AUGUST 2016

AUGUST – We took an Uber car to the Sheraton hotel in Springfield, MA. We walked around town and had lunch and then walked (1.8 miles) to the Exposition center for our meeting with our NW Area FMCA group. Kathie gave us a run down on what would be discussed at the meeting. Afterwards we went to the RV of a couple and had a glass of wine and they gave us a ride back to the hotel. Dinner that evening was at the hotel. The next day, the 2nd we again walked to the 'Big E' (in the rain, with a stop at McDonald's for a quick breakfast). Today was a pre-meeting going over what would happen at the Governing Board meeting on Wed. They provided a box lunch afterwards. From there we took an Uber to the Basketball Hall of Fame. We toured that for a few hours and walked backed to our hotel. We rested a bit and then walked around town some more. We walked through the Dr. Suess park and then stopped at a local bar for a local microbrew. Dinner was appetizers at the hotel. On the 3rd we walked back to the Big E for the Governing Board Meeting (this time in the fog & another stop at McDonald's). The meeting was over by 1pm. We walked back to the hotel and chilled. We took an Uber back to the fairgrounds where we met our NW area group for dinner at Storrowtown Tavern. It was a neat 18th century setting. Mike had Yankee Pot Roast and Dixie had lobster casserole. The NW Area FMCA paid $50 towards our meal! It was fun visiting with the group. Another couple from WA gave us a ride back to our hotel. We got an Uber car early on the 4th back to the Hartford airport for our 8 something flight back home. We made a connection in Denver where we met up with Danny. We arrived in Billings around 1p. Of course the new rollerboard bag has to be checked and it got scratched up! We headed to Costco as Mike had an appt to have his hearing tested for hearing aids. He will test drive some next week when we return. We headed out of Billings shortly after three. We had dinner at the Turner bar and Danny overnighted with us. On the 5th Denita/Steve picked up Dad and brought him to out. We had dinner at Dougs/Frans and he came home with us. On the 6th we had a wonderful Brisket dinner at Denita's. Danny stayed until Sunday, the 7th and drove Dad's convertible back to CA. He is buying it. On the 10th we took Dad back to Havre. The 11th found us driving to Billings once again, this time in Dad's Motorhome for a FMCA rally in Joliet. It was a long, slow drive on the hilly road to Billings. Never realized how many up's and down's there are. We were a bit lat for Mike's appt at Costco hearing but all was well. He got fitted for 24 hr trial hearing aids. We stopped for fuel and then headed for Joliet. We dry camped at Will/Shirley Ketterling's place. We had a wonderful rally with lots of wonderful food provided. On Friday we drove back to Billings to return the hearing aids and do a bit of shopping. On Sat. we drove the Beartooth highway to the top and turned around. When back in Red Lodge we walked through the festival and had beer at the local brewery. On the 14th we headed back home. On Sat. we found out that Buster was in the hospital with heart problems. On early Monday morning we found out he had passed away. On the 21st we headed back to Billings to catch a flight to California for Buster's service. Mike had an appt at the Costco Hearing center first to get fitted for his Hearing Aids. It went quick and we were able to get on our 130 flight to Denver. We arrived in Los Angles later in the afternoon where Danny & Lexi picked us up. He lives just a mile or so from the airport. We walked to a local bar/restaurant and had a great dinner. We overnighted with Danny and in the morning walked the mile down to El Segundo beach. Then we took the convertible and drove to Aunt Marge's. We stopped in Corona and had lunch with Roger & Karen and Sandy. We then went to Sandy's apartment to visit. We had dinner with Aunt Marge and stayed overnight with her for two nights. Tue. we met Roger & Sandy for Breakfast. We visited with Marge in the afternoon and then we all went to the Spaghetti Factory for an early dinner. We drove on to Corona for Buster's Viewing at the Pierce Brothers Crestlawn funeral home. On the 24th we drove back to the memorial park to attend Buster's graveside service at 10am. It was a wonderful celebration of his life and what he meant to so many people. Afterwards we went to their church, Grace Fellowship for a wonderful lunch and fellowship. Our nephew, Casey from Texas flew in so it was great to see him. We also were able to visit with Charity, Andrew & family and Carece & family. We took a different route back to Danny's & drove the coastal road for a bit. We walked back to The 'Tyler Surfboard' store we saw on our walk on Monday to buy Tyler a Birthday present. Danny, Lexi and us walked to the 'famous Mexican restaurant' for dinner. It's not quite as good as in the past! On Thursday really early we got an Uber car to LAX to catch our flight back to DEN/BIL. We arrived in Billing around 1245p. On the 30th Mike had an eye appt with Dr. Obie in Havre. The 31st we went to Chinook to the dentist. We had our teeth cleaned and Dixie had an impression made for a new mouth guard. Oh and in between all that we took dinner to the field for harvest a few times! WHAT A BUSY MONTH!