California Sunshine

We have enjoyed more family time this past week with Jim and the girls and Colleen and Jim's family. Christmas dinner was yummy with a Montana ham and lots of other goodies including two of Jim's pies; apple and pecan. All good things revolve around food it seems.

We missed our original departure time by about sixteen hours. We came home from Seattle on Christmas day and crashed; then arose at 4:30 to dismantle the Christmas trees, empty the refrigerator and finish loading the motor home. We left Steilacoom at 11:30 yesterday and finally stopped north of Redding at about nine last night. That is a long tiring day. Ken can't seem to remember that we are retired and don't have to race to our destination. He has a lot more stamina than I when it comes to driving, but he was concerned about getting over the Siskiyous.

We are now within forty miles of Travis AFB where we will set up camp for about a week. Departure from home is always hectic, and lots of stuff just gets "dumped" into the MH, so I can't wait to get stopped and organize my life. Stopping and sleeping while enroute is more difficult than it used to be with the Brave since we lose about 12" in the width of our bed and we can't get into most of the kitchen cabinets. But this is the first major road trip so we will adjust as time goes on.

Happy New Year to all. Ciao

Time Marches On

We have had our moments of sadness and remembrance, but time marches on, and Christmas is almost upon us.

We hosted an engagement party for Jim and Colleen last Saturday night, so those preparations spurred me to get on with some decorating and baking. There were about 25 of us, and judging by the non-stop chatter and the quantity of food that disappeared, it must have been a good party. We had a great time. Jeff and Bev even came from San Jose. Bev and my friend, Elisabeth, were responsible for a goodly portion of the foods that were served.

This Friday night we are having Jim and Colleen and the girls and Jim's dad and his new wife here for dinner. Then I am finished in the kitchen because Jim and Colleen are hosting all of us for Christmas day dinner.

If we can keep our act together, we plan to have the motor home packed and ready to go by Christmas day so when we return from dinner in Seattle, we can just hop in and take off. We will go as far as our favorite rest stop south of Portland and then assess the roads and weather for the next couple of days of travel. The goal is to get to Travis AFB by New Year's Eve where we will stay for a few days to regroup and restock before moving on toward Arizona.

I still have some shopping to do and gifts to wrap, but hey, we still have three days, right?

I wish for all of you a very happy and blessed Christmas. Ciao

On a sad note

We have had another loss in our family. Some of you remember our nephew, Bill Novotney who passed away about eighteen months ago; his wife Karla died suddenly yesterday after surgery. She had suffered a broken hip, and that surgery evidenced cancer which was the reason for a second surgery. A blood clot is the suspected cause. Although Bill was actually Ken's nephew, he and Karla were closer to our ages and our children are all about the same age. So we will be going to Harrington sometime soon for Karla's service and have been in touch with all of her family.

I will blog again in a day or two.