Our hike on the Araby Trail...Bob Hope's house in the background

On the way down....Bob Hope's house....It's for sale?!?!?!

Leaving southern California!

December 1 - 15...Since we were carless we spent Sunday hanging out. Dixie did a couple of haircuts. At 730a on Monday Danny came back over to our park to pick us up. We dropped him at work and did some shopping. We also went to Ross's condo and checked out the cleaning and took the remaining items out. Guess what???? The car was not ready...there was something broke on the crank case of the new used transmission and they had to take the part off our transmission.... We picked Danny up at work and he drove us back to our park once again! The next day our friends Glenn and Henrietta took us to the car shop to pick up the car. We made a WinCo stop and then back to the motorhome...all seems to works well with the car. Of course it cost more than the original quote ~ $1400 and something! Dixie did a few haircuts this week. Also put some jewelry items in the craft sale at the clubhouse...even sold a couple of things this week!

Friday the 6^th we drove into Palm Springs and hiked the 'Araby Trail'. It was a 1.5 hr hike up 800 ft. It took us to the back of Bob Hope's estate. The houses along the way were quite beautiful and the view of the valley was terrific. After the hike we shopped a bit and then met Danny for a drink at Smiddy's and then across the street to use our Red Lobster gift cards (thanks Doug/Fran).

Saturday afternoon Dixie went to Danny's to babysit Lexi while he went to his Christmas party in Beverly Hills. Dixie cleaned Danny's house and worked on learning her new 11.6 inch Asus computer. We had it, as well as an external DVD drive shipped to Danny's so he got it all set. It's a bit of a learning curve due to Windows 8.

Danny got back around noon on Sunday. Mike moved the motorhome from Desert Pools to Indian Waters RV in Indio where we will be for the next week. It's was also Dad's 80^th Birthday...we will celebrate once we get to Lake Havasu City next Sunday.

On Monday we drove to Riverside for Uncle Don's memorial service. It was held at their church...Hope Lutheran at 11am. It was a very nice service and lunch. Cousin Bob & Paula from FL were there as well. We went to Aunt Marge's afterwords and visited.

On Tue. The 10^th Dixie finished up some Christmas shopping. She also did a few haircuts at this park.

On Thurs. evening we met Jeff & Jewel, friends from our RV group back in MT, at the Cliffhouse in La Quinta. They live in Rancho Mirage in the winter. We had a nice time visiting and enjoyed some fish tacos.

Friday we worked on computer stuff! Dixie went online and completed a lengthy application for health care. Yuk!! Did get signed up with a little credit toward the monthly so hopefully it will go through. Later we went up to the clubhouse patio and attended a happy hour of people from the park. There was a little music and snacks. We had a good time visiting and catching up with people from past years.

Saturday morning we went to the Street Fair at the College of the Desert. We made a few purchases of course. That evening Danny went with us to dinner at Chef George's! From there we made a stop at Hamilton's Sport's Bar.

Sunday it was time to leave the Coachella Valley! We weren't quite ready but we had to get to our reservation for the next month in Lake Havasu City, AZ with Dad. Hopefully we will get back yet this season. The trip today is 175 miles. We made a stop in Parker, AZ for fuel and tried to get propane but there was no one available to fill us. We arrived around 3pm We are in site B31 ~ not too far from Dad's park model. We had some problems with our electric so we didn't hook up....50amp gave us a ground fault error and 30 amp was weak.

 A Church front at the Desert Bar!  Go figure

 Happy Birthday Mike!!!

Dixie's crunched finger....the purple is gone but it still hurts & the feeling is not all back yet!

November 2013...AZ & CA

November...Our week at Ridgeview was pretty busy. Our first night we got together for dinner with Gene & Susie and Tom & Diane (couples from our FMCA chapter in Montana). We went to the movie 'Captain Phillips' that was very good. We attended the BBQ cookoff where we had some great 'Montana' BBQ and listened to some music. We visited with Gene/Susie and Frank/Katherine (Susie's sister). On Sunday with golfed with them as well. The golf game wasn't great as we haven't played since June! 

Tuesday, the 5th we moved down the road 95 miles to Earp, CA to Emerald Cove RV Resort. It's on the Colorado River and looks across the river to Parker, AZ. We lucked out and got a site on the second row from the river. There is no one in front of us so we have a great view of the water. 

Fri. we visited George & Gail (friends from Canada) at their park (Riverland). It turned out they were only about a mile from our park.

On Sat. the 9^th we started celebrating Mike's Birthday a day early! We drove to the Desert Bar...the 6 miles drive off the highway is still as bad as it ever was. We had a fun time listening to the band. We did however decided not to eat there as the lines were long. We opted to stop at the Casino back in Parker where we had a sandwich outside overlooking the river. Later that evening we went over to the RV parks outside bar and listened to some karaoke.

Sunday, Dixie went to church at the park and then cooked a Cornish Hen dinner with all the trimming for Mike's Birthday. Of course we also had to have Birthday cake!

On the 12^th we drove the 47 miles to Quartzsite, AZ . We parked at our friends, Bob & Cheryl's. The sold their motorhome and bought a house in Rainbow Acres, a subdivision about 7 miles out of Quartzsite and they had an rv hook up. We stayed their until the 21^st. While there we made a few trips to town so Dixie could stock up on jewelry making supplies. We also shared a few dinners and happy hours! On the 15^th we went to Silly Al's with Bob & Cheryl and had pizza.

On Sunday, the 17^th we got up early and drove to Lake Havasu City. Danny flew to Great Falls on Friday and drove Dad down to LHC. We all went to brunch and then got Dad stocked up and settled into his park model. We left about 3p to drive Danny back to Rancho Mirage. We had dinner & overnight at his house. It was a 300 miles day!

On the 18^th we spent the day helping Ross pack up his condo in La Quinta. Since I was the only female helping, guess who did all the packing – never dreamed you could get so much stuff in a one bedroom condo??? The 3 guys carried it to the 'pod'. We left there about 530p and headed back to Quartzsite.

On the 20^th we spent our last night having dinner with Jim/Linda, Rick/Judy and Bob/Cheryl. We had great time visiting on the patio! Their place is very nice.

On Thursday the 21^st we drove 143 miles to Desert Pools near Desert Hot Springs, CA. Also that day back home Doug had back surgery back. The day didn't go too well..Doug had complications and a lot of pain, we had car problems and Dixie crunched her finger!! After our arrival when we unhooked the car it would not move forward or in reverse. The only way we could get it to move was to put it in Low gear. We got it to our site and talked to our friends, Glen/Henrietta from Edmonton. They suggested a mechanic they used in Indio. We called and he could look at it the next day. We called our Good Sams roadside service and set up a tow for Friday. Also on Thursday when setting up Dixie smashed her finger in a folding coffee table we have. It immediately turned a dark shade of purple and hurt a lot! What more can go wrong in this one day?

It was late morning on Friday before a service came with a flatbed truck to take the Tracker to Han's Auto Service in Indio 26 miles away. He called later that day and gave us the bad news that the Transmission was bad. We opted to have a used transmission put in and he thought he could have it ready by Wed....(not going to happen)

On Saturday we rented a car for a week in Palm Desert. Danny came and got us to pick up the car. From there we all went to the Beerhunter to watch the Bobcat/Grizzly football game.

Back in Montana on Sunday Doug had to go back into surgery to remove some blood pooling that was causing tremendous pain. He finally got out of the hospital on Wed. (7 days later).

On Monday the 25^th we decided to take the rental car into Palm Desert to do some shopping but guess what???? The keys had gotten locked in the car when we came home on Sat. Here we go again...we called Good Sam's roadside service only to find out our plan didn't cover keys locked in a car! We found a garage in Desert Hot Springs that came to the park and were able to get a rod in the window and push the door opener button. $25 later we were on our way to grocery shop.

On Wed. the 27^th we drove to Aunt Marge's in Riverside. We went to visit Uncle Don at his assisted living house. He was under hospice care and not expected to live. Mike and I went to Marge's where I made pies and a salad for Thanksgiving while Marge stayed with Don. Late that afternoon we also went to visit Mike's sister and family, Buster/Sandy in Corona. We went to dinner and came back to have the desert Dixie made. We overnighted with Aunt Marge.

On Thanksgiving, Don passed away around 130p. Marge had prepped the turkey and dressing so I cooked it all. We had 9 for dinner...Shelly, Lexie, Danny/Lexi, Bob/Connie (friends of Marge & Don), Marge and Mike/Dixie. It was a wonderful dinner and time together, just sad without Don! We went back to the motorhome that evening.

We wanted to purchase a small laptop on Black Friday but didn't want to venture into the crowds so we went online on Thursday evening and ordered it from Best Buy. The car was to be ready on Friday but of course it was not. They had a harder time than expected getting a used tranny. Should be ready on Monday. Our car rental was due back on Sat. AM.

Sat. morning Dixie took her jewelry to the weekly craft show in the park that morning but there weren't many there so 'no sales'. We took the rental car back and Danny picked us up. We shopped a bit and had lunch with him. He took us back later in the afternoon and we barb-b-cued steaks.

 A balloon tribute to Cousin Jay - several more were released and could be seen for miles!

 Oct. 17, 1967 ~ Oct. 18, 2013

Cousin Jay's Memorial

Butte and Our Drive South

October 25 – 31...We arrived at the Butte KOA around 230p on the 24^th. We got set up and then went to Jim and Shelly’s for the evening. On the 25^th Mike stayed at the motorhome and I went to Shelly's where I spent the day. Denita and Family and Doug, Fran and Dad arrived around 5p. Danny flew to Idaho Falls and then drove from there arriving around 8p. On the 26^th we attended Jay's funeral where there were over 500 in attendance. It was a beautiful service and tribute to Jay! After the funeral there was a lunch at 'The Depot'. We stayed there until 530p and then spent the evening at Shelly's. We had a nice time visiting with family and friends...it was just very sad but we reminisced and heard many wonderful stories about Jay.

On Sunday the 27^th we left at 815am in 20 something degree weather (just in time as it snowed later in the day). We drove for 465 miles to Springville, Ut where we stayed overnight at the Walmart. Monday's drive was only 295 miles but it was all in high winds. It made for a very long day. We overnighted at the Casablanca Casino...a good place as the traffic noise wasn't bad. The downside of the day, in addition to the wind was trying to get fuel at the Smith's station. We had to unhook and when exiting the RV I somehow dropped my phone (2 months old) on the pavement....well of course it didn't fair well – the screen shattered in the corner and has a diagonal crack covering it. It does still operate however! All that and we weren't even able to get fuel there as it was too crowded and impossible to get at the pump.

We fueled up the next morning (Tue) next to the casino and hit the road just before 10am. We stopped at Camping World in Henderson where we met up with Bill & Gloria. We visited with them awhile before heading down the road to our destination of Bullhead City, AZ. Today's trip was only 180 miles. We arrived at Ridgeview RV park around 3pm.

Nephew Levi's red Mohawk in memory of cousin Jay!

Most of October 2013

October 1-24...What a busy month it has been! We kept very busy packing up all our stuff to move into the motorhome. Our trip to North Carolina to take care of the grandson got canceled due to the government shutdown. Brandon & Kat's classes in Leavenworth were canceled! We could have still gone to visit but we decided we still had a lot to due to get ready to go south.

On the 4^th we took the motorhome in to Martin's RV to have the motor replaced in the jacks. Dad came back from the farm and we went to dinner at Borrie's in Black Eagle.

On the 10^th I went back to the dentist due to increasing pain in the tooth that I had a root canal/crown on in Mexico last Feb. Well, he x-rayed it and determined that it was abscessed. We made the decision to extract it so I had to start antibiotics and come back on the 15^th to have it removed. It was a difficult extraction (of course) so I had a lot of pain afterwords...in fact still having problems. I went back on the 22^nd and he said it was probably a 'dry socket' so he packed it with Clove Paste and sent me home with more. At this time I am still packing it as it is the only thing that gives me relief.

On the 11th we drove out to the farm. We stopped at the courthouse in Chinook to get Mike's 'carry license' but the person wasn't there to fingerprint him. I guess it will wait until next spring. We attended Tyler's football game in Harlem that night. It was a bit cold but fun! We spent Friday afternoon at Howards house helping Gita go through some of his stuff so they could take it back to Seattle. We also took some stuff to storage. We took a few more jewelry pieces over to Denise's shop in Turner on our way back home on Sunday afternoon.

On the 16^th I took Dad to his hearing test. Denita and Steve came to Great Falls that day to attend Tyler's football game in Chouteau. They stayed overnight with Dad. Doug & Fran also came to town as Doug had an MRI on the 17^th on his lower back. It's sounding like he may need some surgery to fuse some discs. Also on the 17^th we had a meeting with Jodi at H and R Block to find out some tax info. We decided that since we are now leasing out condo we will no longer be doing our own taxes! We all went out to the OP for dinner that evening.

On the 18^th we received very tragic news that my cousin, Jay Bickford was in an accident at work. Him and another guy were trying to reposition a cherrypicker on a flatbed.   It tipped off the flatbed throwing them both out of the bucket. Jay fell 20ft and suffered severe injury’s- head, ribs, lung. Surgery was done on him to stop internal bleeding in Butte and then he was air lifted to Missoula. He died of his injuries that evening. He had just celebrated his 46^th Birthday the day before. It is just so hard to believe he has been taken from us.

On the 21^st we moved into the motorhome and parked it at Dick's RV park for 3 nights. We needed to be able to put the slides out so we could go through everything. We found more 'stuff' to put in storage. We were also waiting for a sensor for our jacks (somehow they didn't have that when they installed the motor). Well of course the part didn't come in so we will be leaving without it and they will send it to us.

On the 23^rd Doug and Fran come to town and we took them out for dinner at the Willow Creek Steakhouse in the Heritage Inn. Steve Keller was playing at the Blue Max lounge so we ended up eating dinner there but with the dining room menu. Fun!

It's Oct. 24^th and we pulled out of town at 1115 am. Destination – Butte KOA for 3 nights. Jay's funeral will be on Sat. and we will head south on Sunday.

 Nephew Shay in the Missoula Children's Theater.  He's the one with glasses

                                                              One of my jewelry pieces

September 2013

September...Tyler and Dad drove to Great Falls on the 2^nd as they both had doctor appointments on the 3^rd. I went with both of them with lunch in between at the El Commodore. They left around 3 and Mike and I headed to our Dentist appointments. It was a busy doctoring day!
On the 6^th we headed out for our last RV rally for the summer. This trip was the 120 miles to Lewistown. We took in the Chokecherry Festival on Sat. (the largest street fairs we've seen in Montana) and the Bale Trail 'What the Hay' event on Sunday. It was a fun weekend!
I stayed busy making up jewelry pieces to put in the Beauty Salon in Turner.
On Friday the 13^th we drove Dad's Motorhome out to the farm. I took the jewelry to Denise's shop and set up a sales display. On Saturday we attended the Missoula Children's Theater presentation of 'Blackbeard the Pirate' in Turner. Shay had a great role as 'Peach Fuzz'. Sunday Denita, Fran and I went through the storage room in the shop and got ride of a bunch of stuff! We went back home on Monday, with another stop at the courthouse in Chinook...this time to license the motorhome. Dad came back to Great Falls with us.
Monday the 16^th Brenda Maloney and Shawna Billmayer overnighted with us on their way to Milwaukee. On Tues. evening Doug/Fran & Steve/Denita overnighted on their way to Yakima, WA to buy a semi truck. We went to the Stein House with them for a late dinner. They left at 630a on Wed. but had car problems just out of Simms. We took our car and met them at Vaughn where we switched cars. We took Doug's car to the shop. The got back to Great Falls late Thurs. evening and left again on Friday. I made more jewelry this week ~ this time for the Sugarbeet Festival in Chinook on the 28^th. Fran is going and offered to try and sell some of my jewelry.
Friday, Dad, Mike & I had brunch at Perkins and then went to a 'Mature Driving Class' in the afternoon. It was pretty interesting and it gives us a little discount on insurance.
We also attended the farmers market on Wed. and Sat.
Sunday the 22^nd was church and spending time getting organized for our move back to the motorhome which will take place mid-Oct.
Monday was a trip to the eye doctor with Dad and then for groceries and gas.
Dad drove to the farm on Tue. (his first one on his own ~ not sure that it was a good idea but we didn't have much say in the matter). Mike had his annual doctor visit and I gave blood. I also made a trip over to Dad's so the repair man could replace a blind cord.
We spent the rest of the week sorting through items going to the motorhome and/or storage or give away! We made a few trips to the MH and storage...glad it is in the same facility.
Thur. we ended up taking our computer to CTR Computers to install additional ram memory ~ we ended up leaving it with him so he could wipe out everything and take it back to it's original purchase state. There was Malware that was slowing it down a lot! Denita/Steve/Shay overnighted with us Thursday evening.
On Fri. we loaded up our spare bed, desk, chair and stools for them to take to Levi. He has an apartment in Missoula that needed furnishing....between all the family he is furnished! We picked up the computer Fri. evening and oh how much better it runs. We do have to reinstall the software that was on it but it is better than trying to remove all the junk! All total it cost $185 but that was much better than what Staples wanted!
Sat. was more running around. Denita/Steve/Shay came back through on their way home. Fran sold 4 pieces of my jewelry to the Sugarbeet Festival in Chinook ~ that's 6 so far! We went to the Stein House of dinner.
Sunday & Monday was spent getting more stuff ready for the move to the motorhome. The list is whittling down. Next Sat. we are schedule to go to NC for a week.

 Alpacas for Sale at the Chokecherry Festival in Lewistown

One of the Hay Bale displays from the 'Bale Trail'

Just inside the Park ~ near West Yellowstone

August 2103

August...On the 2^nd we headed to the farm once again! We had dinner at Denita’s. Jody, Jay and Ashley came from Butte. On the 3^rd we attended Aunt Pearl’s 100^th Birthday party in Chinook. Aunt Shirley came out to Hogeland and we all had a wonder dinner and time at Doug & Fran’s. We headed back to Great Falls on Sunday. Dad stayed at the farm. On Wed. Denita, Steve, Tyler, Shay and Dad came to Great Falls for a doctor appt for Tyler. We all had dinner at Howard’s Pizza.

On the 8^th it was time to leave for another FMCA Rally in Ennis. The next day we drove to West Yellowstone and into the park a short ways. On Sat. we drove to Virginia City and Nevada City. We had another great rally visiting with everyone. We drove back home on Sunday. 
On Monday the 12^th we attended a memorial service for our condo neighbor Bev Knoll. Tues. Dixie drove to Havre to pick up Dad. Denita and Steve brought him to there. We had lunch at Uncle Joes and drove back to Great Falls. That evening we had dinner at the house and then went to Gibson park to listen to the municipal band. 
Dad had an appt. with Dr. Williams on Wed. as well as a couple of therapy appts. On the 15^th we attended our condo association and picnic. After that we picked up Dad and went to Alive @ 5. Friday we went to the Stock Car Races. Saturday we made dinner @ Dads. Sunday was church and breakfast out. The 20^th was a visit to Dr. Pike for a follow-up on his shoulder. Wed. night was music at Gibson park and Thurs. after Dad was here for dinner we walked to the park for the last Alive @5....We seem to stay quite busy entertaining Dad!!!. 
Denita & Levi came that evening (22^nd). On Fri. Dad, Levi, Denita and I left for Missoula. We left Dad with Aunt Shirley at Clearwater Junction and we continued to Missoula. We spent the afternoon helping Levi move his stuff into his dorm room ~ it's amazing how much stuff you can get into a small room! We had lunch at McKenzie River and dinner at the Mustard Seed. Sat. we shopped a bit, had lunch at Red Robin and dinner at the Missoula Club. John Anderson was working at the Mo Club so we went in to see him....it was extremely busy since the “Root Festival' was going on the street outside. We left early Sun. morning and drove to Seeley Lake to pick up Dad. We said hi to Shirley and Jay and left for Great Falls. Dad went with Denita to the farm. 
We spent the last week doing the normal stuff. We took in the last music night at the Library Park. Mike took the motorhome in to have the noise in the jacks checked out ~ of course it has to be the motor that is going bad. Guess that will get fixed before we head south. I ordered glasses online but they didn't fit too well. After having them adjusted 4 times I sent them back to have them checked out. The pressure sore on the nose just hurt too much. I am now waiting to hear from them and will most likely order a different pair....the downside to ordering online ~ you can't try them on. The price is definitely the upside!!!! Another summer month is gone!!!

 A print at Dr. Williams office..."Chief of the Medical Staff"

 Buffalo from the range near Ronan

Deer in Aunt Shirley's yard...tame or what?

July 2013

July...Boy is it nice to be done packing and moving! On the 2nd we drove out to the farm with Dad & Elaine. We stopped at the courthouse in Chinook and licensed the Tracker. We had a wonderful 3rd and 4th picnicking at Doug & Fran’s and other neighbors. We checked out Doug & Fran’s house/garage addition. It’s coming right along. The evening of the 4th we sat up in what will be the master bedroom and watched fireworks in all directions. The big show was God’s fireworks of lightening. Around 11pm it started to hail and pour rain. Unfortunately there was damage to some of the crops.

We went back to Great Falls on the 5th. On the 6th we helped Elaine’s sister and brother-in-law (Lynn & Ken) move into their new home in Great Falls.

Dad had his post op and pre op appointment with the Dr. Williams, the surgeon on the 10th. We spent the rest of that week prepping for our garage sale which we held on Sat. the 13th. We got rid of quite a bit of stuff and the rest went to Goodwill!!! We took our small proceeds and went to dinner at Mary’s Tavern near Vaughn.

Unfortunately the next day was spent helping Elaine move her stuff out of Dad’s condo and later out of the motorhome and boat. They are splitting and she will be going back to Lake Havasu.

On Monday the 15th I drove Dad to Chinook to meet with Doug, Fran and the lawyer. Dad is selling some of his land to Doug & Fran. After that stop we visited a bit with Aunt Pearl and Helen Stevens at the Villa.

Dad had his right carotid artery surgery done on the 17th. Denita came up that day and Doug & Fran came up the next day. He ended up having to stay an extra night in the hospital, getting out on the 19th.

We left for another FMCA RV rally on the 18th. This time it was held in Ronan. We had a great time and while there we visited with Russ and Cheryl at their home in Polson. On Sunday we left and headed for an overnight at Aunt Shirley’s. We had a great visit with her and headed for home on Monday. We were about 20miles out of Great Falls when we met a couple of large gravel trucks...you guessed it – 2 rock chips in the motorhome windshield and some on the front cap (it sounded like a hail storm). Of course it was the side that we just had replaced a year or so ago.

The 2nd half of the month kept Dixie pretty busy taking Dad to therapy 3 times a week. We also attend a couple of Voyager games. Dad and Lexi came on the 20th and spent most of the week at the farm. They left on 27th after 2 attempts of getting on a flight. Dad, Mike and I went to the Horse Races that afternoon at the State Fair. Later we went to the night show that Elaine gave us tickets for. The act was Kip Moore and it was a more rock than country so we left a bit early. We took Dad to the Rodeo on Wed. the 31st. Another busy month gone!

Brandon taking his oath at his Lt. Colonel premotion

Brandon making his 'speech'....Congrats!

 Brandon giving Father's Day gifts to Mike & Mike...Flags that were flown in Afganistan in their honor!

 Nicholas showing off his 3rd place medal after the 10 mile run!  Congrats!

Bailey after Graduation with his parent and us!  Congrats!

June 2013

June...Another busy month of Dad's doctoring, traveling and packing up the condo! On the 3^rd we attempted to fly to Fayetteville, NC to attended our grandson, Bailey's High School graduation and Brandon's promotion ceremony. Well we made it as far as Washington, DC that night. We got messed up out of Great Falls...only one seat so Dixie took it. Mike arrived in Denver on the afternoon flight – hence we could only get as far as DC. We did make it to Ft Bragg and the Teague household on Tue. morning. We had a great week with the family and extended family. Bailey's graduation on the 5^th was very nice and we had a wonderful dinner at the Japanese place afterwords. The next day Brandon and grandson, Nicholas ran in the Army 10 mile Run. They both did great and Nicholas beat his Dad. He also got 3^rd in his age group which was excellent as it was 13-19 yrs olds and he is 14. Then on Friday Brandon was promoted to Lt. Colonel. That was an awesome site and we had a wonderful party celebrating his accomplishment. We headed back home on Saturday which turned out to be another overnighter...this time in Denver. We made it back home on Sunday! Time for more packing before the next trip! We rented a storage facility and started moving stuff there, to the motorhome and some stuff to Doug & Fran's condo.Dixie has kept busy going to doctor appointments with Dad & packing. He had surgery on the 18^th to clear the left carotid artery which the doctors felt caused the stroke. He will need the right side done in July. He came through the surgery well (it was pretty risky so we were thanking the good Lord alot). We were scheduled to go to our FMCA RV Rally in Billings on the 15^th. We did end up going on the 16^th and stayed there until we knew Dad made it through the surgery ok. We then left on the 18^th for the International RV Rally in Gillette, WY. We were there until the 23^rd. We had a good time there attending classes, shopping the vendors and visiting! It rained and hailed while we were there and over 2000 motorhomes were parked on grassy ground. Needless to say it was a challenge getting out of there on Sunday due to the mud!!! Many RV's got stuck so we waited around until about noon and finally made it out. It was quite a site to see. There were wreckers and trucks all over pulling RV's out of the mud. Since we got such a late start we overnighted in Harlowtown and got back home early Monday morning. This was the last week to pack so we were busy little beavers. We sold our living room furniture and the TV stand on Craigs list and the people that are leasing bought the washer/dryer and dining room table and chairs. Luckily Doug & Fran came up twice this month with the pickup and helped move some of the bigger stuff. The rest Mike & I moved with the Tracker and Dad's SUV. Oh and there were more doctor appointments!We finished cleaning the condo on the 29^th and we turned over the keys on the 30^th. Boy are we glad that is over with! We are staying at Doug & Fran's condo in Great Falls for the rest of the summer. They are building on/remodeling their house at the farm so they are spending most of their time out there. We really appreciate being able to stay there. We will be making a few other motorhome trips this summer as well. We were glad to see this month come to an end!

 Nephews...Levi and Shay (with Dad's dog Nico) at Gramdpa's hospital room.

 Nephew Tyler running the hurdles

Mom's gravesite the day before Memorial Day

May 2013

May... The motorhome is stored...at least until June 15^th. Dixie is back working at Frans a day or two a week. We went to the Crusin the Drag car show on the 4^th. We have been busy getting the outside patio but together and planting tomatoes and a few flowers. We jumped in and put the house for Sale or Lease on Craigs List on the 6^th. Also we made some flyers and bought a yard sign. Now we will see what happens!

Dad & Elaine arrived home on the 6^th so we went over there that afternoon and helped then unload everything from their motorhome...we like unpacking so much that we had to do it again. Dad just purchased the motorhome in Lake Havasu before they left. It is a 2004 28ft Itasca Sunova that they will use to pull the boat. After unpacking they took us to the OP for dinner.

Everything changed on Friday, May 10^th as Dad had a stroke (just 4 days after arriving home). Thank God that Elaine was there with him and recognized the symptoms – the ambulance came and he was at the hospital within 30 minutes. He received the TPA injection which is called a 'clot buster'. At first he was not able to speak and the right side was not working. He spent 4 days in the hospital and then 2 weeks in the rehab portion of the hospital. He ended the month with in home therapy. The speech is better and the right leg is working ok – it's mainly the right arm/hand that he has limited movement of.

Also in May we attended Tyler's divisional track meet that was held here. Bill & Gloria came for a visit. Before we actually got the 'For Sale/Lease' sign in the ground we had a couple that called and was interesting in leasing. We also had about 3 people look at it to buy. When the couple came that wanted to lease, they really liked it and gave us a check....so that is what we will do! We will be out by July 1...yiks!!!! Mike & I went to the farm for a couple of days over Memorial Day weekend. We made a stop at the bank in Havre to set us a new account for the condo lease and then the

Blaine County Court House to get the Ford licensed there. It was a very busy month...starting our packing and going back and forth to the hospital.

Snow in the Mountains near Salt Lake City

Our Trip Home!

Apr 26^th – 30^th...We aired up our tires when leaving the rv park and were on the road around 730a. We made a fuel stop north of Vegas and drove 372 miles to Payson, UT. We overnighted at the Walmart (actually it was a Starbucks across the road that had closed). The Walmart parking lot was pretty full! On Sat. the 27^th we drove 420 miles to Dillon with a fuel stop in Idaho Falls. We intended to wash the motorhome in Dillon so we drove into town before going to the rv park. When getting to the car wash we realized the steps/landing they had was not tall enough so that we could wash the roof....so since the wind was blowing & rain was predicted we decided not to wash it. We went back 4 miles to the Countryside RV park and spent the night. We drove home on Sunday via Twin Bridges and intersected with I15 at Boulder. We arrived at the condo around 130p. Then the fun began...unpacking! Five hours later we finally had most of the stuff out but not put away. The worst part was thing that we may be doing this plus more all again if we sell or lease the condo. We had everything pretty much done by Monday evening. We decided to leave the motorhome at the condo until the 1^st since the temp was in the 20's on Mon & Tue. We also had a hard time finding a storage location for the MH. Dick's RV park, where we have stored it for 5 years, was full. We moved it to the Sportsman Storage that is just about a mile down 36^th (across from the watertower). It will be nice to have it closer to the condo.  

Mike @ the Hofbrauhaus in Las Vegas

The Hofrauhaus - design to look like the original in Munich, Germany

 Lunch @ the Oatman Hotel...check out the walls!

The Burros in Oatman...Mama & Baby

Bullhead City/Laughlin & Las Vegas

Apr 14^th - 26^th ...The 62 mile trip to Bullhead City, AZ was good. We fueled up at Sams Club in Bullhead and killed sometime in the store as we could not check into Ridgeview RV park until noon. We got a site facing north so the sun wouldn't be as bad. The park is not very full as Rvers are heading north. We decided to stay 9 nights instead of 14 due to the hot weather coming. While there we went to a couple of  Laughlin casino's to listen to some live music...Tropicana on Monday evening, Riverside on Wed. afternoon and the Avi on Sat. evening. We also went to the outlet mall a couple of times. On Fri. the 19^th we drove 35 miles to Oatman where we met Dad and Elaine for lunch. Oatman is an old mining town that is on old Route 66. Several Burros roam the streets that house several gift shops. We watched the 'shoot out' at noon and then had a good lunch at the Oatman Hotel. The restaurant/bar is wallpapered in dollar bills that customer have been putting up for many, many years. The guy that was singing during lunch also told the history of Oatman...very interesting! We managed to leave without purchasing anything but a few 'rocks' for Dixie's jewelry making. The weather while in Bullhead was pretty windy and cooler for quite a bit of the time. The last few days were HOT.

On the 23^rd we drove 89 miles to Las Vegas...it was very, very windy most of the way. We had to stop a couple of times to secure the awning as it wanted to pull away from the motorhome. We had cross winds on 163 and then went into the wind on 95. We stopped at Camping World in Henderson to buy some replacement step covers and while there we asked it they re-strung window shades. They didn't but they gave us a name of a local 'mom & pop' that did. We checked into Duck Creek Rv Park (Passport) around 1130a. The sites at the park were very short so we had to move a couple of times. We were given different info by different staff – when it was all said and done the gave us a card for a free night stay (it really wasn't that big of a deal). We called the guy that fixed the window shades and since he was able to do them we decided to stay 3 nights instead of 1 so we could get them fixed. We had to take them down and take them to his house (a bit of a job). It was a bit pricy ($130 for 2 shades) but seems to be the going rate and not something we were willing to tackle. We made a couple of trips to Trader Joes to stock up. On Thursday we picked up the shades and then drove down 'The Strip' and had lunch at the famous Peppermill Restaurant/Lounge. We also made a stop to see the Hofbrauhaus. It is a replica of the original one in Munich Germany that we went to in the early 90's with Roger & Merlene (was it 93 Merlene?). Of course while we were there Mike had an $8 beer – I don't recall the prices being that high in Germany..haha! We went back home and got the window shades back together and hung back up...that was a job! We will start our trek home on Friday!

Mike & Jack enjoying their Lake view from VanVoast's deck

Lake Havasu RV Park - our last week in LHC

Apr 8^th - 13^th ...On the 8^th we said goodby to Campbell Cove RV park but not before we paid $105 in electricity for the past month! We moved 4 miles down London Bridge Road to Lake Havasu Rv park (Coast-to-Coast membership pk). Unfortunately we have no WIFI at our site so we go to the clubhouse or use FoxFi with Dixie's phone.

On Tues. afternoon we went to Elaine's to' doggie' sit Nico for that evening and Wed. Dad and Elaine went to Las Vegas.  All went well with Nico and Dixie cooked dinner for all on Wed. We drove around to scope out more houses but decided to not look at the inside of anything else for the time being.

Thur. morning Dixie and Elaine went to a brunch hosted by Dillards for the women of the Moose. We had a nice brunch and fun checking out the makeup and lingerie. That afternoon Elaine hosted a 'Wig' party. We had lots of fun trying on all kinds of wigs...being the hair person I am, I had to purchase one!

Friday we decided we were running out of time and we must file our Income Taxes (they were done online a few weeks ago but we had to hit the button to send them)....that hurt a lot – not hitting the button but paying the $$$!!!!!

On Sat. morning we went to Elaine/Dads where Dixie cut their hair as well as Judy S. wigs! We later went back and took fixings for Taco's.  It is our last night in Lake Havasu City. It is once again in the 90's and getting too hot to sit outside. We move to Bullhead City tomorrow where it will be just as warm with a forecast for upper 90's starting late next week!  It just might be time to start moving north!!!!

Happy 23rd Anniversary!   Brunch @ The Golden Nugget Atrium

Dad & his baby, Nico!

 Mike at the London Bridge

 Dixie...not in London, England but the London Bridge @ Lake Havasu City

 Our Hike through "The Crack"..it was a bit narrow in places!

 This is actually Roger/Val's boat but it looks just like Dad's

 Doug & Fran on our boat ride through the Gorge

Cactus in bloom on our hike

Lake Havasu City, AZ..Campbell Cove RV Park

Mar 8^th – Apr 7^th...WOW, where does the time go?

On the 8^th we moved the motorhome 3 miles down the road from Elaine's to Campbell Cove RV park – site 6. We have a site for a month and it faces the lake. We found the problem to be that we had no shade in the front (where the view is) and it has been in the 80's & 90's. We settled in and then went to the Eagles with Doug, Fran, & Dad and Elaine for Fish. We also met Jack & Carla Van Voast and Roger & Val Golden there. The next day Dixie had another bout (or a continuation) of the stomach virus that lasted 6 more days. We didn't do much that week except go to the Moose for a Pork dinner that Elaine cooked.

On the 14^th Dad took the boat out. All of us and Jack & Carla went aboard and made a nice trip to Havasu Springs near Parker Dam where we stopped for lunch. There were lots of 'spring breakers' out and about on the water – we even watched some jump from a cliff into the water which was around 60 degrees. Doug & Fran got in the water for a short time...burrr.. but didn't cliff jump!

On St. Patty's Day we went to church, the swap meet, to Van Voast's and then Dugen's for dinner.

On the 20^th we went to Sara Park and hiked for 3 hours through 'The Crack' and to the Arch. It was a neat hike. That evening we all went to Van Voast's for dinner. Dan/Amy Hutton and Golden's were there as well.

On the 22^nd Dad had shoulder surgery to repair a torn Rotator Cuff. It ended up being more damaged than the doctor thought so he will have a slower recovery than expected. He will wear a sling for 1 month 24/7 and then wear it overnight for another month.

On the 23^rd the girls went to a Lunch/Style Show at the Moose. Elaine modeled!

Sunday, the 24^th we went to church at the Islander with VV and Dugan's. Afterwords we all went to breakfast at Papa Bears. Later it was dinner at Dan/Elaine's with D/F, VV and Dugan's – celebrating Elaine's Birthday a bit early.

The 25^th was another boat ride – this time, the other direction, up the gorge to Pirate's Cove. We ran into Golden's on their boat along the way and then again at the Cove.

Doug & Fran left for home on the 26^th! It was also Elaine's Birthday. That evening we went to her friend, Patty's for dinner.

On the 27^th we checked out a couple of RV parks and then went to the Beachcomber to see if our Canadian friends, George & Gail were around. As it happened they were having a little gathering so we stayed!

Good Friday (22^nd) Dixie went to church at noon. Danny & Lexi arrived that evening for the weekend and we dined once again at Dad/Elaine's.

On the 23^rd we colored Easter Eggs, cooked a bit and then went on a boat ride through the channel and around the Island.

Easter Sunday we went to church at the Island and then to Dad/Elaine's for dinner. We had 15 there. (VV, Golden's, Patty & her Mom, and other friends of Elaine's).

April 2 we went to Roger & Val's for dinner/drinks. We enjoyed their new winter home and the sunset/lake view!

On the 3^rd we walked the channel area. We met Dad/Elaine and then took the shuttle boat across to the Casino in CA where we had lunch.

Bill & Gloria Brinkman spent the weekend in Lake Havasu so we cooked dinner at Dad/Elaine's for them on the 5^th. Then on the 6^th we went to their new Motorhome for drinks and then to dinner at Scotty's for broasted chicken...Mmmmm!

April 7^th – we celebrated our 23^rd Anniversary by going with Bill & Gloria to Laughlin, NV to the Golden Nugget for their Champagne Brunch. It was much fun!

Also during our stay in Lake Havasu City - Dixie did some work for Fran... and we spent quite a bit of time checking out the Real Estate market here. Just 'thinking' about selling the condo in MT and finding something down here. (reverse our current life)

We were scheduled to go to Needles, CA for our next stop but we decided to stay in Lake Havasu for another 6 days From there we will move up the road to Bullhead City, AZ for 2 weeks. By then maybe the weather will be warm enough to go home!

 The view from our room at Costa Sur - we enjoyed watching dolphins and whales!

 Sand sculptures on the boardwalk

Live sand people!

Enjoying our 'street food' 

 Churros...Mmmmm Good

 Bus from El Tuito

The pork for the 'street taco'

 Church in El Tuito

Alahandra & Mya gettting mango on a stick with hot sauce 

 Doug & Mya

El Tuito Square...Danny is taking the photo