days while we were at Cherokee Landing. They have common areas with huge fire rings and they provided the wood. We enjoyed campfires two evenings with our neighbors and saw four deer one afternoon while walking. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera and I didn't have my phone either so no pictures. I'm not sure I would have been able to get one even if I had my phone as they turned tail and bounded off as soon as they saw us!
We traveled to Muscle Shoals, AL to meet friends from seminary days and had a great time. They took us to the Railroad Bridge on the Tennessee River where their daughter was married last May. The bridge has an interesting history and it was fun walking to the end of it since it does not cross the river--it goes to an island in the middle. Of course, it is no longer used for train or auto traffic.

We stayed in Cave City, KY to visit Mammoth Cave and took a short ride to look up Larry's biological grandfather who will be 107 the end of May! We took just two tours at Mammoth Cave and that about did Larry in. I particularly enjoyed "Fat man's misery" and the beauty of Frozen Niagara. We ate our lunch at a picnic table in the park and enjoyed all the spring flowers and trees.

We arrived at Indian Lakes Preserve in Batesville, IN on April 15 and have been hunkered down ever since because of all the severe storms and tornado watches and warnings. Thankfully, they have missed us but we do have a lot of standing water around us. We were told they have received over 300% more rain in April than normal!
Larry's brother and sister-in-law visited us Palm Sunday and we went out to eat at a small café in Sunman, IN and tried 'goetta', a local food to the Cincinnati area consisting of pork shoulder and oats cooked for 5-6 hours. It was quite good.

Resurrection Sunday we drove to Richmond and visited Larry's brother's church and then had dinner with their family. We had not seen their grandkids in 25 years so needless to say, they have changed quite a bit! We also met their great grandkids for the first time. We had a very enjoyable day.

April 30 we traveled to Fishers to visit my step mother and then on to Noblesville to meet the rest of the family for eats at Golden Corral. There were nine of us and I really enjoyed my great nephew and niece. Cole was two (now 5) the last time we saw him and NoraLee is nineteen months. Little ones are so much fun but you have to have a lot of energy to keep up with them! I know why you have children when you are young.

Heading East

Our view from St David, AZ


Neat graphics on a shopping mall wall in El Paso, TX where we overnighted


Entrance to Tres Rios RV Park in Glen Rose, TX


Our huge site at Lake Tawakoni, TX with the wild flowers. There were also little purple ones but they didn't show up because they were so short.


Larry in front of Kitchen's Hardware and Deli in Mineola, TX



Inside Kitchen's Hardware in Mineola, TX


Our site in Cherokee Landing, TN where we backed the entire rig into the site


We stayed pretty close to home in St David so Larry's mouth could heal. He is still having a few issues and some pain as bits of bone have worked their way out. A friend said that isn't unusual.
After leaving St David, AZ we spent three days on the road crossing TX and found another trailer tire with the tread gone but still inflated when we stopped for lunch one day. We must have bought some defective tires as that is the third tire to do that in the batch of eight tires. We ended up at Tres Rios RV in Glen Rose,TX, a new park for us but very nice. We were greeted by folks we have seen the last two years in AZ and met new folks. We met friends in Cleburne for lunch one day and had friends from Larry's seminary days come to our place another day. We enjoyed both visits and it is always good to see friends from the past, no matter how far in the past!
After a week we moved further east to Lake Tawakoni, TX about 60 miles east of Dallas and liked the park so well we changed our plans and stayed another week. We took a day trip to Mineola, TX which is a real touristy town and saw Kitchen's old fashioned hardware store. On the way back we took a detour and visited several yard sales and came away with something we needed, (surprise!)

Today we arrived at Cherokee Landing in Saulsbury, TN on opening day and were the first "campers" to arrive so we had our pick of sites. We were able to back the trailer and the motor home into the site and decided to extend here too since the site is so nice. It is great how accommodating TTN has been about extending at the last minute! Since we are staying here longer, it will give us more opportunities to visit the sights around Memphis. To get here today, we traveled 120 miles and were in three states (TX, MS, and TN). What a great country we live in to be able to travel so freely! We are taking full advantage as that may not be true in the future.

Movin' On

The "Big House" at Casa Grande Ruins in Coolidge, AZ






Inside the 'Big House' at Casa Grande Ruins




Larry at Casa Grande Ruins in Coolidge, AZ




The car and motorhome in the Cocopah parking lot in Yuma where we dry camped for 10 days while Larry had mouth surgery




Larry after his mouth surgery-looks like I beat him up!


We started the month off by loading up the car in the re-designed trailer that Larry has been diligently working on since we arrived in Apache Junction. Again, a friend came to help us load and God knew that we would need him! I'm so grateful he was there to help as I had two important phone calls I had to take so I wasn't much use to Larry. Everything went smoothly and we arrived in Casa Grande with no problems. Since Larry worked so hard getting the trailer ready he was ready for some R and R and that's what we did--relaxed. Larry did have a Doctor appt. in Phoenix and we met friends for lunch before his appointment. It was good to catch up with them and their family "doin's". We have been friends with them 17 years. We have been to Casa Grande many times in the past but have not visited the Ruins before but decided now was the time especially since our oldest grandson said we should. We were not disappointed. It is amazing how people who lived in the 1300's without all the technology we have today, accomplished so much.

The day we left Casa Grande for Yuma we ran into a dust storm and sat on the roadside for 4 1/2 hours waiting it out. Once the rain came, we started out again only to have a flat tire on the trailer! We called our roadside service and they said it would take 1-1 1/2 hours to reach us, so Larry changed the tire and we were back on the road in half an hour. I helped him and we both were very wet when we finished. We did get to Yuma before dark!

Monday Feb 21 Larry had all his teeth extracted and dentures put in. We sat in Yuma while he healed and waited for his second appointment. We waited two extra days to make sure he was OK to travel. He still is unable to eat (drinks the meals that I put in the blender) but his face is looking much better.

We are currently in St David, AZ for 10 days before heading to TX. We arrived yesterday.

What happened to January?

The whole family celebrating January birthdays




Cerét, Alex and Adam at the family birthday party




Cousins Alex and Bethany at the Jan birthday party in Tempe




Shane and birthday girl, Dawn at our family January birthday party




Proud Grandma at her family birthday party




Vince, birthday girl, Jes and Colby at our Jan birthday bash




Todd and LaTia at the Jan birthday party in Tempe




The riser Larry put in the trailer to raise the new car up high enough so he could get out the escape door




The new trailer hitch on the back of the trailer. Larry had to weld several pieces of steel across the underside to put the hitch on the back





The "dolly" Larry made to move the trailer out of our spot since the trailer is in the spot backwards



January seemed to fly by and here we are in February already!

We started the month off by visiting friends in Casa Grande that we hadn't seen in two years. They are fulltimers like us but our paths haven't crossed in the last two years. Hopefully we won't go another two years before seeing them again.

Larry has been working very hard getting the trailer ready for the new car. We made several trips to Phoenix and the metal place to get all the supplies he needed. He is finishing up now as we leave on Sat. As usual, he has done a great job.

The highlight of the month for me was when we met the kids half way to celebrate January birthdays. To my surprise and pleasure EVERYONE showed up and we had a grand time.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!

Added when Todd sent me some of their pictures from our Christmas Shows the whole family including LaTia who took the picture--you can see her in the mirror--how cool is that?




Great AZ sunset!




Our site at Paradise RV decorated for the holidays




Beautiful Christmas decorations at Calvary Chapel Surprise




Playing Balderdash at our family gathering--lots of laughs!!





Ellen and Larry with son Todd in the background at our family get together Dec 25




The family at our Christmas celebration





Our 'new' site in Apache Junction showing the trailer in backwards and the new car


We moved yesterday from Paradise RV in Sun City, AZ to Countryside RV in Apache Junction, AZ. We are in a new site for us just three sites away but a foot longer so we are not sticking out in the street like before. We had a friend follow us to help in putting our trailer in the site 'backwards' so Larry can make the necessary changes he needs to make plus he needs to hook up the new solar panel we have on the trailer. It is a very nice site and we are glad to be back in Apache Junction. We are getting to know our way around the 'east side'.

Dec was a busy month for us. We bought a new car, took a trip to Prescott to see Larry's mom , brother and sister-in-law who were visiting from IN, rented a truck from Home Depot to bring lumber home for the 'makeover' of the trailer so the new car will fit, had a 'chance' meeting with friends we hadn't seen in many years,and again hosted the family Christmas party in the RV park's multipurpose room. We had a great time, ate too much and laughed a lot.

Happy New Year to all!