Dec 24 – 28, Mon – Fri ... On Christmas Eve, most of the family attended a candle light church service. Dixie’s sister, husband and three boys drove to Great Falls from Hogeland for Christmas. We had dinner at Dixie’s mom and dads that evening. Dixie’s brother, Danny, was scheduled to arrive on a flight from Palm Springs but it was delayed due to a mechanical issue with the plane. He and his daughter made it to Salt Lake City where they overnighted and caught a flight to Great Falls on Tuesday morning. On Christmas day, Doug and Fran had everyone over to their place for dinner. Needless to say, we had a wonderful time with family and especially the kids. As a Christmas gift, Doug and Fran gave the two oldest nephews a trip to Disneyland in January. Before they were told of it, however, they had to solve several scavenger “clues”. Once they did that, they learned of the trip. They were very excited because neither of them has ever flown on a commercial jet. On Thursday, Dixie spent most of the day working on medical billing claims. This is a job she is being trained to do by her sister-in-law, Fran, who has a home business doing this service. On Friday we headed back to the ‘farm’ to spend a few more days.
Dec 17 – 23, Mon – Sun ... “The farm” is located in and around Hogeland, MT, a small farming community in North-Central Montana about 12 miles from the Canadian border and province of Saskatchewan. On Monday, we drove with Dixie’s parents the 175 miles from Great Falls. We had a great time visiting with Dixie’s sister and family (we attended a wonderful school Christmas program of their 10 year old son) as well as her brother and sister-in-law. The weather cooperated too; it was cool but sunny most of the time. Back in Great Falls on Friday, Mike called the Dometic Corp yet again. He spoke with a Customer Service manager in an effort to get them to come up with a better solution to our refrigerator dilemma. Unfortunately, the news was not good. Although the part is in the states, all Dometic distribution centers are closed until January 2nd. This means that the part can’t be in Rockport until about January 7th so more changes to the Western itinerary are forthcoming. We’ll likely stay in Great Falls until about the 4th or 5th of January rather than go back to a motorhome with no working refrigerator. We’ll deal with it while spending some quality time with family. On Friday, we drove in and around Great Falls with Doug and Fran, looking at some townhouses and condos. We’re not all that serious about buying right now, just seeing what’s out there.
