Minot, ND

We had a lovely time in Minot, ND.  We visited relatives, friends and ex-relatives.  We even took the time to visit the couple that introduced us, which had it not been for them, there would be no "US".  We had a whirlwind trip; that we were seeing some of our family and friends, two in a day.  North Dakota is booming, there is no doubt about it.  They even have to lock their doors at night now.  Never had to do that before.  Their prices are reflecting the inflation of the boom, also.  We paid higher rates for an RV site here than we did almost anywhere in the U.S., last year.  It was ridiculous.  But they kind of have you over a barrel, and they know it.  But at least there is no housing shortage, anymore.  They finally have that problem, resolved.  But the rent is a little steep.  Wages are high, though.  So it all goes hand in hand.  We took the time to drive around Glenburn and Deering, which are the towns that Tom and I grew up in.  They have changed alot and not at all.  Still very small, and dying.  It is sad to see these small towns, falling off the map like this.  We are headed to Bismark to see our good friends.  Talk to you soon.  Patty & Tom

Time in Kalispell

We were in Kalispell for over a week and finally just relaxed.  Our daughter Katie wanted to do all kinds of activities, but their jobs and school and after school activities just did not work into what she had in mind.  To be honest, this was for the best, because it gave Tom and I a chance to unwind and relax.  My grandson Isaiah and I went out on a date.  We went to a movie and dinner.  It was fun.  I got to watch Felecia at two dance practices.  She is fun to watch.  She is taking ballet, now, even if she thought it was lame, this summer, now it is part of her routine.  Katie is catching herself coming and going, literally.  Shawn is working and going to school.  So they are a very busy family.  We are in Minot, ND already.  We send you pictures of family and friends of our visits there, shortly.  Talk to you soon.  Patty & Tom

We are finally on the road again!

Yeah!  We finally left.  Which means we decided we are done working on projects. It seemed like every time we turned around something else needed to be done.  We have been so busy.  Our daughter Jenny got married this August and moved from our rental and moved into our house on Irene Place with her new family.  We are full time RV'rs, now.  We like living this way.  Less hassle. Less stuff to worry about.

That meant doing some serious work on both places.  Felecia, our youngest granddaughter spent the bulk of the summer with us.  She was a joy to have around.  We had our estate sale, boy did we have alot of stuff to get rid of, but I guess after almost 47 years you tend to accumulate alot of stuff.  TeddyBear is our RV dog. He likes living in an RV.  We bought a new dingy tow car.  It is a Chevrolet Sonic 2013 stick shift.  It is fun to drive.  Our first destination is Kalispell, MT. to visit our daughter Katie and family. We will be keeping in touch with everyone via my blog.  Talk to you soon!  Patty and Tom

We sure enjoyed ourselves in Coos Bay and in Portland.

We spent several days with my brother and sister in law in Coos Bay, Oregon.  The weather at this time of year is so beautiful.  The fish is so good there.  YUM!!  We had a lovely visit.  From there we drove to Portland and visited with my Aunt and our darling granddaughter Cydney.  Cyd and I had a Girlie day.  We went shopping, had a pedicure and then went to a Poetry reading, which was really very enjoyable.  She stayed overnight, so we had a slumber party.  We had so much fun, from there we went to Issaquah, to visit our friend Paul, who has been having Chemo for the last year.  He is feeling better, at least he put on good face for us.  We are headed home tomorrow.  So see you all soon.

Leaving Phoenix, Reno & Sacramento behind us.

Between Las Vegas and Reno there are ammunition bunkers all over.  They are just amazing.  It looks like giant gopher hills all over.  The town is Hawthorne.  We went to Phoenix for a quick visit with Tom's sisters Clarice and Kay and then onto Reno to visit with Tom's brother Bill, where we had a slight mishap with the motor home.  Someone in the Costco gas station decided he wanted to to beat us to the exit after filling up with gas and ran into the back of our motor home.  Tom and his brother Bill, who used to be a body man was able to pull things back together so despite the cracks in the back end, if it were a car bumper, the back right corner of the motor home is broken.  It is definitely fixable.  Thank goodness for it does not affect the interior or our driving ability and after Tom and Bill got done working on it, it is not terribly noticeable. We had a nice visit with Tom's brother Bill and his wife in Reno.  From there we went to Sacramento and visited with my brother Gary and his wife Maggie who have new puppies Cooper & Charlie.  They are adorable.  We went to see Tom's brother Glenn and Janelle in Sacramento today.  They took us out for a Thai dinner this evening.  I can honestly say, I do not think I have ever had better food.  It was delicious.  YUM!! Even better than Mexican.  I love Mexican food so that is saying a lot.  We are headed for home so see you soon.

Our time in Tucson

We went to Sabina Canyon and saw a rattle snake.  I walked down on a paved road.  We chose a very beautiful day to do it.  The weather in the morning was in the mid 70's.  It was beautiful out.  My brother Jack took me and Tom to a gun range and taught me how to shoot a pistol.  I tried several.  To say that I am not a very good shot is an understatement.  If I were to be aiming at their chest, I would probably hit the person in their head.  It was an experience.  It was fun.  Tom was a very good shot with all the different guns he tried.  That was actually not very surprising to me.  I am going to try to learn left handed, so this is something I will have to work on.  We have had beautiful weather this whole last week.  We have enjoyed visiting with my brother Jack & Helen all week and now we are headed to Phoenix to visit Tom's 2 sisters.  He has a sister that lives in Phoenix and a sister that has made the trip down from North Dakota.  Talk to you soon.  Patty & Tom

San Antonio

As usual we have enjoyed our stay here and time goes by way to fast.  We came here for Easter.  Our friend Jason was so surprised to see us that his reaction was, "it is not Christmas yet.  Why are you here?"  We just informed him that we had so much fun with all of them this last Christmas that we decided to come back for Easter.  As per our usual our motor home seems to have some kind of mechanical problems when we get close to Texas.  It is like it knows it will get fixed here.  At least this time,the problems were fairly minor.  But this is why we were here for almost 2 weeks instead of 1 week.  We were waiting for some parts to come in.
     We went to the WildLife Ranch and don't even ask what all the different types of deer we saw were.  They sure were pretty though.  We also went to a "Car Showing".  Anybody that wanted to show off there care could.  It did not have to be an antique or a muscle car or a classic restored car, in fact our Geo Tracker would have fit right in.  We thought it was great.  They had a live band, and they do this every 2 weeks here.  It was  fun.
     We went to see Shirley Stewart, a friend of ours, who used to live in Cheney.  She is currently in Silver Tree Nursing and Rehab.  She just had neck and spinal surgery.  She could use your prayers.
     From here we are headed in the general direction of Tucson, possibly Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Talk to  you soon.  Patty & Tom