October 2011

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!

Harvest in Hogeland!

Kerr Dam near Polson

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

Blue Angels getting ready to FLY!

August 2011

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?

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

4th of July Parade in Butte, America

Party at Jody's on the 3rd!