Here we are, on the road: We’re in Santa Clara, CA

April 14, 2013 Lorraine’s report

Hello from the Elks parking lot in Sunnyvale, CA. Yes, we arrived back here in time for our grand daughter, Kaitlyn’s birthday party. Is she ever excited to see us again. We have such a great connection, she is The Best. We love being here, enjoying the time we get to spend together. Kaitlyn of course wanted to spend the night with us. Even though it was late, like after her bed time, she asked to watch one of her shows, which we did. And even though it was after bed time, she was up bright and early, ready to go the next morning. I don’t know how she does it. To be so young and so full of energy.

Today is Kaitlyn’s birthday party and she is going to the Trampoline place. What fun she and all her classmates will have. But, I’m sure they will all be tired afterwards.

This week is spring break here and we will get to take care of her all week. Not sure what is going on, but we will figure it out. There is a lot to do around here, and we haven’t done some of it yet.

I just wanted to thank everyone that sent Chuck birthday wishes this past week. I didn’t put anything in the blog, but he did enjoy his day. Lewis and Clark was having a “going away” party for all the folks there in Palm Spring. I mentioned to Mary Jo and she was very helpful in getting it together for me. The party was set, and Chuck just happened to have to leave a bit and when he came back, everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to him.

It was also nice to visit with Tom & Dorothy one last time before we left. As usual Dorothy is always busy, but she made time for us, love to visit with you each time, and we will see you “down the road.” Thank you Dorothy!!

Chuck says he thinks we won’t be headed home this year, not sure how I feel about that. Only time will tell. He has a family reunion back in Minneapolis, MN at the end of June. It will be over Rick, our son’s birthday. Neither one of our children will be able to attend. It is so far for both of them to go, and the prices are really high, especially from Alaska.

So that is it for me, happy to be here to spend time with our grand daughter, Kaitlyn and Susy.

See you down the road,

Lorraine

4/14/13 Chuck’s report

Yep, we’re back in the Bay area to visit with our daughter, son-in-law and grand daughter. We wanted to be here for our grand daughter’s 8th birthday tomorrow. We were unable to be here last year due to me working and Lorraine couldn’t make the trip because she was too sick to fly. But we are here now and will be here for a couple of weeks.

Last week we were getting very high winds in Palm Springs once again. We didn’t do too many things that would have kept us outside for a couple of days. We didn’t have our usual afternoon get together with our friends from Lewis & Clark for a couple of days due to the high winds.

Monday Lorraine wanted to have her hair done so off we went to get that completed and pick up a few things at Wal-Mart too. After that, we just hung around the coach, Lorraine made a good dinner and we watched movies. With all the Palm trees in the park, it’s pretty tough to get a good view of the satellites for TV and the high winds make it even harder to keep contact. We kept losing the picture so finally we just put a movie in the DVD and forgot about regular TV for the night.

Tuesday Lorraine contacted Dorothy and asked if we could drive over and visit with them once more before we left the area. They were going to be home so told us to come on over. Lorraine had bought some raffle tickets at the Cancer walk and she had her name drawn for a cooler filled with all kinds of Relay for Life stuff. Dorothy picked up the basket for us and had it at their house plus she had picked up my new Elks membership card we had just paid for the new year.

Lorraine and Dorothy had a good time going thru the basket of stuff, Tom and I were in deep conversation about whatever. It was too soon that we had to leave but had a good visit and look forward to seeing them next time. Thanks Tom/Dorothy for all you do and have done for us.

Later that day we got our contributions ready for the pot luck with our Lewis & Clark friends. We had a good selection of food stuff and after I put some stuff back in our car, Lorraine and others set up a birthday cake surprise for me. As I walked back, they all started singing Happy Birthday to me. I even had a piece of the cake and it was good. Thanks to Lorraine and all the others for a good meal, deserts, good time and well wishes for my birthday.

Wednesday the forecast for the winds was much better so we decided to head out a day early to take advantage of the better traveling weather. We got set up for traveling then walked over to say bye to our Lewis & Clark friends but we didn’t find anyone at their rigs, must have been playing pickle ball or were at the swimming pool. Anyway, thanks once again to all for their companionship and fun while we were with you all.

We had a good trip, the winds were high in places but not as bad as they would have been the prior two days. We did stop at a farmer’s market that we’ve driven by before and always said “someday we need to stop”. Well, this was the someday. It must be better in the fall, wasn’t too much there except for oranges and dried fruit. Maybe we will have to stop by there in the fall '”someday”.

We decided to stop at the Orange Grove RV park in Bakersfield for the night once again. We got set up then drove over to a restaurant recommended by the gal at the front desk. The food was ok but nothing to write home about. But Lorraine and I did have a good birthday dinner, just the two of us like so much of our time in the past 6 years on the road.

I would like to thank all the folks who called or sent emails wishing me a happy birthday. I quit celebrating them years ago but they still keep happening. Next one will make me officially old, I will be eligible for Medicare, if it’s still around and if I’m still here too.

Thursday we got back on the road, a bit earlier than normal and got here to the Elks in Santa Clara. We got set up then headed over to pick up Kaitlyn from school. Boy was she excited to see her Nana, they had a good afternoon together with much laughter and fun. Kaitlyn had to make a couple of new pictures to replace the ones on our fridge. Later, Susy came by after work and we all had a good time before they left for home.

Friday we picked up Katie from school once again and had her for awhile but she was going to birthday party for a school pal so Susy came by to take her to the party. Lorraine and I went into the Elks for a steak dinner, boy was it full. They have steak dinner once a month and everyone raved about the cook, how good he was and how good the dinner was. Although it was good we didn’t get to meet many of the Elk members who were there. Usually folks go out of their way to welcome strangers but we didn’t get that here, not sure why.

Later, Susy brought Katie back so she could spend the night with us. She was up way past her normal bedtime then talked Nana into watching TV for awhile before going to sleep. But it didn’t seem to bother her, she was up bright and early on Saturday morning, ready to go, go, go.

Susy came by Saturday morning, her and Lorraine were planning on getting some mother-daughter time, something they don’t get to do much. I was going to take Katie to the park and Mark was going to pick her up from there. She sure likes having me push her in the swing – higher, Papa, higher was heard many times, ha.

Mark came by and picked her up, she had a play date with a friend from her school then they were going to a minor league hockey playoff game. Kaitlyn was going to have her name on the big screen, wishing her a Happy Birthday and she was excited to see that. And, apparently she likes hockey too, go figure.

Later Lorraine and Susy returned from the shopping trip. They had to warp a few more presents for Kaitlyn, we had dinner then they played Pass the Love for awhile. After a good visit, Susy headed off to her place and we called it a night too.

Kaitlyn’s birthday is actually on Monday, the 15th. She has a party with her school friends at a trampoline place this afternoon. Susy is bringing a birthday cake and such and later we plan on going out to dinner. And tomorrow will be a family celebration on her actual birthday.

Katie is out of school this week for spring break. Because we are here, we get to have her everyday this week, yea. I don’t know what Lorraine has planned but they will have fun for certain, where ever we are or what ever they are doing. They do have a special bond, that’s for sure.

Lorraine and I both have doctor visits this week too. We need to get our yearly visits done, get new prescriptions for the year and such. We signed up to stay here for two weeks but don’t have any firm plans for what comes next.

The weather was getting pretty warm in Palm Springs, up into the 90s most days with the nighttime lows being in the high 60s. What a difference back here with the highs in the low 70s and nighttime lows dropping to the high 40s. But at least there is no rain in the forecast, guess it could be much worse.

Like I said, we don’t have firm plans for when we leave here. Even though we were there last year, we are planning on heading to a family reunion in Minnesota the end of June. We will have almost two months to get there and don’t know what route we will take, there are many possibilities.

And for the first time, we are thinking about not returning back to Washington this year. With us getting our yearly doctor exams down here, there isn’t a real compelling reason to go back this year. Lorraine isn’t too sure about that decision so it remains to be seen but there is the possibility we will not be in the Great Pacific Northwest this year.

Ok, guess I’ll add some pictures and get this posted now.

Lorraine with her basket full of Rely of Life stuff. Dorothy at her house.