Living the Dream

2012-02-04T10:39:00.003-06:00

In Quartzsite...Fat, MaryLou, Elaine, Jack, Carla...(Dad was on the phone)

Indian Waters/Desert Pools

2012-02-04T10:36:00.003-06:00

Jan23 – 31 ...Mon & Tue Mikehelped Ross take down his display. Wednesday's First Tee golf lessonwas on 'the turn'. Afterward we went to the Indio Municipal courseand hit some ball to practice. Dixie did several haircuts throughoutthe week. We did a little pool time Thur and several days at thefitness center. On Friday we drove to Quartzsite to the RV show. Wemet Dad, the VanVoast's, Dugan's and Elaine Popular. The show hadmore of the same stuff. We also went to a few rock shops so Dixiecould shop for some jewelry making supplies. On Saturday Danny camefor dinner. Sunday was a stay at home day...Dixie went to church andworked on jewelry and Mike corrected an oil leak in the generator. Ross came for dinner.

Monday,the 30^thwas move day – back to Desert Pools for 11 days. We started with ahappy hour with Bob & Cheryl. On Tue Mike helped Ross and Dixiewent to jewelry class and then to a Backstage Palm Springs Folliespresentation with Cheryl. We all decided to take advantage of theirspecial for the Thursday afternoon matinee ($93 seats for $50).

2012-01-23T13:07:00.003-06:00

Golf Cart at the tourney - sponsered by Humana &the Clinton Foundation

View from the 18th fairway of the Jack Nicklaus course at PGA West - La Quinta, CA

Golf Tourney and Dixie's Birthday!

2012-01-23T13:02:00.000-06:00

Jan16 – 22.. The 16^thwas move day once again...back to Indian Waters for two weeks thistime. On the 18^thwe were back at the First Tee for more lessons. Afterwords wepracticed what we learned instead of playing a round (what aconcept). Dixie realized her passport is expiring on Jan 26^thso she completed the form online, got a picture taken and sent it inon the 21^st- good for another 10yrs – now we just need to go somewhere to use it!
Tuesday we met Ross and Don & Cheryl Van Pelt for dinner at Arnold Palmer's restaraunt (the have a great happy hour menu).
OnThursday we went to the Humana Challenge Golf Tournament – the LaQuinta course. We followed Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman. While onthe 13^thgreen we also saw President Clinton. Dixie held the rope down whilehe left the green so we got a close look. From there he went to the“porta pottie” (a very strange thing to put in the blog but wethought it was unusual to see an ex-President use one). We also raninto Doug and Donna, a couple we met through Ross a few years ago.
On Friday we were back at the tourney, this time at the Nicklauscourse at PGA West. We saw several different golfers and walked alot. We also took part in some of the Humana health activities.
Saturday we walked the Palmer course following Phil and David Toms. We watched Greg Norman and President Clinton tee off on one and putton the 9^thgreen before the wind came up so strong the play had to be suspended. We left the course around 230p. It was hard to see while drivinghome due to the dust blowing. Several trees were down – I think itwas the worst wind we have seen in the years we've been coming to theCoachella Valley. Later we went out again to celebrate Dixie's 55^thbirthday (start of senior discounts) at Chef George (Washington & Country Club). They havethe best Greek salad. We also had the Chicken Paparikash and AppleStrudel. All was wonderful!
Sunday we spent recoup-orating from thegolf. Dixie did wash, a couple of haircuts and went shopping whileMike watched football! We are preparing for more winds that arepredicted for Monday afternoon.

2012-01-23T12:45:00.001-06:00

The Dolphin show at Sea World with Danny and Lexi

Aunt Dixie and Lexi

2012-01-23T12:40:00.001-06:00

The Whale show at Sea World with Danny and Lexi

Happy New Year - 2012!

2012-01-23T12:18:00.001-06:00

Jan1 – 15... New Years Day wasalso a quite one. We had Chicken Tortilla Soup (with blackeyed peas)and coleslaw! On the 2^ndMike moved the motorhome to Indian Waters RV where we will be for 1week. Dixie went with Danny and Lexi to Sea World in San Diego. Itwas lots of fun and the shows were great. While at this park we hada couple of happy hours with Glenn and Henrietta (friends fromEdmonton). On Wednesday we once again went to the First Tee for thegroup golf lesson and a round of golf with Bill and Gloria andfriends from their park. On Sunday the 8^thwe went to the Eldorado Polo Club and watched two polo games. Bill,Gloria, Bob, Becky and Steve and Kathleen met us there. We had agreat time eating, drinking and watching the games! The weather wasperfect. On the 9^thwe moved back to Desert Pools where we stayed one week. Wednesday was another First Tee group lesson but didn't play this week. Boband Cheryl arrived in the area that day as well. We went to the VETS club with them and another friendon Friday for a great rib dinner. On Saturday, the 14^th,Dixie went to Danny's and they organized and cleaned his condo. Mikeassisted Ross on Sat and Sun in setting up his display at the HumanaChallenge. Also on Sunday Bob & Cheryl came over to watch thefootball playoff games. Our Houston Texans lost but it was a funday.

2012-01-09T16:46:00.001-06:00

Christmas Day 2011 at Aunt Marges

The End of 2011!

2012-01-09T16:09:00.001-06:00

Dec 10-31...The 10th we traveled from Bullhead City to Indio, CA. We overnighted for two nights at Indian Waters RV park so we could check out the improvements made after the sale of the park. It is nice – they added another pool, pickleball courts and a very nice exercise room. Danny came over that day as he needed a haircut before his work Christmas party that evening. We met Ross for dinner that evening at Cactus Jacks. On the 12th we moved the 26 miles to Desert Pools Rv park in Desert Hot Springs. We will be at this park for 3 weeks! The weather was nice and the winds were not bad! We went to the First Tee golf course for a group lesson with Bill and Gloria and then played 9 holes with them. Dixie stayed busy doing haircuts and Mike was busy with Ebay. We made a trip to Pioneertown with Danny and Bill and Gloria on the 17th. Dixie went to a class in the park on Wire Wrapping Jewelry. It was fun and something that she thinks she might enjoy doing. We went to Aunt Marge's on the morning of the 24th. Dixie had prepared Lasagna and a salad for dinner that evening. We went to church and then opened some presents. On Christmas morning us 'girls', Marge, Lexie, and me went to church. Don, and Danny and Lexi came for a wonderful Christmas dinner hosted by Marge. We had a wonderful time there and also talking on the phone to all our family. On the 30th Bill & Gloria and Danny came over for dinner. We had a lovely time visiting and eating. New Years Eve was a quite one. ….we stayed home. We made some steaks and rented 3 movies....however we had a problem with the movies rented from “Red Box”....they don't play on our DVD. We ended up watching one (Soul Suffer) on the computer. It was a very good movie. Danny went back to Pioneertown on his motorcycle. We ended the year pretty much the way we started it....peacefully!

2011-12-11T22:26:00.001-06:00

Hoover Dam

New Bridge over Hover Dam

Laughlin, NV / Bullhead City, AZ - Happy Thanksgiving

2011-12-11T22:18:00.001-06:00

Nov 22-Dec 10...We left Pahrump for Laughlin, NV. We parked the motorhome at the Railroad casino out of Henderson and drove the car to the new Hoover Dam bridge. What a site that is! We also drove down to the old bridge to get another view of the bridge. Once in Laughlin we parked the motorhome on the ridge overlooking the casinos. We dry camped for 4 days. It was a very nice view. We went for Thanksgiving dinner at the Riverside Casino Prime Rib room. It was ok but it's just not the same a 'home cookin'. On the 26th we moved to Ridgeview RV park in Bullhead City, AZ. It was nice for a few days and then on the evening of the 30th the wind started to blow and never quit. That first night we had to bring our slides in and from then on we tied down our slide awnings. Bob and Cheryl arrived on the 30th for 8 days. We got together several times for meals, football and cards! Dixie did more haircuts and worked on getting our Christmas photo cards and letters out. We also got our Christmas packages mailed to NC and WA. We stayed inside a lot due to the cool weather and winds. We did go to Joe's Crab Shack on the 9th for lunch. We filled up with propane before leaving the park on the 10th. From there it was a stop at “Smith's” to top off our fuel (had to do that before getting into CA due to $$). Hopefully we won't have to fill up while we are in CA. We ran into some road construction near Vidal Junction but other than that we had a good trip to Indio. We will stay at Indian Waters RV park for 2 nights.

2011-12-11T22:16:00.001-06:00

The Guppy Family

Grandkids at the Seattle Aquarium

Pahrump, NV

2011-12-11T22:13:00.001-06:00

Nov 2-21 …We were at Preferred RV resort for the first week and then moved the Charleston Peak RV for the next 2 weeks. While there we visited the Winery on Mike's Birthday on the 10th. We started with wine tasting and then had a wonderful dinner in the dinning room. We had a lovely evening. On the 17th we drove to Las Vegas for a flight to Seattle to visit Micheala, Tim and the kids. The flight out of SFO was full so we didn't arrive until late so we got a hotel at the airport and rented a car on Friday and drove to North Bend. While there we went to dinner Friday to celebrate the Oct/Nov birthdays (4 of them). Sat. we went to the Seattle Aquarium with Micheala and the kids. We flew back on Sunday – it was short visit but a good one. While in Pahrump Dixie did some haircuts and we spent time with friends. The weather wasn't great so we didn't get any hiking in.

Motorhome Trip South - Oct 2011

2011-11-01T22:40:00.001-05:00

Trip South..Oct 29th We headed out at 9am...destination Idaho Falls Walmart – 361 miles! We stopped for lunch at the rest area near Divide and still made it to our destination of at 430p. We did our usual and went into Walmart and made some purchases! This was our first overnight at this Walmart and all went well. On Sunday we walked to Starbucks to use their internet and got on the road at 10am. Sunday we traveled 275 miles to the Walmart in Payson, UT. Monday we drove 280 miles to Mesquite, NV where we overnighted in the Rebel Truck lot. It was much noisier than we remembered from last spring! Tuesday we headed to Las Vegas where we stopped at Camping World and then to our destination of Pahrump, NV. We checked into Preferred RV resort shortly after noon. Dixie cut Cheryl's hair and we went to Bob and Cheryl's (friends from Chicago) motorhome for drinks and dinner. It was fun catching up with them!

2011-11-01T22:39:00.001-05:00

The grandsons....Bailey and Nicholas

2011-11-01T22:35:00.001-05:00

Brandon, Kat, Bailey & Nicholas Oct 2011

October 2011

2011-11-01T22:33:00.001-05:00

October....Dixie saw Dr. Kluge, an Ear, Nose, Throat doc. He told her that she had a stone in both of her submandibular salivary glands. The bad news was they just hope that they pass on their own. The only other option it to cut them out and that is not a preferable method! It's now 3 weeks later and they are some better but not gone completely. The glands hurt off and on. On the 13th we flew to Houston. The first night we stayed in a hotel near the airport as it was a late arrival. On the 14th we visited our friend Ruthie at Villa Toscana. We spent 4 hours visiting with her. Her voice has improved a lot since we saw her last year. From there we overnighted with Roger and Karen. We went out for a lovely dinner with them and Casey and Corey and their families. On Saturday, the 15th we flew to Raleigh to visit Brandon, Kat, Bailey and Nicholas at Fort Bragg. That evening we went to a free Josh Turner concert at the Parade Field. Sunday we drove back to Raleigh and attended the NC State Fair. A good time was had by all. Nicholas's soccer game was canceled but we did attend his practice. We had a wonderful visit and left on the 19th. We had a long day as we started out from Brandon's at 6am eastern. We flew from Raleigh to Washington Dulles to Denver and arrived in Great Falls at 845p. The next item on the agenda was to get the oil changed in the motorhome. We brought it up to the condo on the 21st and started packing it up. The weather was warmer so it was easier to do. On Monday we took it back to storage. On Tuesday, the 25th Dad and Dixie cooked dinner for Doug's birthday. We brought the motorhome to the condo again on the 27th and did more packing. The forecast is for another 26 degree night so we wanted to plug it in and run the heat. Mike had his final dental appointment on the 27th where he got his crown. On Friday we had to go down to the crawl space one last time before leaving. We were told on Thursday that it would be very helpful if we patched the holes in the 'form-a-drain' with black tar. The idea is that this will stop the water from coming into the crawl space and force it to go to the sump pump. So we tried one more thing to fix this problem! Only time will tell!!!!! We finished loading the motorhome on Friday and then treated ourselves to a dinner at Dimitries Greek restaurant. It was our first time and we enjoyed it – the setting and the food!

2011-09-02T13:23:00.001-05:00

Harvest in Hogeland!

2011-09-02T13:21:00.002-05:00

Kerr Dam near Polson

View of Flathead Lake in the distance from RV at Polson Motorcoach Resort

2011-09-02T13:18:00.001-05:00

Blue Angels getting ready to FLY!

August 2011

2011-09-02T13:15:00.001-05:00

August...We started this month out with another FMCA Rally. We left on the 4th for Polson. The rally was at the Polson KOA/Motorcoach RV resort. We had to upgrade and stay in the motorcoach part. The view was incredible and the part was top notch. (the sites sell for $150K plus) While there we went to a car show, art & craft show, and hike to the Kerr Dam. The dam was a beautiful site (it is higher than Niagara Falls). We had a great time visiting our RV friends – Mike even won the Miniature Golf game and received a $25 gift cert to the KOA store. After a great pancake breakfast at the park we headed up the road to Lakeside where we parked in Jim and Diane Jenk's driveway. We went to the boat show, had a lovely dinner and went on a boat ride around the lake to Sommers! It was a beautiful sunset. Before leaving the next day (8th) Dixie walked with Diane and a friend...little did she know that they was 4 miles each day! We stopped and bought some cherry's that had just been picked and moved on down the road to Aunt Shirley's in Seeley Lake. We parked the motorhome in her backyard for 2 nights. We had a very enjoyable visit as usual while there. We headed back home on the 10th. We've attended several Alive @ 5 gatherings as well as the new Alive @ Lunch. It's great to listen to live entertainment and enjoy the great outdoors!We drove to the farm on the 19th and stayed until the 22nd. The harvesting was going full swing! Dixie spent her time doing 'hair' and working with Fran. We went on a bike ride on the River's Edge trail to the Black Eagle Dam on the 28th. This month it was time to visit the Dentist. Mike is scheduled for a root canal and crown in Sept...what fun! He is scheduled for Cataract Surgery on Sept 15th and 27th. This seems to be the summer for our health care!!!!!!It's time to start planning for our trip south! Where has the summer gone?

2011-09-02T13:09:00.000-05:00

Levi and Tyler with their football hero, "Colt Anderson" at Jim & Shelly's on the 4th

2011-09-02T13:07:00.002-05:00

4th of July Parade in Butte, America

Party at Jody's on the 3rd!

2011-09-02T12:54:00.003-05:00

Flooding on the river, taken after our dinner with everyone at McKenzie River Pizza on June 13th

July 2011

2011-09-02T12:50:00.001-05:00

July... We headed to Butte in the RV on the 3rd with Bill and Gloria. We stayed for 3 nights at the KOA. Attended a 4th party at Jody's on the 3rd where we saw Butte's spectacular fireworks display. Denita and family and Dad also were there. On the 4th we all attended a wonderful parade and then dinner at Shelly's. While there we took the Butte Trolly ride. It was very interesting and we learned a lot about Butte history. It's amazing how you can go to a town many, many times and never know a lot about it. On the 6th we moved the RV's to the Butte Civic Center for the Good Sam Rally where we hard wonderful entertainment the first 2 nights. While there we attended the Montana Folk Festival on the 8th and 9th. We headed back home on the 10th. We had a great week! Dixie gave blood on the 15th. Danny and Lexi arrived late on that day (due to – what else, canceled flights). Lexi stayed with us overnight the 16th while Danny attended a wedding in Butte. She did really well – spent time on the computer, going to the Pet Store and Grandpa's house. The next Day everyone but Dixie went to the Voyager baseball game. Dixie stayed home to cook! Danny and Lexi went to the farm for a few days and then came back to visit before leaving on the 23rd. July's bad news was that Chris Maloney was diagnosed with Cancer. He will be in Great Falls receiving chemotherapy over the next several months. Denita, Steve and the boys came to Great Falls on the 29th for the weekend and to attend the Blue Angles airshow. We attended on Saturday with Dad. It was a spectacular show held at the Montana Air National Guard near the airport. We both had our eyes checked. Dixie is trying out new contacts and Mike found out he has Cataracts. He will see a specialist in August.

2011-09-02T12:49:00.001-05:00

Danny & Lexi at Giant Springs

Lexi, bungee jumping at Alive @ 5

June 2011

2011-09-02T12:45:00.001-05:00

June...Dixie attended the 'cousins' party which was held this year in Chinook at Pearls. She road with Gloria, Dina, Shirley and Lacene. A good time was had by all once again. Denita and Dixie ordered a beautiful heart shaped pendant that they carry some of Mom's ashes in. It's a wonderful reminder and keeps Mom close at heart! We sure do miss her. We went to the PBR Bull riding in Belt with Bill, Gloria, Dana and Dad.Dixie saw an orthopedic specialist (Dr. Bortnem) and he believes her hip problem is a torn TFL muscle. He suggested PT. She had a massage and then saw Dr. Crane (Chiropractor). He gave her some exercises to do and it is gradually improving. The 16th-19th we drove to Billings for the first FMCA rally of the year. It was held at the Lockwood School. While there we went to the Pictograph Caves with Gloria, attended a nice Father's Day dinner and had a great time visiting with fellow Rvers. Dixie continued work at Fran's. She worked quite a bit while they took Levi and Tyler to Hawaii for 10 days. The Voyagers starting their baseball season and we started attending several of the games with Dad!Our crawl space was dry when we arrived home in May but after unusually large amounts of rain in June we now have a few lakes down there once again....More trenching and sore backs!

2011-09-02T12:43:00.002-05:00

Rainbow Dam after all the rain

May 2011

2011-09-02T12:39:00.001-05:00

May...Arrived home on Monday, May 2nd. Now the fun comes – unloading the RV.We settled into life back at the condo. Dixie gave blood, Mike continued with Ebay sales and we helped Dad follow up on some of Mom's issues as well as cleaning out her clothing and such. Dixie also started working with Fran again at Medical Accounting Services when needed. On the 13th we headed to the farm. We helped Levi celebrate his 17th Birthday on the 14th and Tyler his confirmation on the 18th. We also attended a benefit for Tim Cowen in Turner. We had a nice time visiting and seeing everyone. Dixie saw Dr. Legan for her hip that continues to hurt. Xray's showed no arthritis. Our landscaping in the back is finally being completed (2½ years later).

Headed Back to Montana

2011-09-02T12:35:00.001-05:00

Apr 29 – May 2...We caravaned back home with Bill and Gloria, staying the first night in Mesquite at a parking lot across from the …. casino. We took in the seafood buffet and hit the road early in the morning. Night two we spent at the Brigham City Walmart and night 3 at the Walmart in Butte. While in Butte we went to Shelly & Jim's and had a wonderful dinner with them and Jody.

2011-04-28T12:12:00.000-05:00

Palm Springs Ariel Tram

2011-04-28T11:59:00.004-05:00

Clouds in Palm Springs on the way home

Easter Sunday at Hope Lutheran in Riverside

2011-04-28T11:55:00.000-05:00

Dixie & Lexi at Pioneertown

Desert Pools RV Park

2011-04-28T11:28:00.001-05:00

Apr 15 – 28...On the 16th we met Danny and Lexi at Palm Desert Civic Center Park for the annual Autism Walk. It was very hot so we didn't make it too long but we got our shirt and Lexi played in the water playground. From there we went to the COD Street Fair – we didn't stay long their either due to the heat. Did some shopping and went to Danny's for awhile. The wind started blowing bad on Monday, the 18th and it blew and blew and blew all week. We started playing water volleyball with the group in the park – 2 hrs each session. They play 6 days a week – we managed to make it 5 times during our stay. On Monday, the 18th we went into DHS & shopped at Angel View and Stater Bros. Our friend Ross visited us on Tuesday the 19th. We showed him some things about Ebay on the computer and then we BBQ'd some steaks for dinner. On the 20th we golfed 18 holes with Bill at the Desert Palm Country Club. Afterwords we had dinner with Bill & Gloria. Ross came back on Thursday and Dixie cut his hair. Denita celebrated her 40th Birthday on the 22nd. On Saturday the 23rd we drove to Aunt Marge's in Riverside. We took lunch and then shopped at Berean's Christian Store for a memorial gift in Mom's memory for Bethel Lutheran Church in Great Falls. That evening we went to dinner with Buster and Sandy. Had a great time visiting and catching up on the years events. We stayed overnight with Marge Easter Sunday we went to church with Marge,Don & Lexie. We had a nice brunch at the church following the service. Easter dinner was at Marge's condo. Danny joined us as well as Lexie's boyfriend, Ryan and his mother, Monica. We had a wonderful dinner! It would have been Mom's 77th birthday on Easter Sunday (24th). On Monday, the 25th we tackled the big job of washing the motorhome! On Wednesday we finally took the Palm Springs Tram ride to Mt San Jancito. The tram turns 360 degrees a couple of time on the 10 min ride. It goes from 2,643 ft elevation to 8,516 ft in 2 ½ miles. We watched a movie and walked around taking in the view. We then started on a 4.2 mile hike “Round Valley Trail”. We stopped to eat our lunch at a rambling stream and then started the hike up hill/rock. The 1st mile we encountered some snow but the 2nd mile was mostly all snow (ankle to knee deep). A this point we are asking ourselves WHY? There was a guy in front of us and we were following his footprints in the snow as you couldn't see the trail most of the time. We we got near the second half of the loop it became rocky and we lost the footprints and the trail. At this point we decided it would be a good idea to turn around and go back the way we came! We hated to have to do that but it was better than getting lost trying to find the trail through the snow! We now know why you have to get a permit to hike in that area...they failed to warn us about the lack of a well marked trail. Danny told us later that they often have people lost while hiking in that area!!!! Three hours later we arrived back at the tram station. We really did enjoy the tram ride and the hike!
We made our last stop at Trader Joe's for the season. Then we went to Danny's and sat in the Hot tu while Lexi went in the pool. We ordered a Pizza and ate at the pool.
Today the 28th we are getting the motorhome ready for travel tomorrow. Checking fluids, tire pressure, cleaning, etc. Tonight we are meeting Ross for dinner and we will head out early in the morning...destination – Mesquite, NV.

2011-04-28T11:27:00.000-05:00

Mission Hills - LPGA

2011-04-28T11:24:00.000-05:00

Polo Match

2011-04-14T21:38:00.000-05:00

Sunset in Indio!

2011-04-14T21:36:00.000-05:00

Happy 73rd Birthday Aunt Marge

Indian Waters - Indio, CA

2011-04-14T21:28:00.000-05:00

Mar 24 – Apr 14...We left our park around 8am. We decided to drive up the east side of the Salton Sea for a different view. We arrived at Indian Waters at 1110a to find out that were were no 50 amp sites available. We decided to go to the Lake Cahuilla county park for the night. We came back at 9am on Fri and managed to get a good site right across from the pond/office. Ross visited that afternoon and Danny came for dinner that night. Saturday we did some grocery shopping. Sunday the 27th we went to a Polo Game at Eldorado Polo Club. Tuesday the 29th we went to the Kraft Nabisco LPGA tournament for the Celebrity PRO AM. It was hot out but we had fun walking around and watching the golf. Wed
the 30th we placed 9 holes of golf with Bill at the First Tee. Thur the 30th we finished out taxes and had some friends over for Happy Hour. On the 1st we headed to Danny's about 715a. Dixie stayed with Lexi while Danny was at work and Mike went back to the LPGA golf tourney. He also did some errands for Ross (picking up pictures and delivering to pro shops). On Sunday the 3rd we met Bill & Gloria at the Polo field again for 2 games. We had a fun time! On the 6th we played golf again with Bill at the 'First Tee'. Dixie was able to find a leftly hybrid club there both times we played! Lunch at Schlotzsky's after golf along with some shopping. We celebrated our 21st Anniversary on the 7th. Stopped and did some 'thrift store' shopping and then had a wonderful dinner at the Olive Garden. On Saturday the 9th we met Danny at the Augustine Casino for their barb-b-que and to listen to a couple of country bands. We enjoyed the music and watching the line dancers. We had dinner afterwords at the El Mexicali restaurant, a locale Indio place about 30 ft from the railroad tracks. On the 12th Aunt Marge and Don came for dinner to celebrate Marge's 73rd birthday! We had a great time visiting and eating!!!! Dixie did several haircuts in the 3 weeks we've been at Indian Waters. Mike did golf stuff for Ross - Ebay and local pro shops.
Thurs the 14th – we headed to Desert Pools after a painful stop at the 'truck stop' for diesel! ($4.49 per gallon).

2011-04-01T14:26:00.005-05:00

Mike at the 'Yuma Territorial Prision'

2011-04-01T14:26:00.004-05:00

Workers picking lettuce near Yuma

Desert Hot Springs, Winterhaven & Yuma

2011-04-01T14:22:00.001-05:00

Mar 17 – 23 ….We left in the am for Winterhaven, CA/Yuma, AZ. Dad drove his car and us the motorhome. Doug and the motorcycle group arrived at our park (Pilot Knob) around 5pm. We went to the Mad Chef for Corned Beef and Cabbage with them. Doug and Dad stayed with us from the 17th – 23rd. We drove around the Yuma farm area and watched them harvest lettuce. We even helped ourselves to a couple of heads (well Dad did). We also stopped into a great date shop for a 'date shake' and some other goodies. We toured the old Yuma Territorial Prision. On Saturday we went with John Hebblemen, Randy Ross and Julie to the Moose Lodge where we had a wonderful Rib dinner and dancing. On Tue we drove around some more and stopped in and looked at Park Model homes and then Toy Haulers and Motorhomes. Dixie cut John's hair and then we all went out for a Chinese dinner. Doug and Dad left on Wed morning. Mike & Dixie did laundry and some house cleaning.

Mar 13 – 16... Mike was to fly back to PSP on the 13th but flights were full out of Denver. He decided to drive back with Dad and Dixie. We left Great Falls in Dad's Sebring convertible at 815a on Sunday the 13th. We drove 702 miles to Fillmore, UT where we overnighted at the Best Western. On Monday we arrived at Desert Pools RV park in Desert Hot Springs around 330pm. We picked up some dinner and went to Danny's. On Tue we went to the pool. In the afternoon we went to visit Bill and Gloria and then we all went to dinner at Babe's. On Wed we had Bob and Cheryl over for Happy Hour and Danny and Lexi came for dinner.

2011-03-31T17:35:00.004-05:00

Mom's Memorial Service ~
Florence Irene Beck Hamilton
April 24, 1934 ~ March 3, 2011

2011-03-31T17:34:00.003-05:00

Picture Board in memory of MOM

Mom's Memorial Service ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ - March 13, 2011

2011-03-31T17:27:00.006-05:00

Mar 4 – 12.... Pastor Steve came over in the afternoon and discussed Mom's service arrangements. Rod & Patty Morris and Russ and Cheryl Klette came by Dad's. Doug and Fran arrived the evening of the 4th. Dad, Doug, and I drove to Chinook on the 5th and met Denita and Steve at Edwards Funeral Home to make the arrangements. Mom was cremated as her request We also ordered flowers at Shore's Floral. From there we decided to go out to the farm. We spent the weekend going through pictures – we put together a slide show and a picture board for Mom's service. There was bunches of snow piled everywhere. We came back on Monday morning. Marge and Don arrived that evening. Danny flew in Tue afternoon. Mike was to have been with him but the flights were full. He ended up flying to LAS and then DEN and finally arrived at 1130p Tue. Russ, Cheryl, Marge, Don, Shirley, Doug and Fran were over for dinner at Dad's. Cheryl and Russ provided a wonderful spaghetti dinner. I took a fall on the ice when going to pick up Mike!
We left for the farm on Wed., the 9th. We got most everything set up at the church. Shelly and Jay arrived late in the day.
The Memorial Service on March 13th for Mom turned out really nice. We had 3 pastors – Steve, Cheryl and Rowlie as per Mom's request. All had lovely words to say. Ken Overcast sang and played his guitar...Granny's Mansion (his song) and Mansion on the Hillside. It was very special. The congregation sang I Was There to Hear You Bourning Cry and How Great Thou Art as were her request. I wrote a short Eulogy that was read by Pastor Cheryl. Approximately 200 people attended the service and 140 were served at the meal following. Due to the snow we will have the burial of the ashes this summer. Following the dinner we went to Wally and Loretta Becks to visit with relatives. We drove back to Great Falls on Friday the 11th. Marge and Don left for home on Sat. Dixie made phone calls to Insurance companies, etc to help Dad. Danny flys back on Sunday.

2011-03-31T17:26:00.002-05:00

Mom at Missouri River Manor 2/23/2011

2011-03-31T17:18:00.004-05:00

Mom on 1/29/11 while in the hospital

Mom's Long Road comes to an end

2011-03-31T17:06:00.002-05:00

Feb 19 – Mar 3 ….Dixie flew back to Montana the afternoon of Feb 19th. She was able to visit Mom on Sunday. Denita and family were also there from Hogeland. Dixie got a haircut on the 24th and went to the dentist for a teeth cleaning on the 25th. She stayed with Dad and went to the Missouri River Manor to be with Mom daily. Mike flew up on the 24th. Doug, Fran and Danny decided to go on their trip to Purta Vallarta on the 24th. Mom's back and neck pain continued to get worse. The last day she was out of bed was Feb 22nd. It just caused too much pain. Jim and Diane came to visit on the 20th and Shirley and Shelly on the 26th. Pastor Steve made several visits to see Mom. On Sunday the 27th Mom told us that she was not going to make it. She talked to Doug, Danny and Marge on the phone and said her goodbyes. Denita came up on the 27th. I spent the night with Mom from the 27th to the 2nd. Denita stayed overnight with me from the 28th to the 2nd. Mom was not very coherent after 1st. By this time she just wanted to know 'how long it was going to take?' Mike flew back to Palm Springs early in the AM on the 3rd. Mom passed away peacefully at 515p on March 3rd. Denita and I had just left the room move items in the cars and I was headed to Doug’s house. I got Doug and Fran's tickets changed to fly back on the 4th.

Indian Waters Feb 10 – 18 ….We made the move to Indian Waters RV. Dixie stayed busy doing Haircuts. O the 12th we went to movie 'True Grit' with Danny and then over to Bill & Gloria's for burgers. On the 17th we got a call from Doug advising that Mom took a turn for the worse. She is not able to get up without excruciating back pain. Dixie made plans to fly back to Great Falls.

Wilderness Lakes - Menifee, CA & Montana

2011-02-09T10:57:00.001-06:00

Jan 26- Feb 9....Mike drove to San Diego on the 28th to the golf tournament. He stayed with Ross for 2 nights and helped him at his booth and also saw a little golf. On the 31st Danny flew back to Ontario. Mike picked him up and they drove to Rancho Mirage where Mike overnighted with Danny. On the first Mike accidentally locked the keys in the car while filling up with fuel. $50 later he was on his way back to Menifee.
Mom continued to improve and was moved to a transitional care facility, Missouri River Manor on Tue. The 1st. She got settled in there and Dixie flew back on the 3rd. She had to fly into Orange County airport as flights were full to Ontario. She arrived at 830p. Friday was a rest up day! Saturday we drove the 27 miles into Marge's. We went to lunch with Marge, Don & Shelly and spent the afternoon visiting. Danny and Lexi stopped on their way back from Sea World and spent Saturday night with us. The also remained on Sunday and watched the Super Bowl with us. Dixie picked up a cold somewhere along the way and is feeling pretty lousy. Dixie talks to Mom daily and checks in on her progress. She is getting lots of occupational and physical therapy and continues to improve. We thank God daily for her progress.
We made a Walmart run on Tuesday. Dixie has a bad cold so we needed more drugs! Today, the 9th we move to Indian Waters RV park in Indio. We will stop at the Flying J on the way for fuel and propane.

Indian Waters - Indio, CA

2011-02-09T10:55:00.001-06:00

Jan 12-25...Went to the movie Country Strong – good one! On the 14th we went to the FMCA RV rally, attending a class and wondering around the exhibits. On Friday the 14th we had Bill & Gloria, cousin Box Cox and Danny over for dinner. We enjoyed the afternoon visiting with Bob and had a wonderful evening. On the 17th we started helping Ross get ready for the golf tournament. Our first day of working the booth was Thur. the 20th. It was a long day but at least the weather was better this year. Friday was Dixie's 54th birthday. We spent the day working the tournament with the exception of a couple hours when Dixie went shopping. We found out that day that Mom was admitted to the hospital due to non-responsiveness and incoherence. The doctor found out that the ammonia level in her blood was very high. Dixie and Danny decided to fly back home. We left at 430am on Sat. to pick up Danny and then headed to the Ontario airport (flights we full out of Palm Springs). They arrived in Great Falls around 430p (had a slight delay in Denver where on take off the airplane windshield cracked). Mom was not in good shape when we saw her. She did start improving about 4-5 days later. The doctor had to give her & continues to give her lactulose, a form of laxative in order for her liver to work properly. The only way to remove excess ammonia from the blood is through excretion. She also had built up a lot of fluid that the doctor is trying to removed through medication.
While Dixie was gone Mike continued to help Ross at the Bob Hope golf tournament. On Wednesday, the 26th he moved the motorhome to our next park, Wilderness Lakes, in Menifee, CA.

Happy New Year from Desert Hot Springs!

2011-01-12T10:57:00.001-06:00

Jan 1 -11 …..New Years Day! Danny came over around 330p. About 5p we drove to Pioneer Town and had dinner and listened to a couple of bands. On the 4th our friends from Chicago came over for dinner and some card playing. Tuesday we took a 'pickleball' lesson. It's cross between tennis & ping pong???? It's a fun game & good exercise. Unfortunately not too many parks have courts. Wednesday we played 9 holes of Golf at the “First Tee” (senior rate is $10 on that day) with Bill Brinkman and some of his friends from their RV park. We also had dinner with Bill & Gloria that evening. Dixie did some haircuts this week and the normal stuff..ie laundry! The weather has improved and we are now in the 60's. We utilized the pool and hot springs some. Friday we picked up Bob & Cheryl & went to the “$2 theater” & saw the movie, Secretariat. It was a great movie! We then made a Walmart stop & then to an authentic Italian Pizza place called Palermoes near the airport. The pizza was very good. Saturday was a stay at the park day. Sunday we went to Bob & Cheryl's for football, dinner, & cards. Tuesday we decided to hike to flag mountain. The weather was cool but sunny; perfect for climbing over 1,000 ft. to the American flag at the peak of the mountain. We had done the same climb one year ago but, somehow, this one was tougher to master. We attributed it to the fact that we had done very little hiking in the past several months. We had lunch and again signed the book hidden under several large rocks in a metal army ammo case. The total time of the hike was almost three hours. When we got back to the park, we immediately went to the hot mineral water tubs and soaked our tired bodies. We moved to Indian Waters RV park in Indio on the 12th.

2011-01-01T17:16:00.000-06:00

Lexi ~ Dec 14th

2011-01-01T16:54:00.000-06:00

Us ~ Christmas Day 2010

2011-01-01T16:52:00.000-06:00

Steve, Denita, Levi, Tyler, & Shay

Dad & Mom ~ Christmas Day

2011-01-01T16:50:00.000-06:00

Doug & Fran on Christmas Day

Our Time back in Montana ~ Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T16:45:00.001-06:00

Dec 14-31 ...Had a good trip from Casa Grande to Desert Hot Springs. Arrived about 230p set up for our one night stay. That evening we went to Danny's & had an early Christmas with Lexi & him! Dixie did a quick haircut for a repeat customer right before we put the motorhome in storage. From there we took all our refrig/freeze stuff to Ross's condo for storage while we were in Montana. We had lunch at Applebee's & then mailed the Christmas packages. We met Danny at his condo where we left our car and he and Lexi took us to the airport. We got on with now problem & arrived in Denver to find out our flight to Great Falls was delayed but a couple of hours. We finally arrived in Great Falls around 1am. Dad picked us up & we stayed overnight with them.
Our stay in Great Falls....On the 17th Dad went to the farm and we stayed overnight with Mom. She has been in a lot of back and abdominal pain. On the 18th we attended Harold Struck’s 80th Birthday party. We visited with Russ & Cheryl there. Dixie worked for Fran a few days, gave blood, went to Mom's doctor and acupuncture appointments, & went to see the doctor for her hip pain. Mike went to the Peak & hung out at home (only had the use of one car so he was stuck at home a lot). Dixie cooked Christmas Eve dinner that we enjoyed at Dad & Mom's. Denita, Steve and the boys come up on Christmas Eve and stayed until Sunday. Christmas Day we had a wonderful Prime Rib dinner at Doug and Fran’s. We spent a lot of time at Mom & Dad's visiting and helping out where we could.
The flights were very full on our scheduled return day (Dec 28th) so we planned to wait until the following day...however the night before, due to the bad weather back east, we decided it was best to try for the original plan. The flights didn't look any better as the week went on. Surprisingly we got on the flight out of Great Falls at 720am. We didn't make the first flight out of Denver but we did get on the next one at 3pm. We arrived in Palm Springs around 430p. Danny picked us up and we stopped for dinner at a small Mexican restaurant. We overnighted with him & on Wed. morning we got the MH out of storage & parked on a sight. We will be here for 2 weeks & move to our park in Indio.
New Year's Eve Danny came over and we grilled steaks & watched a movie.

2010-12-13T20:53:00.000-06:00

Entertainment at Desert Shadows

Mike in his "Bears Gear" ~ a loan from our Chicago friends

Casa Grande, AZ

2010-12-13T20:41:00.000-06:00

Dec 1-13 ...While in Casa Grande we have been pretty busy. The 2 weeks went by quickly.
Exchanged dinner's with our friends from Chicago as they were in the park the same time we were. We've spent some time with them watching football (they are avid Chicago Bears fans), playing cards and visiting!
Drove to Chandler (suburb of Phoenix) to meet a couple of classmates of mine (Duane/Jill and Diane). We had a wonderful dinner visiting and reminiscing.
I did a dozen haircuts, wrote & sent our Christmas letter/cards, and finished up some Christmas shopping. Mike went to the gym & piddled around the motorhome.
Went to some entertainment at the park – one was Johnny Bencomo, a great guitar player & singer. He performed old country (pre 1982) & is one of the few people that play an 18 string guitar. We really enjoyed the 3 hr performance.
Had our carpets cleaned so we are now all spruced up!
Met Ross on the 9th for a quick visit as he was passing through this area.
Checked out a couple of 55 + communities (always looking).
We leave tomorrow for Desert Hot Springs where we will store the motorhome while we are in Montana. We plan to fly to Great Falls on the 15th ~ providing United has some space for us!!!

2010-12-01T19:45:00.000-06:00

West Fork Hike

Ice on the rock cliffs on the West Fork hike

West Fork Hike out of Sedona

2010-12-01T19:42:00.000-06:00

Sofia on Thanksgiving Day

Airport Loop Hike in Sedona

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-12-01T19:37:00.000-06:00

Nov 23 – 30 … Tuesday, another scrapbook day for Dixie.
Wednesday, Dixie baked a couple of pies and rolls to take to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.
Thanksgiving day had us driving 90 miles to visit Dixie's cousins Hal and Sandra in North Glendale, AZ. Hal's dad had flown down from Great Falls and was spending several days with them. The weather in Great Falls had been extremely cold with temps far below zero. It was so nice to be able to spend the day with a part of family. We had a great time (we have a lot to be thankful for) and, of course, ate lots of food and watched football.
Friday,we drove to Sedona in order to do the 'Airport Koop Trail' hike. It was a beautiful day, sunny in the high 50's, but the hike turned out to be a bit longer than we expected but exhilarating none-the-less. The airport is situated on top of a mountain, literally. We went to the terminal building and looked around. It's strictly a general aviation airport as well as a location for boarding helicopter tours of the area.
On Saturday, we again drove to Sedona for another hike. This one was about 10 miles north of town to the trail named West Fork. It was a trail of about 4 miles along a fast moving stream with 300 foot cliffs on one side. The temperature was cool, around 50, and at this location we were over 5,000 feet above sea level. We had to cross the stream several times and unfortunately when Dixie stepped on a rock that had ice on it, she slipped and fell. The water was shallow but very cold. She's ok except a little sore all over. We thought it best to turn around after that happened. We stopped in Sedona and walked through some of the many gift shops in town before driving back to our RV park about 12 miles away.
Sunday was an inside kind of day. It was a cool day and, believe it or not, a couple of snow flurries. Dixie did a load of laundry and worked on the scrapbooks while Mike did some things outside the motorhome and watched football. We plan to depart this area tomorrow in search of warmer weather south of Phoenix.
Monday, we had a slight delay leaving the park as the bedroom slide wouldn't come in. We discovered the pin in the gear had sheared off once again. This happened to us 3 years ago and luckily we had a spare one! We left about 130p and headed to Phoenix. After getting propane at the Flying J we headed down the road and overnighted at the Gila River Zee Quiva casino.
Tuesday morning we drove the motorhome to Interstate 10 and parked it at yet another casino while we drove the car to Trader Joes!!!! We arrived at Desert Shadows RV park in Casa Grande around 2pm. After we got set up we went to visit our friends from Chicago (Bob & Cheryl). We enjoyed dinner, drinks and conversation with them.

2010-11-23T13:46:00.001-06:00

Sedona

Chapel of the Holy Cross near Sedona

View from Page Springs Restaurant

Page Springs, AZ

2010-11-23T13:43:00.001-06:00

Nov 16 – 22... Happy Birthday on the 16th to granddaughter, Adriana ~ she turns 11 today! After her early morning, before school call, we drove into Camp Verde to meet with longtime friend and Dixie's airline school and Continental Airlines roommate, Carla. The two of them had a good time 'catching up' on family and friends. Wednesday brought another move day; this time only a short drive of about 22 miles. We first stopped in Cottonwood in order to have a DirecTv technician take a look at our TV issue in the motorhome. We then continued on to a park near Page Springs, AZ. We were a bit anxious to be moving to this park after we paid it a visit a couple of weeks earlier. However, it's turned out much better than we expected. Only downer is we're in a site with no sewer hook-up. Hopefully, we'll be able to make do by using the park facilities as much as possible.
On Thursday we took a hike up the road to the Fish Hatchery and also wondered in a couple of wineries. That afternoon, we drove the 12 miles to the beautiful town of Sedona, AZ. We checked out the visitors center for hiking info, drove to the Village of Oak Valley and then stopped at the Chapel of the Holly Cross. The chapel is built in the hillside with a beautiful view of the Sedona Valley. We then walked through Tlaquepaque Village, patterned after that area of Mexico (outskirts of Guadalajara). There are galleries, shops & restaurants there.
On Friday, Bjorn the DirecTV tech came out twice – first to check out our TV wiring and again to install another receiver. We walked up the hill to the Page Springs restaurant and had B-B-Que ribs while overlooking the Oak Creek & the fall colors of the trees.
Saturday and Sunday we stayed in the park. Saturday we took a walk on a trail & Mike did some caulking on the roof of the motorhome. Sunday it rained off and on all day so we stayed inside. Dixie spent the afternoon working on a scrapbook of Adriana - one of the grandkids.
Monday we drove to Cottonwood to Walmart. We had some sunshine but it was still only in the 50's.

2010-11-15T17:10:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Mike ~ a stop on the "12 Miles/158 Curves" road between Prescott & Jerome

Camp Verde, AZ

2010-11-15T17:07:00.000-06:00

Nov 8 – 15 . . . On Monday we did what we've done almost every day we've been at the Camp Verde park, that is, drove into town to either MacDonalds or Starbucks to use their wifi to connect to the internet. Tuesday we took a drive around the area and made a stop in Cottonwood and had lunch at the Hog Wild restaurant. It was excellent pulled pork BBQ. We also took a drive out to the park we go to next- Page Springs. It is a very small park with lots of trees and 'small' sites ~ hope we fit & get satellite! Wednesday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE! We drove to Prescott and wondered around Costco and Best Buy. Somehow this started our search for a new cell phone. Next stop was Jerome, a small old mining town on a mountain. The road from Prescott to Jerome is famous (at least 12 miles of it is). There are “158 curves in 12 miles”! It is a winding, curvy road with a wonderful view. Once in Jerome we wondered in a few shops and then had a wonderful Birthday dinner in a restaurant called “Grapes”. The front is all windows so we had a beautiful view of the mountain and sunset. On Thursday we went back to Cottonwood and checked out the phones at the Verizon store there. Looks like the best deal is at Costco so on Saturday we went back to Prescott and purchased our “Droid X” phone. We bit the bullet and went to a Smartphone & added a 'data package' so we can get internet. It's been fun learning how to use it & seeing all the cool things it does (wonder how we lived this long without it). On Sunday we finally got access to the parks internet, however it's not great. We can get email quickly but can't get to many websites. On Sun. afternoon we made the 38 mile drive to the little town of Strawberry ~ another curvy, hilly road. A lot of the drive was in the forest. We stopped for a cool one at the Sportsman Chalet. Monday Dixie did another haircut and then it was another trip to Cottonwood. This time to replace our remote extender at Radio Shack (one of the power cords stopped working on our other set). Can't live without it as it allow us to use the remote for the bedroom TV.

2010-11-07T11:34:00.000-06:00

Monument Valley - view from the short hike behind our RV Park

On to Camp Verde, AZ

2010-11-07T11:33:00.000-06:00

Nov 1 – 7...Mon...We headed out around 10am with our first stop being Dead Horse Point State Park. This is where many movies were filmed (specifically, Thelma & Louise & Mission Impossible II). The view of the red cliffs, canyon and the Colorado River is phenomenal. After a couple of stops & a walk around the viewpoint we moved down the road to Canyonlands Natl Park (Island In The Sky division). Our first stop was to eat our picnic lunch and then on to the Shafer Canyon Overlook. We made the short hike to an area where you could see trails where cattle were moved to the lower canyon to provide shelter in the winter ~ later the trail was made wider to accommodate mining vehicles. Our next stop was a ½ mile hike to Mesa Arch and then another ½ mile hike to Upheaval Dome (an inverted dome a mile wide & 1500 ft deep believed to be cause by a meteor or slow moving underground salt deposits). Either way it was quite a site. Next stop was the Grand View Point Overlook. We hiked on the rim where we could see for miles! To finish off the day we wander into a few shops in Moab and then stopped at the Moab Brewery for dinner.
Tue...Left Moab around 10am and drove 145 miles to Monument Valley where we overnighted at Gouldings RV Park. We were here 5 years ago so we just hung out at the park and hiked to an arch nearby.
Wed...We were parked in a 'pull-through' space so hooking up the car was not an issue. Our destination today is Camp Verde, AZ, a drive of about 240 miles and included many steep up and down grades of 5 to 8%. Thankfully, all went well and the motorhome performed flawlessly.
Thurs...The wifi in the park is inop and management does not know when it will be fixed. Since we depend a great deal on our computer for email and billpay while on the road, we made a trip into a MacDonalds in the big city of Camp Verde where they have complimentary WIFI. This worked fine on Thursday but when we tried it again on Friday, their system was down. Starbucks here we come. While there we were able to get online and get some things done. We made a trip to Cottonwood (11miles from here) to hit the local Walmart. We've met some of our neighbors who are from Oregon, California and Canada.
Sat...Walked to a neighboring Retirement Park that had a community garage sale going. We enjoyed the walk and checking out their stuff. Of course we made our daily trip to town (this time Starbucks) for WIFI. Mike shot a few baskets on the court in the park & then we hit the tennis court where we managed to hit the ball for some exercise. We attended a spaghetti dinner at the clubhouse and then listened to the entertainment – a family group called “Hired Hands”. They played & sang country and some classic rock music for 2 hours. They were very good and played several instruments. One of the members was a young man about 18 years old who was a Black Belt in Ti Quan Do.
Sun...Nothing specific on the agenda today. I have 3 requests for haircuts for people that are leaving soon so today may be the day.

2010-11-01T20:23:00.001-05:00

Cornona Arch

The Train in the canyon

Mike holding on!

Heading South!

2010-11-01T20:20:00.000-05:00

October 28-31 ~ Our Trip South! We headed out on the 28th only to get 65 miles down the road to find out that oil was 'spewing' out the back of the motorhome. The back of the motorhome and the car was covered with oil! We had to turn around and go back to GTF to the CAT place. When they worked on the oil pan in Aug, they had put too much oil in (9 quarts too much). They drained some oil and we were once again on our way at 220p. Instead of making it to Pocatello, ID, we made it 160 miles to Butte where we overnighted at Walmart. Next's days drive was to the Walmart in Springville, UT just south of Salt Lake City. Saturday we drove 200 miles to Moab, UT. Here we stayed at the OK RV Park for 3 nights. Sunday we washed the car to remove yet more oil! We drove scenic Potash Byway 279 and went on a 3 mile hike to Corona Arch & Bow Tie Arch. Corona arch is 140ft by 105ft, one of the largest in the area ~ a beautiful view. It was a great hike where we used 2 cables and climbed a short ladder. While at the arch a train carrying Potash came through the canyon ~ it was a neat site. On the way back we stopped to watch several people canyoneering (repelling the steep rocks). It seems to be the thing to do around here.

2010-11-01T20:00:00.001-05:00

One of the trenches in the crawl space to try and get rid of the water!

2010-11-01T19:59:00.000-05:00

October ...We had a condo meeting on the 5th to discuss our water problems. Not much was accomplished other than to find out it was our problem. Doug, Mike & I spent the next weekend playing in the water/mud in our crawl space. We dug trenches to make the water flow to the sump pump. What a backbraking job ~ you can't stand up down there and the clay was heavy! After a full day of work we finally got rid of some of the water. We then rented a big carpet fan and let it run for a week and then used Doug's grain aerator fan for another week or so!
From there we went outside and started to determine where the water was coming from & dug some more between our condos. After a visit from the builder we determined that 90% of our problem was coming from the grassy area between the units. So on Tuesday we began another dig project. The condo association rented a 'excavator and bought the materials' and Doug, Dad, Mike & I along with the Condo Assos. Chairman began the project of putting in a catch drain and piping it to the gutter drain. To finish our 'dig project' on the 24th/25th we dug down over 4ft in the unfinished landscaped area next to our condo to find the gutter drain there to add a drain pipe. Next spring we will determine what we want to do in that area to catch water before it enters our crawl space.
Also in Oct we were busy packing up the motorhome for our trip south. Luckily the weather held out and we did not have to winterize it before we left.
Mom is feeling pretty good and actually had 4 weeks between doctor appointments. The next on is Nov 1.

September...Dixie's Uncle Don pasted away and she attended the funeral on the 7th in Baker, MT. Aunt Marge flew in from CA & cousin Debbie & Dixie road with Dad & Mom. Even thought the circumstance were sad, we had a very nice time visiting with family. A week later Danny flew back to CA and we attended a funeral for a family friend, Brent Cresswell in Havre. We made another trip to the farm for to attend the Missoula Children's Theater play that all three nephews were in.

2010-11-01T19:57:00.000-05:00

Guppy Visit August 2010

2010-11-01T19:52:00.002-05:00

North Carolina Trip Jul 2010 ~~ The Brandon Teague Family

2010-11-01T19:48:00.000-05:00

The Family Aug 2010

Summer 2010

2010-11-01T19:46:00.000-05:00

The rest of August....We had a great time with Micheala and the kids. We went to the State Fair, Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, fishing and picinicing at Giant Springs, and the Water Park. Danny & Lexi came for a week on the 13th. We all went to the farm for a few days and took in some of the harvest. We took another family photo since we were all together. We had lots of rain for August which halted the harvest for a week or so. We had some motohomer work done at the CAT place in town – oil pain leak & a valve adjustment. The day after we picked it up (20th) we went camping at Holter Dam. Mom & Dad came out on Saturday to spend the day. The weather was nice and we had a nice time relaxing.

August ...We had the motorhome front end aligned and the Crossfire system put back on the tires. We attended another baseball game on the 1st.
We haven’t had very good luck with electronics lately the camera now decided not to work. I guess we will borrow the one we all got for Dad for Father’s Day for Micheala’s visit!
Micheala, Adriana and Dillon arrived on the evening of the 3rd for a 5 day visit.

July ... On the 1st we headed back to Livingston for an FMCA Big Sky Rally. While there we attended a parade, saw the local sites and visited with rally attendees. On the 2nd we drove to Chico Hot Springs and had a great dinner. We left the morning of the
4th and arrived back home in time to attend the Voyager baseball game and the big fireworks show afterward with Mom & Dad.
Mom had a CT scan on the 9th. The results were mixed. The doctor will not give her chemo for time being. Her counts are down and he will continue to monitor her. She has been much better since the chemo was stopped.
On the 11th we started our journey to North Carolina to visit Brandon, Kat, Bailey and Nicholas. Due to heavy flights we left a day early and overnighted in Denver. On the 12th we spent most of the day trying to get on a flight from Denver to Houston. Our intent was to visit most of the day with Ruthie and then visit and stay with Roger and Karen. So must for best laid plans – we didn’t arrive in Houston until 6pm so we borrowed Ruthie’s car and made a quick trip to TIRR to visit with her for an hour or so. Then we headed back north to her house to overnight. We were on our way to the aiport by 630am on the 13th.. We did manage to make it to Raleigh at 11am where Brandon and Bailey picked us up. On the 14th we loaded up the SUV and all drove to to Valle Cusis, NC, just out of Boone. They had rented a 3 story house (cabin) for a week in the mountains. It was beautiful and roomy. Kat’s parents, Mike & Hope arrived later in the day. We had a wonderful week – visiting, hiking Grandfather Mtn & other areas, fishing, browsing an old General Store, touring the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, card playing and EATING!!!! On the 21st we had to say a sad goodbye when they dropped us off at the Greensboro airport. We made all our flight on our return trip and arrived at GTF at 1130pm where Dad was waiting to give us a ride home!
Sometime in early July we discovered once again that we had water in our crawl space ~ I guess it wasn’t from watering our tomatoes. There are several condo units that have the same problem. So far we have done nothing about it ~ we are in denial until they can figure out where it is coming from and how to stop it! On the 22nd we attended a condo picnic where we all became part of the Neighborhood Watch program.
Dad burned his foot really bad while we were in NC (17th) while removing a pan of ribs from the oven. The water/grease spilled on his left foot/toes. It has been extremely painful and slow healing.
After having problems turning our computer on while during our travels we broke down and bought a new computer. We got a great deal on an Acer at Walmart. We will leave the old one at home while we go south as it works fine as long as it doesn’t get turned off!

June ... We road with Mom & Dad on the 1st to Aunt Shirley’s in Seely Lake. We went especially to attend the “cousins” party. Along the way we stopped in Lincoln to visit with family attending George Anderson’s funeral. We stayed with Shirley for 2 nights and enjoyed our visit with family. We took in the Farmers Market, Voyager Baseball games, and Alive @ 5. We played a couple of rounds of golf at Emerald Green.
Mom continues to see the Dr. every other week. Her last chemo was on the 4th. She has had side effect from it and/or other medications (disorientation & confusion).
We decided to go ahead and replace all the tires on the motorhome. Doug bought the 2 that we purchased in Utah on our way home in Apr. Also this month Doug & Mike replaced the air filter on the motorhome.
On the 29th we headed south to Gardiner for 2 nights and a visit to Yellowstone National Park. Doug and Fran followed us on their Harleys! We spend two days seeing the sites in Yellowstone. We got a great close up of a Grizzly and her 3 small clubs as well as numerous Bison, Elk, and a black bear.

May ... Planted some tomatoes, herbs and flowers. This year everything went into pots just in case the watering near the house ends up in our crawl space. Nephew Levi turned sweet 16 on the 14th. Mom is having a hard time getting around due to a gout flare up and a change in pain medication ~ we purchased a transport chair to help. We had the refrig. checked out at McCollum RV and it now seems to be operating OK.

Apr 24 – 30 ...Had a great time at the farm. We celebrated Mom’s 76th Birthday with some friends on the 24th. On the same day we enjoyed seeing Levi in his black tux with red accessories all decked out for the prom. Hard to believe he will turn 16 in a week or so! It was neat to see everyone once again.

2010-04-22T22:16:00.003-05:00

Bannack..this was built in 1874 as the Masonic Lodge but was also used as the school. The school was in operation until the early 1950's.

2010-04-22T22:04:00.009-05:00

Standing on the hill overlooking a portion of the ghost town of Bannack...the first capital of Montana Territory......... 'First Montana Territory Governors Mansion'....we have come along way since then.

Back at the condo in Montana!

2010-04-22T21:51:00.000-05:00

Apr 19 – 22 ...TRIP BACK TO MONTANA. Monday we decided to leave a day earlier than planned so we could drive shorter days. We left at 10a with the intent of getting a little north of Salt Lake City. We ended up with a unexpected stop in Nephi to buy & install 2 front tires. When we stopped for fuel in Beaver we noticed a indentation in one tire (it was pointed out to us by an employee of a tire shop at Flying J) Their cost of a tire was quite pricey so we decided to call a Big O Tire at the next larger town. Once there we determined we needed to replace both front tires. Well, after that 2 hour stop we were on our way just after 5p. We ended up in the Walmart parking lot in Brigham City, UT at 740p.
Tue....We left at 8am and drove to Dillon where we stayed overnight at ‘Countryside RV’. We arrived there about 230p. Once we set up we got in the car and drove 20 miles to Bannack (a mining camp & the first territorial capital of Montana). It’s the 2nds largest ‘ghost town’ in the US. We enjoyed walking around, looking in the old buildings & seeing the beautiful countryside. The area around Dillon is surrounded by mountains.
Wed... we headed out just after 800a. We decided to get off the interstate for awhile and drive via Twin Bridges &Whitehall – ending up on the interstate at Boulder. After a quick stop for lunch we arrived home at 115a. If was a long afternoon - unloading all our stuff and putting it away in the condo. Not sure why we need so much stuff but we were gone for almost 6 months! After putting the motorhome in storage we went to Mom & Dads for a wonderful steak dinner that we enjoyed outside on the patio.
Thur. ..Happy Birthday to sister Denita! Dixie went to Mom’s and cut & colored her hair and helped move some furniture around. This afternoon we caught up on laundry & worked some outside. Tomorrow we are going with Mom & Dad to the farm.

2010-04-22T21:47:00.000-05:00

Mike & some of his 'classmates'
Ruthie & Dixie

50th Reunion in Houston

2010-04-22T20:47:00.000-05:00

Apr 14 – 18 ... Las Vegas & Houston. We arrived in Las Vegas around 330p. We overnighted at Boulder Station hotel/casino.
Thursday we left for the airport around 515am for our 7am flight. That flight was full so we headed to the Presidents Club until the 815a flight. We got seats on that one but we sat on the plane for almost 2 hrs due to a maint. problem. We finally arrived in Houston at 3pm, got our rental car at Hertz and drove to see Ruthie at Garden Terrace in the medical center area. We stayed for an hour and had a great visit. Dixie trimmed Ruthie’s hair (her first cut since it grew back after surgery). We ended up staying at Ruthie’s house instead of Roger & Karen’s due to Karen being sick (never did get to see them). We had a wonderful dinner with Jim & Priscilla (neighbors from Atascocita) at Hasta La Pasta. On Friday we headed back to visit Ruthie. We spent 3 hours with her & sat in on her therapy. Her sister Julie and brother Joe arrived before we left. We defiantly saw some improvement in Ruthie since we saw her last month. She is still really struggling with her voice, but has improved in other area. We attended a small gathering for Mike’s reunion that evening and went with some classmates/friends to a late dinner afterward.
Saturday morning we cleaned Ruthie’s house and backyard area. In the afternoon we visited with Mike & Hope. The Saturday evening reunion festivities were at the Post Oak Hilton in the Galleria. We really had a good time visiting, listening to oldies music, and eating/drinking.
Sunday we headed to the airport at 730a and made it on the 930a flight - Mike even got first class. We made it back to the motorhome at St George about 4p.

2010-04-14T11:57:00.001-05:00

Zion Natl Park - Watchman Trail Hike
Zion National Park - Watchman Trail Hike
Springtime in Utah - the trees are all budding out and the wildflowers are springing up

2010-04-14T11:50:00.001-05:00

Red Cliffs Hike - across from our RV park near St George, UT
Our 'snow' hike - Kolob Canyon Taylor Creek, South Fork

Happy 20th Anniversary to Us - Apr 7th

2010-04-13T16:12:00.000-05:00

Apr 5 – Apr 13 ... St George RV, UT. We left AZ around 730a and made a stop at Trader Joes & In & Out Burger in Las Vegas (last one for the season). With the time change we arrived at our park around 230p. Our view of the red rock mountains with snow covered mountains in the background make a beautiful view from our front window.
On Tuesday the 7th we celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary – had a lovely dinner at the Outback in St. George.
The highpoints of this stop were a visit to Zion Natl Park. We were there 2 yrs ago so this time we went especially to hike. We took the ‘Watchman Trail Hike’. It was 3 miles RT with an elevation gain of 360 ft. The views along the way were spectacular. Once back at the visitors center area we ate our picnic lunch and then went on the short Archeological hike. The next day (Sat) we drove the short distance to the Red Cliffs Recreation area where we hiked into the canyon. We did this hike 2 yrs ago & watched some people rock repel which we were hoping to see again. However, this year there were just a bunch of people there – the scenery & water are still very beautiful. The next day we headed up I15 about 20 miles to the Kolob Canyon entrance to Zion. We started out on the a 5.2 mile Taylor Creek Middle Fork hike when we realized it was one we made 2yrs ago. We turned around and went down the road to the South Fork portion. We made it about a ½ mile in before the snow got too deep and we couldn’t see the trail anymore. We then drove to the end point and went on the mile long ‘Observation Point’ hike (very windy at the top). All this was before lunch which we then enjoyed at the far point of the canyon road.
We made few trips into St George....the last one yesterday to get our oil changed. The weather has been very nice with the exception of the last 2 days (cooler & some rain).
Tomorrow we drive to Las Vegas so we can catch an early morning flight to Houston on Thursday.

2010-04-04T18:38:00.000-05:00

HAPPY EASTER....He has risen indeed!

Happy Easter from Bullhead City/Laughlin

2010-04-04T18:34:00.001-05:00

Mar 30 – Apr 4 ... Ridgeview RV – Bullhead City, AZ. Early on the 30th we headed for Bullhead City/Laughlin area. We managed to make it before the predicted wind got too bad. The first two days were windy but as the week progressed it got much nicer. We toured the towns, did a little shopping and attended the movie “The Hurt Locker”. The movie was good but it was pretty gruesome and left you feeling not so good. It’s sad to think what our troops have to go through for our freedom in this country. On Saturday we met Bill & Gloria at the “Blues & Brews” festival at the Colorado Bell parking lot. We enjoyed the music, a brew and a wonderful muffalata sandwich. That evening they came over for dinner where we enjoyed some steaks and conversation. On Easter Sunday we had a wonderful Champagne Easter Brunch at the Pioneer Casino with Bill & Gloria. We spent a lazy afternoon outside reading. It was a bit windy but the temp is 83 degrees. We are packing up to head to St. George, UT in the morning where we will spend two weeks before heading back home to Montana.
As I post this we are having problems with our Refrig again! We came in from outside and found that it was not working at all and the burner was cold. We shut it off and switched it to gas and the burner is now heating up - I guess we will be making a stop at Camping World in Henderson tomorrow on our way through> I really think we got a lemon refrig.!!!!!

Yuma, AZ Area

2010-04-02T12:55:00.000-05:00

Mar 21 – 29 ...Pilot Knob RV – Winterhaven, CA. On the 20th we left for Pilot Knob RV in Winterhaven, CA (about 8 miles west of Yuma, AZ). Doug and Fran arrived on the 22nd and stayed in an RV spot at a friend’s house. It was a wonderful set up with a courtyard in the middle of 2 RV sites...we enjoyed several hours there! While in this area we made 2 trips to Algadones, Mexico where we had our teeth cleaned and Mike had a Root Canal & a Crown (that was fun!). Everything turned out well and Mike is happy with the work (which was 1/3 of the cost it would have been in the states). Dixie did a few haircuts in the park and we enjoyed the pool a couple of days. We finally saw some days in the 80’s! We took another drive (car & motorcycle drive)to Martinez Lake north of Yuma & a backroad on the return through some California farm land. We really enjoyed our time with Doug and Fran. It’s nice to have someone to travel & tour with!

2010-04-02T12:54:00.000-05:00

Doug, Fran & Mike on our hike on the Santa Cruz trail

2010-04-02T12:52:00.000-05:00

The birds liked our picnic lunch in Chiricahua Natl Mounument

2010-04-02T12:48:00.000-05:00

Mike & Doug ready for their "hangin" at Fort Huachuca

Mike & Dixie at Fort Huachuca near the museum

Saquaro Cactus near Old Tucson

2010-04-02T12:41:00.002-05:00

The Civil War Re-enactment at Picacho Peak State Park

An old Mine in Bisbee

Tombstone Courthouse

Chiricahua Natl Mounment area

Southeast Arizona

2010-04-02T12:34:00.001-05:00

Mar 13 – 20 ... Quail Ridge RV –Huachuca City, AZ. When making the drive from Casa Grande, we stopped at Picacho Peak State park for a Civil War reenactment (the most western civil war battle). We enjoyed walking around and seeing everyone in costume. We met up with Doug and Fran in Huachuca City the afternoon of the 13th. During our week stay there we put on a lot of miles...with them on their motorcycles and us in our car! Our trips pretty much included the whole area - – Sierra Vista, Bisbee, Tombstone, Douglas, Tucson, Nogales, St David, Benson, Padagonia, Sonita, Fort Huachuca, and Chiricahua Natl Monument. The scenery is this part of the country is very picturesque. The weather was a bit windy and it wasn't terrible warm but we really enjoyed our stay in this area!

2010-03-13T10:50:00.000-06:00

Casa Grande Ruins

Our Casa Grande Stay

2010-03-13T10:27:00.003-06:00

Mar 1 – 13 ... Tuesday the 2nds we planned to fly to Houston for the day to visit Ruthie at Garden Terrace. The plan was to go on the 830a flight out of Phoenix. Well, we stepped out of the motorhome at 615a to find out we had a flat tire! What to do now!!! We called AAA and they arrived a little before 7am and we were on our way by 725a. That didn’t leave enough time to catch the 830 flight but we made it on the 10am one. We managed to visit with Ruthie for over 3 hours and then headed back to the airport to catch the 9pm flight back. We made it back to the motorhome by midnight. A long day but we had a great visit.
While in Casa Grande we made a few trips into the Phoenix area. On Saturday we drove to Dixie’s cousin Hal, Sandra and Sofia’s. While there we went to a spring training baseball game between the Mariners & Padres. Tuesday the 9th we went to Mesa and had dinner with 3 of Dixie’s high school classmates (Duane, Diane, Darlene). Had a great time visiting with them. Thursday we drove to Chandler/Tempe area and looked at some used cars as we are contemplating getting a different one. We test drove a Saturn Vue as we think that is what we are looking for. It’s a great tow car and many RV’ers have them.
Dixie spent some of her time throughout our stay doing haircuts. We toured the Casa Grande Ruins one day. The other days were spent doing the usual. The weather is finally warming up! As I am writing this we are at Big O Tires again – we decided to have them rotate the front 2 tires. From here we head south to Huachuca City and the Quail Ridge campground where we will meet Doug and Fran for a week’s stay. Huachuca City is south east of Tucson near Tombstone.

2010-03-13T10:27:00.000-06:00

Sunrise in the Quartzsite Desert

On the move in Arizona

2010-02-28T18:18:00.000-06:00

Feb 21 – 28 ... We did get to play golf and had a great time. Mom even made it through 6 holes before tiring out! We took in the swap meet on Sunday after church. Once we checked out of our park on the 24th we moved the motorhome to dry camp overnight at Site Six, near Mom & Dad’s park. We had a great view of the water. On Thursday afternoon we drove to the Quartzsite BLM land north of town and overnighted there. Friday we headed to Mesa, AZ to Camping World where we had the oil changed in the motorhome. Around 6pm that night we drove about 10 miles further and camped at the Wild Horse Pass Casino in Chandler. Saturday morning we moved on to our membership park, Desert Shadows in Casa Grande, AZ. This was after a stop at Big O Tires (Camping World told us that our tires needed to be replaced ASAP and we wanted to get a second opinion – Big O didn’t concur with them so we won’t be buying tires just yet). We will be in Casa Grande for 2 weeks. Today the 28th is a rainy day. We made a trip to Walmart to restock! Dixie spent the afternoon on Ancestry.com and Mike watched the USA/Canada Olympic Hockey game. It was a great game as the US put into overtime in the last 10 seconds. Unfortunately Canada was able to score the first shot. The sun came out around 4pm so we are hoping for a warmer day tomorrow for the first of March.

2010-02-20T13:19:00.000-06:00

A view of the "tail hook" on the USS Midway

2010-02-20T13:17:00.000-06:00

Joshua Tree Natl Park

View from Two Springs RV Resort in North Palm Springs

More from California & On to Arizona

2010-02-20T13:15:00.001-06:00

Jan 25 – Feb 20 ...The golf tourney was completed without additional rain – it even warmed up some by the weekend. During the last day (Mon) we had to move the motorhome to Desert Pools RV Park. We managed to get back about the time play was over.
Once we settled in to the new park we were able to get together over the next two weeks with our RV friends, bob & Cheryl from Chicago. They were in the same park! We made a day trip to Joshua Tree Natl park with then and stopped at Pioneer Town on the return for lunch.
We drove to San Diego to attend the golf tournament at Torrey Pines & tour the USS Midway aircraft carrier. We completed the day with a nice dinner on the water in San Diego (celebrated Dixie’s birthday since we didn’t go out on her day due to rain).
Dixie went to the Circus with Danny & Lexi and had a great time.
Superbowl Sunday was a full day – started at the College of the Desert Street Fair, hit some golf balls at the Sands Golf Course, went to Bob & Cheryl’s for Superbowl – dinner – and cards!
We went to the movie “Crazy Heart”.
Mike & Ross played a round of golf at Ross’s condo course (Dixie & Janice walked the course with them & kept score).
We visited Bill & Gloria and Bob & Becky one afternoon and got to see Bill & Gloria’s new motorhome.
During all this time Dixie stayed very busy at the rv park doing haircuts...had 11 in one day.
On the 8th we moved to Two Springs RV resort. We were given 3 nights free at the RV Rally – or course it was in exchange for listening to their sales presentation. This park is selling lots to park your RV on. The park was very nice and would be a pretty good deal if you wanted to stay in the Palm Springs area all winter and also if you didn’t already own a home elsewhere! From here we spent one night back at Indian Waters and then on to AZ where we spent 2 nights at Ehrenberg.
On Sunday the 14th we headed to Lake Havasu City where we stayed at the state park for 3 nights. We had a nice view of the lake and a good hiking trail. On the 17th we moved into our coast to coast park, Lake Havasu RV Resort which is on the far north end of town. We will be here for two weeks until Feb 24th. Danny & Lexi came for a visit with Mom & Dad the weekend we arrived. While in Lake Havasu we’ve spent time with Mom & Dad and Jack & Carla several times enjoying dinner, drinks and cards/dice. The weather has been real nice until today which is colder and rainy. We planned to play 9 holes of golf but not sure that will happen.

2010-02-20T13:15:00.000-06:00

Midway Aircraft Carrier

Hike to Flag Mountain

Happy Birthday

2010-02-20T13:11:00.001-06:00

Jan 18 – 24 ... Today, Thursday the 21st, is Dixie’s birthday! Also, this is the week of the Bob Hope Classic golf tournament where we are to help our friend Ross with his golf memorabilia sales. Unfortunately, it has been raining every day and today, Thursday, the round is cancelled. They hope to continue play tomorrow and finish up the five day event on Monday.