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

May 12, 2013 Lorraine’s report

Oh, the time has been flying by so quickly. It is time to leave here at the Elk’s Lodge here in Sunnyvale and head East. But we get to spend a great day with Kaitlyn and Susy. We have a BBQ scheduled for today, no fighting the B I G crowds at the restaurants. We have enjoyed our time here again with Katie & Susy.

We went to the Pow Wow, and on the way there, they had the Relay For Life, so of course, I had to go. We did one lap, then went on to the Pow Wow. Susy and I have gone to the Pow Wow for the past few years; we enjoyed the Fry bread, and this year Susy and I shared a Strawberry fry bread. It was wonderful. Susy thinks we have been going to the Stanford Pow Wow since she went to school and graduated from Stanford in ‘97.

The drums and dancing were all good, as were all the regalia. Some people put in so much work into the regalia, it must take them a long time to get their regalia all together. I didn’t get any pictures of the dancers this year, but it was pretty nice.

Chuck had his doctor’s appointments and is good to go until we get back in October, I think.

I would like to wish all our friends and family once again a Very Happy Mother’s Day. Even if your Mother is not with you, you still remember that still, small voice that was your Mom, encouraging you, cheering you on, praying for you, missing you and needing you. She was the best!

See you down the road….

Lorraine

5/1213 Chuck’s report

First, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. I hope you have a good day! We get to spend our day with our daughter and grand daughter.

Last week we were in Reno and the weather was cooler and rainy. Well, that didn’t let up on Monday or even Tuesday when we left. Sunday afternoon we headed out to visit the Silver Legacy and Eldorado casino. We both had a bit of luck on the slots and were able to have a good time and played using their money too. These are two of the biggest casinos still downtown, along with Circus Circus.

Lots of the old casinos have closed their doors, I think due to all the Indian Casinos opening in all the other states. So people don’t need to travel to Vegas or Reno to satisfy their gambling bug but can stay closer to home. The downtown has lots of closed up buildings and there is for sure less folks inside than what we’ve seen in year’s past. But they say it still is jam packed for the HOT AUGUST NIGHTS car show in early August. We’ve been there at least three times for this and know just how busy it can get.

Monday morning we had to hang around the coach, we were expecting a call from our financial adviser to do our yearly visit. Because we don’t plan on being back there this year, the next best was a “visit” via the phone. We talked a bit and discussed some changes but mostly we are going to stay the course with what we decided year’s ago.

Afterwards, we decided to head back into town one more time before we left. This time we headed to the casino where we looked into staying when we first got to town, the Grand. We had a good time here, found a new machine that we both had a lot of fun playing too, Easy Money or Easy Life or something like that. It had lots of animated activity and a “board” like the old kids game Chutes and Ladders. We must of played them for over an hour.

After we left there, we wanted to check out a new casino we had seen advertised, the Sienna. They have a deal that any money you loose in the first 24 hours (up to $200) will be replaced with free play the next time you visit. Too bad we didn’t check this place out before our last day in town but as it turns out, both of us won there anyway, thank you very much. So we wouldn’t have gotten any free play, it’s always better to win in the first place.

We had entered the free slot tournament every day at the casino where we were staying but neither of us ever hit the top 10. Twice one of us may have even had the lowest score for the day but that didn’t qualify either, ha. But except for a couple of time, we didn’t play the slots here, just walked in, signed up, hit the button for five minutes and left. I think we returned 4 times to see if one of us had a good enough score to qualify but no luck. Oh well, it was free and Lorraine enjoyed it.

Tuesday morning we got things ready to go, I got pretty wet doing the outside stuff in the rain. Just about the time we were ready the rain stopped. But it wasn’t too long before we hit rain as we were heading West through the mountains. The higher we got, the closer the snow level was. We started at 4400’ and knew we were hitting at least 7000’ at the highest pass.

And the higher we got, the lower the outside temperature got. We were in the rain most of the way but when the temperature got to 35F, the rain got a bit “thicker”, we were getting snowed on. We never did get any accumulation on the road but it was sticking on the roadside. But just a few miles later, we started on the downhill side and things changed pretty quickly, the temperature started climbing and the skies started clearing up.

Once we got set up here at the Elks Lodge RV park, we headed out to pick Katie up from school. She didn’t know we were coming in so was surprised to see Nana. She came running over, yelling “Nana, Nana, you’re back”. She was sure excited to see us.

After we got back to the coach, Lorraine made up Mac and Cheese for Katie, one of her favorites, and fired chicken and potato salad for dinner. After Susy got off work, she came by and we had a good dinner and they played games until it was time for them to head home.

Wednesday we headed out to run some errands. Once again, we picked Katie up after school and returned back to our place. Lorraine made a good pork chop, rice and salad for dinner and once Susy got there we had a good dinner and played games afterwards once again.

Thursday I had a return visit to the VA to talk about how my CPAP was working. I have been unable to use it with the mask they first supplied so they ordered two different types for me to use and they will be sent to our mail forwarding place in South Dakota in about 10 days.

We drove from there straight to Lorraine’s doctor to pick up a couple of prescriptions she had called and asked for. Of course, that meant we had to head for Wal-Mart to pick up the new medicine too. But it wasn’t long before we picked Katie up for the afternoon once again. And once again, Nana and her had a great afternoon playing games, coloring and such.

Friday I had my last scheduled VA appointment, I had to get my annual eye check up. They did the normal eye test then dilated them and checked inside. Once again, they were concerned about the flashes I’ve been experiencing so they had to do some extra checking. But they couldn’t find any signs of a detached retina which is what they were looking for so guess that’s good new. Anyway, they ordered me a new pair of glasses which will be sent to our place in South Dakota and I’ll get them when we get our mail sent to wherever we may happen to be at the time.

After I got back, Lorraine and I had a bit of lunch then picked up Katie from school for the last time this trip. We stopped by a Hallmark store where they went through the Mother’s Day cards. Later is was back to the coach for more fun and games. Lorraine made up some chili and I BBQed some hot dogs and we had a very simple dinner. Mark was able to stop by and had some with us too. Later, he took Katie with him so Lorraine and Susy were able to play an “adult” game, Mexican Train. It was after my normal bedtime when we finally finished the last round. It’s been awhile since we’ve played and may have made up some rules but it was fun none-the-less.

Yesterday Susy came by, she and Lorraine were going to spend the day together. They wanted to go to a Pow Wow at Stanford, do some shopping and get a pedicure. They also found the local Rely for Life Cancer Walk too. They had a good day and picked up Katie from her dad’s on the way back. Katie was tired as she had a friend over the night before for a sleepover so even though it wasn’t a school night, we ended it early.

The weather was almost cold when we were in Reno, one day the temperature didn’t even break 50F for the high. And with the wind and rain, we didn’t do any outside activities for sure. But as soon as we got to the West side of the mountains, the skies have been blue and the temperatures have been better. The highs were in the 70s until yesterday when it hit the mid 80s and the night time temps only drop down to the high 50s or low 60s.

Our travel plans are firming up a bit seeing as how we are leaving tomorrow. We are planning on traveling highway 40 through Arizona, Mew Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma before turning North and going through Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota on our way to Minnesota. We have over 6 weeks to travel and explore the sites along the way so we shouldn’t have to hurry. If anyone knows of some things we should see along that route, please let us know. Dave, I just finished re-reading your last post, looking for some advice. I don’t think we want to make the trip as fast as you guy did, however.

Most of this route will be along new-to-us areas so we are really looking forward to seeing this area of our great country. And maybe our weekly blog will now have new things, sights, areas and people to report on. And so once again it will be, Here we are, on the Road.

Here are a few pictures from the week.

Reno pictures in the rain, this time the lights were on the Reno sign.