Days 73, 74 - Bishop,  California, and HOME!

I honestly was going to post a short piece to the blog last night, but Geri and I went for a late walk, as it had really been to hot to go earlier, and by the time we got back, Don was getting ready to go to bed!  Without my typist and editor, I was out of luck.  So, let me fill you in on the last days of our journey.

We left the lovely Sparks Marina RV Park a little after ten, and connected with highway 395 heading south.   Every time we take this route, they have completed more of the freeway extension; someday, Don says, it will extend all the way through Carson City!  He also says that we might not be around then.  We passed by Topaz Lake, where we had spent a few pleasant days some years ago, and reentered the State of California.  We had to stop at the inspection station, where they check to see if you're bringing in any foreign fleas, or something.  The lady at the station obviously wanted to meet me, 'cause she came aboard on the pretext of wanting to look in our refrigerator.  She presented me with some very nice treats, and spoke to me in a very complimentary way.  I think she wanted me to  come home with her. 

Shortly after leaving the inspection station, we had another visitor, an Officer of the California Highway Patrol, who was also very pleasant and appreciative of my good disposition and manly good looks.  He spent quite a while with us, looking at documents that Don presented him with, and doing a lot of writing on a pad.  I'm not exactly sure what it was all about, but it was all very amicable.  We bid him goodbye, and continued down the 395, which is quite a beautiful trip with mountains on both sides and lovely wild rivers along the road.   We stopped at a rest stop, and immediately noticed a couple with a dog that had been at the Sparks Marina with us.  The dog was a rather small lady, about the size of my Aussie buddies, and we were told that she was a Swedish Cattle Dog!  She was very sweet, and seemed quite intelligent until we saw her trying to catch flies in her mouth; I think that's a waste of effort, as she rarely caught them, and they couldn't be much of a treat, anyway.

Shortly after the rest stop, we pulled into our stop in Bishop, the Highlands RV Park.  The weather was very hot, and we kind of hibernated in the coach until it cooled off later in the evening.  As I mentioned, Geri took me for a long walk, and we met quite a few people and some nice dogs.  One of them was a really big Goldie, by name of Cody, who must have weighed 120 pounds!  He was really nice and friendly, and we had enough time to exchange quite a bit of personal information.  When we got back to the coach, everyone was pretty tired, and we all went to bed soon.

This morning, Don and I were both up early, though I chose to go back to sleep while he browsed the Net.  Geri got up a little later, and Don asked her if she wanted to have a discussion about where we were going today.  The short answer was NO.  She pointed out (rightly, in my estimation) that we could come to Bishop to visit anytime we wanted to, and that should be at a time of year when the weather was decent.  Our destination today was to be Ventura.  Don was impressed with the logic of her argument, and agreed immediately. 

The ride home was uneventful and not really too scenic after we left the Owens Valley.  We made a brief refueling stop in Mojave, continued down the 14 highway to the I-5, which took us to our homeward highway, the 126.  We pulled off the highway and disconnected the truck near a place where Don and I frequently go for walks, and I was really excited by the familiar smells and sights! 
Geri took me with her to the house in the truck, and I was overjoyed to see my dear friend and Temptress, Debbie, coming over to welcome us.  Don showed up shortly with the coach, and positioned it in the driveway; Geri and I went over the field at the school and met up with our human and canine friends, and I was particularly glad to see Barb and my buddies Alice and Cooper.  Back at the house, there was some effort made at unloading the rig, but tiredness soon set in and it was decided that tomorrow was another day.

Don once told me about one of his favorite movies, about a little girl from Kansas (I've been there!) who is swept away by a tornado with her dog to a strange and far-off land, where she had some amazing adventures.  When she finally found her way back to her home and her family, she could only say, "There's no place like home!" I understand that feeling;  though I really enjoy our travels, meeting new people and reuniting with old friends, seeing new places and just being close to my human partners, I always am overjoyed at returning home to our usual routines and familiar places.  I hope your day was a joyful as mine!

Day 72 – Sparks, Nevada

Hardly an ordinary day for me; after a short and early walk with Don, we all got into the truck and drove just a little up the street to the Desert Hills Animal Hospital.  I did my pop-up dog routine at the counter, and greeted the staff with a big smile and a wagging tail.  I knew why we were there, and had no fear of what they needed to do for me.  The Vet was a very nice guy who talked to me a lot so that I would understand what he was doing; he took a big needle and poked it into the blister on the underside of my right ear flap, and sucked all of the fluid that had built up out of there.  He was very gentle, and it didn’t hurt a bit.  He told us that a Goldie was part of his family, too, and he had great admiration for our breed.  After he put some medication on the deflated blister, he felt it advisable to fit me with an elastic head covering that held my ear flap open with some gauze over the spot where he poked me.  I didn’t much care for it, but if he thought it was needed, I wasn’t going to argue. 

After we left the Animal Hospital, Geri and Don took me for a walk down at the lake, but when I found a nice spot to roll in, they stopped me, ‘cause they didn’t want me to disturb my head covering and get anything nasty in my ear.  Wasn’t really much of a walk.  We went back the coach, and Geri started running around with the vacuum cleaner, which is really noisy.  Don didn’t much care for it either, and he went outside to clean off the front of the coach, which was covered with bug carcasses.  A while later, a car pulled up in front of the rig, and my good friend David (Craig) got out of it!  He was on his way to the Reno airport from his job in Winnemucca, and he stopped by to visit and have lunch with the folks.  I was really glad to see him, ‘cause I wanted a second opinion from a Doctor as to the need for the head covering that was really starting to bug me.  He told me that I should wear it until the blister stopped draining and there was no more stuff coming out of it.  I thought that was reasonable. 

They went to lunch at a BBQ joint not far from the RV Park, and were back fairly soon; they said the food was great, and they had so much that dinner would not be served tonight.  So much for my plates.  After Craig (David) left to catch his plane, they took a hike for the nearest money machine place, and left me to nap in some discomfort from my headdress.  Before they returned, I did an evaluation of the need for continuing to wear the thing, and decided that I could dispense with it.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my paws back far enough on my neck to remove it completely, but I was satisfied to get it rolled back from my head, a much more comfortable situation.  They got back a bit late, with respect to my meal time, and saw that I had made the decision that the thing was no longer necessary; their inspection of the ear verified my evaluation, and Geri got it off my neck.  Regarding their excursion, they told me that Geri had won enough money out of the machines to keep me in food for two months.  I felt pretty good about that. 

Anyway, my dinner was served a bit late, I got my usual treats, and a nice walk with Geri.  A bit of a trying day, in some respects, but I know that my health and welfare is very important to my partners in life, and I love and respect them for the care that they give me.  I’m a very lucky dog in many ways; but they’re very lucky to have me, too!  We’re on the road tomorrow, heading south to the Owens Valley.  We’ve been there before, but we haven’t spent much time in Bishop.  We hope to correct that now, and I’ll tell you about any adventures we have tomorrow!  See ya then!

Day 71 – Sparks, Nevada

Another day, another three hundred or so miles, another RV Park, but this time one of my favorites.  We’re at the Sparks Marina Park, where the grass is phony, but the walks are great.  You’re not even allowed to pee on the phony grass, though I think that rule has been broken a few times.  But when we’re here, we always walk over to the big lake and the beach, where there is a lot of beautiful, real grass, and always some people who want to meet me.  I’m pleased to hear that we plan to stay for a couple of nights.

The trip today was windblown, and Don had to fight to keep a straight course frequently.  It’s really kind of scary what a heavy gust of wind will do to what Don describes as nearly five hundred square feet of motorhome.  We made a flawless fuel stop in Winnemucca, then pulled into a rest stop to let me stretch my legs and get comfortable.  We met a family from Utah there, and talked about travelling with dogs.  Geri and Don assured them that travelling with me was very pleasant and virtually trouble-free, especially if you are doing it in a really big coach.  Geri told them about when Buddy and I used to travel with them in the van, and when we got to a motel that allowed only one dog, we’d have to take turns going out for walks, so that the two of us couldn’t be seen together. 

After our arrival in Sparks, when we had all gotten settled in, and I had my dinner and assorted treats, they left to get their dinner at a local New York style pizza place.  They came back raving about it, said the pizza was great, and were proud that they had almost finished the thing.  That’s something I don’t really understand; if you have food in front of you, you should eat it.  If you don’t, someone else might!  Then, you don’t have any more food until the next meal shows up!  This is something that every dog understands, and I’m really surprised that humans can’t grasp the concept.  Maybe I need some lessons on Human Behavior. 

The thing on my ear has gotten big again, so I guess I get to go the Vet again tomorrow.  Shouldn’t be a big deal, I almost always enjoy it.  Whatever happens, I’ll fill you in tomorrow!  G’Nite!

Day 70 – Elko, Nevada

Short post tonight, as nothing much happened other than putting miles on the coach.  Got another good early start, partly as a result of a rather short walk for me.  But Don was getting gobbled up by mosquitoes, and he got my permission to return to the coach sooner than we would have.  After a well-executed fuel stop in Evanston, we sailed into Utah and crossed it non-stop.  We love Utah, and think that it is one of the most beautiful states in the country, and we go there often; so, we now consider it to be “local”, and subject to being ignored during transcontinental trips.  We did see some territory that we hadn’t experienced before, and, of course, it was really lovely.  I was in my couch resting place, with a big window to look out of, and enjoyed most of it, except when I occasionally nodded off.  After Salt Lake City, unfortunately, the scenery turns to salt and salt water, resulting in good sleep time for me.

We got into Elko in the mid-afternoon, and almost immediately got into another stupid time-change squabble.  Thank Dog it’s the last one we have to go through.  Skillful negotiator that I am, I was able to get my dinner early, so that they could leave to visit the local money machines with a good conscience.  When they returned, I noted a lack of joyous exhilaration in them.  Geri told me later that she had left Don in charge of her machine while she went to the Ladies Room, and when she returned, he presented her with a certificate worth two cents.  She wasn’t pleased with his performance.

Again, warm-ups for dinner, and I got some measly leavings out of it, but that’s the breaks.  At least I continued to win the time-change battle.  Think we’re off to Reno/Sparks tomorrow, hope they have better luck there.  Hope your luck is good, whatever you’re doing!

Day 69 – Lyman, Wyoming

Sorry excuse for an RV Park, sorry excuse for a morning walk.  Couldn’t even find a decent place to roll.  The only excitement was seeing one of those little animals on the other side of the fence, standing on his hind legs and chattering at me, like he was daring me to chase him; if it hadn’t been for the fence, I would have!  Don tells me that they’re called Prairie Dogs!  Somebody went way wrong when they named these critters, ‘cause they don’t have anything in common with dogs at all.  They live in holes in the ground (which smell really grungy), they aren’t even as big as a Yorkie, and they don’t have a proper respect and love for humans.  I think they’re annoying.

We got another early start, not as good as yesterday, but pretty good for us.  The weather was not too hot, so the chassis A/C did a good job of keeping us cool.  Before we got to Laramie, we saw the Lincoln Monument, which was erected many years ago to commemorate the opening of the Lincoln Highway, which Don says was the very first transcontinental highway in the country.  Our I-80 pretty much follows the route of the old highway, and the monument is placed at the highest elevation that the road reaches, over 8,000 feet!  We had visited the monument the last time we were here, so we didn’t stop this time. 

After a couple of hours on the road, Don pulled into a rest stop to wash the bugs off the windshield, and Geri took me over to the grass, where I was finally able to do some big time rolling.  There were some people having lunch at a table nearby, but I didn’t want to bug Geri too much, so I didn’t go running over to them.  We got back on the road, and I napped for the rest of the trip, waking up when we pulled into another KOA.  I looked around and saw that the place was almost all nice green grass; things were looking up.  We got a nice pull-through spot with a view of the Wasatch Mountains out the front windows, and Geri took me out for a stroll while Don got the rig set up.  Yeah, pretty nice, kind of makes up for Cheyenne. 

The weather here does appear to be a little unsettled, with occasional rain squalls and bursts of wind; we may get another thunder/lightning show tonight, which will thrill Don.  Geri’s come to the conclusion that he was deprived of violent weather in his childhood, making him crave it now, in his dotage.  Regardless, I’m sure we’ll be OK whatever the weather is.  Recycled food tonight, minimum plates; oh, well, you can’t have everything!  Catch you tomorrow!

Day 68 – Cheyenne, Wyoming

I think I’m having a flashback.  There it is, the same oppressive heat and humidity, the RV Park paved in the sharpest gravel money can buy, the lack of any place to go and run free in beautiful green grass; I’m back in West Texas!  Fortunately, we’re out of here tomorrow morning, continuing our trek westward.

I wish we were back in the place we started out from this morning, in Nebraska.  That whole park was grass, acres of it, with lots of interesting corners and holes in the ground worthy of investigation.  On our walk this morning, Don and I walked the whole park, and I was busy bounding from place to place, sniffing plants I’d never encountered before, checking holes for the presence of subterranean dwellers, and rolling gloriously in the sweet grassy meadow.  I even got going on a crazy dog routine, until I realized that there was no one there to appreciate it except for Don.  It really was one of the better walks we’ve had recently. 

Our gang set some kind of a record, for us anyway, in our departure time; we sailed out the gate of the park just a little after 8:00 AM, heading west on I-80 once more.  I should point out, though, that our fellow overnighters in the park were all long gone by the time we heaved anchor.  We were happy with what we had achieved.  We were blessed by a relatively cool morning, and the fact that Don had coerced the generator into functioning with the forward air conditioning unit to get some real cooling in the front of the coach.  We were two thirds of the way across the state when Don remembered that the generator will stop getting fuel from the diesel tank when the tank drops below one-quarter full, which we were approaching.  We instituted an emergency fuel stop, but the generator gave up the ghost just as we were pulling into the fueling island, and Don couldn’t convince it to renew its functions once we were filled up again.  Oh, well, it wasn’t that hot up front anyway, and the chassis A/C was still working OK.

Unbeknownst to me, we crossed another time zone before we left Nebraska, and we pulled into the Cheyenne KOA on Mountain Time.  This always messes up my schedule, and my requests for food and treat items is always met with this attitude of “You really don’t know that your request is an hour early due to a time zone change, but we’re here to explain it to you so that you know that your request is not being ignored, but, due to your ignorance of how time zones work, we will delay honoring it we know it is really time for it.”  Stuff it, really.  It’s no sweat off your brow to give me what I’m owed when I say it’s due, and you know that I won’t ask for it again!  So, just do it, and stop trying to convince a dog that he should understand time zones!  OK, I’m glad I got that off my manly chest.

Geri and Don went off on a big foraging trip, and came back with tons of stuff from the stores; you’d think we were going to be on the road for another couple of months.  Don cooked up one of his good chicken dishes, and I enjoyed some succulent plates as a result.  There are thunder clouds on the horizon, and I expect there’ll be some fireworks tonight again.  That’s OK, doesn’t bother me.  We’ll be on the road again tomorrow, even though Geri and Don love Cheyenne, but they’ve spent some time here on a previous trip, and feel the need to keep moving.  We’re going to try for another early start tomorrow; I’ll let you know how well that works!  Sayonara, all!

Day 67 – Henderson, Nebraska

Well, here we are, where Don wanted to wind up tonight after four hundred miles of increasingly insufferable heat and humidity that made me want to dive into the nearest river to cool off.  And you know I’m not a water dog at all, preferring to wade and go for a modest swim in a calm lake or river if in the mood.  But I would have done anything to cool off this afternoon.  When we stopped in Des Moines for fuel, Don got the generator going, but it was up to its old tricks, and wouldn’t take on the electrical load, so he couldn’t run the air conditioning units like he wanted to.  So I laid in front of the chassis AC unit, which wasn’t putting out a whole lot of cool air, and panted a lot. 

When we finally got to Henderson and the Prairie Oasis RV Park, we tied into the park’s electrical system and got all the A/C units going, but they weren’t a whole lot of help, with all the humidity and heat that they had to combat.  But a couple of hours later, the weather changed totally, a nice cool breeze came up, and the temperature started to come down a bit.  Geri helped out by going up to the office and getting us all ice creams, including a beef flavored iced dessert for me, and I didn’t object to the fact that there was no real dinner tonight. 

Don decided to head for the showers, and when he came back to the rig, he saw that there was a thunderstorm moving north of us, with a lot of lightning and some thunder, though it was a long way away from us.  He came and got me out of the rig, and the first thing I saw were a bunch of flickering lights in the grass, moving around in no particular order; Don told me that they were called fireflys, and I shouldn’t try to catch them, because I really wouldn’t be able to.  I was much more interested in the cool breeze and the grass, as it satisfied my need to reduce my bodily temperature.  I did enjoy watching the lightning displays in the distance, and I got to introduce myself to the guy who had just pulled in next door in a very nice looking rig.  Don was asking him how far he had driven today, and was a bit crestfallen to learn that he had trekked about 470 miles from central Missouri today, and seemed not the least bit tired or impressed by his mileage. 

Anyway, it was a pleasant end to a trying day, laying in the grass and watching the lightning displays and the fireflys, and listening to Don cursing the little bugs that were infesting his Scotch.  I can only hope that tomorrow is a bit more pleasant, temperature wise, and that we wind up in a RV Park as nice as this one.  See ya manyana!

Days 65, 66 – Davenport, Iowa

I have to admit that I neglected to post on the blog last night because I didn’t have anything to report that was of interest to me.  Yeah, some stuff happened that I observed, but it really didn’t connect with my view of the world.  So we got new tires on the rear wheels of the coach; so what?  So Geri and Don had a highly sinful breakfast at a place called Grandma’s; quite factually, nothing in it for me.  So we put on over 250 miles on I-80; literally, a snore.  Am I getting to be a little self-centered?  You be the judge!

Today wasn’t really any better, but maybe I’ve got myself to blame.  Don and I had a very pleasant walk around the perimeter of the RV Park, and the grass was very nice for rolling and walking.  There’s a huge field of green beans next to us, and they smell really  good.  When we got back to the rig, Geri and Don were talking about what they wanted to do here in Davenport, and they were in agreement about wanting to see a museum at the Rock Island Arsenal; whenever I hear the word museum, my eyes glaze over, ‘cause I know that I’ll just be going along for the ride, with little or no quality time for activities that I might enjoy.  So, I pretended that I wasn’t feeling all that well, and convinced them that I would be better off staying with the coach.  So, I got an afternoon of snoozing in the air conditioning, which isn’t all that bad a deal. 

When they returned home, they had lots of stories to tell me about the things they had seen at the museum and a bunch of other places.  Like the huge collection of pistols, rifles and machine guns that covered the walls of the building, weapons from every country in the world, almost, and going back to Revolutionary War times.  It turns out that the Arsenal was responsible for the design and development of most of the small arms used by the United States Army since the Civil War (which, I understand, wasn’t all that civil).  There were displays of artillery pieces that the Arsenal was involved in building, and a bunch of exhibits concerning the construction and growth of the Arsenal.  Don was particularly interested in the history of the facility, ‘cause his mother and father worked at an Arsenal, too, when they lived in Benicia.  And, of course, he had to point out that Benicia Arsenal was even older than Rock Island Arsenal.  To which I felt like responding, “Yeah, but Rock Island is still in business!”  But, nice guy that I am, I didn’t.

They also visited an outdoor display of artillery from various wars, including a huge cannon designed to fire an atomic bomb far enough so that when it detonated, the gun crew wouldn’t be casualties.  Don took a photo of it, and I’m sure he’ll post it.  They stopped at a house on the Arsenal grounds that had belonged to a Col. Davenport, for whom the Iowa town was named.  He was a fur trader in the early 1800’s, a partner of John Jacob Astor.  The house had been renovated very well, and they got a guided tour from one of the volunteers working there.  They also stopped by the locks on the Mississippi River and watched some ammonia barges pass through after almost grounding themselves at the entrance.  The bridge from the Rock Island Arsenal over to Davenport was built in 1896, and is still in service!  Cars travel on the lower deck, and the upper deck has railroad tracks; Geri said she might not want to be on the bridge if a train was running over her. 

A lot of this information was of some interest to me, and a lot was not, but I pass it on anyway in case you might find it fascinating.  After all, that is a reporter’s job.  More importantly, Geri took me out for a nice long walk in the coolness of the evening, while Don was fixing some seafood pasta, which ultimately resulted in some tasty plates for me.  Don and I worked on the blog, watched a little TV, and we all got to bed early.  Big travel day tomorrow, shooting for 400 miles.  Wish us luck!

Day 64 – Elkhart, Indiana

You may recall that I said something yesterday about staying in the air conditioning most of the day today.  Well, I was right, but not the way I thought it would be!  I had a pretty short walk with Don this morning, after which he put me right into the truck.  Geri joined us, and we were off down the road . . . to a grooming for me!  I had almost given up hope of ever being bathed and groomed again; they had been trying to line something up for me since we were in New Hampshire, but it never worked out.  So, today I got my Spa Day in a very nice establishment not far from the RV Park, in cool air and warm water, after a very well done trim on my whole carcass.  The people there were very pleasant, and complimented me on my warm and friendly disposition. 

While I was engaged at the Spa, apparently Geri and Don were making the final arrangements for the tire installation tomorrow morning.  Don says that it went well, and they expect to be out of the tire shop and on the road early tomorrow afternoon.  After their tire shop visit, they found their way to the new RV and Motorhome Museum, which had been under construction the last time they visited Elkhart.  They say it was really impressive, a lovely building with excellent facilities and great displays.  There were RV’s from as early as 1913, not much more than a trailer that contained a table and benches that converted into a bed.  Don was particularly impressed with the GMC motorhome of the mid-1970’s, which he thought was really well designed and possessed a lot of the features that are found in today’s coaches.  He also liked the “Car Home” that was built for an actress named Mae West, from the 1930’s; I got the feeling that he was impressed with her talents.  Geri thought that most of the beds looked really uncomfortable.  Don insisted that Geri take a photo of him embracing a cutaway model of the engine that we have in our coach, the Cummins ISC; she thought it a bit ridiculous, but went along with him, anyway.

When they left the museum, they came directly to my spa to pick me up, and were very pleased with the way I looked (and smelled).  I didn’t know, but Geri had discovered that I had developed another thing called a hematoma in my right ear flap; I’d had one on the left side a year or so ago, and they had gotten it drained and treated by my Vet in Ventura.  They decided to get immediate treatment for it at a local Veterinarian, and we wound up in the Animal Care Center – North Vet Clinic in Elkhart.  The people there were extremely pleasant and friendly, and the air conditioning was wonderful!  My Vet was a lady, Dr. Wallace, and she was very sweet and gentle with me.  After my treatment was finished, she told me that I was the nicest patient she had all day! 

Back at the coach, Geri and Don got some chores done, in preparation for an early departure tomorrow morning.  Geri took me for a nice outing when the evening cooled off, and Don and I worked on the blog.  There wasn’t much in the way of dinner tonight; I got a confession from Geri that they had gone to a Bob Evans restaurant for a late breakfast, and had absolutely pigged out on some of their favorite breakfast treats.  They were obviously trying to atone for this.  So I have to suffer with no plates to clean up?  A Dog’s Life, that’s what it is.  Tire and Travel Day tomorrow; I’ll let you know how it goes!

Day 63 – Elkhart, Indiana

More excitement than we really needed this morning.  In the early morning, I heard some rumbling outside, and I knew it was thunder and lightning; this didn’t really bother me, ‘cause Don has explained to me now it works and how we’re very safe from it.  Then it started to rain, a sound I’m very accustomed to.  I went back to sleep very easily, until Don got up and started moving around, making coffee, turning on the TV, and generally making a disturbance.  He had only been up for a half hour or so when the storm started to intensify, with increased lightning, very heavy rains, and some heavy wind gusts.  With all the recent tornado activity in this part of the country, we started to get a little concerned.  All the noise got Geri up, too, and she whipped out her iPad (or iPhone, I can’t tell one from another) and found that there was a Severe Weather Alert for our area.  Out the window, we saw one of our fellow campers wrestling with his awning, trying to get it stowed before the wind took it away.  The rain was pouring down, the wind was howling, and there seemed to be constant thunder.  The TV went out for quite a while, and Don was watching to see if our shore power was maintained. 

The storm continued for a couple of hours, and only started letting up around eleven or so.  Don got his big scrub brush out and started scrubbing down the coach, hoping for another shower to rinse it off.  Too late, he just succeeded in spreading the dirt around so that it was more obvious.  Geri got the laundry together and headed down to the laundry room to get started with the wash.  Don took the opportunity to work on some of the items that he was going to have done by local techs, and got enough of them done that he decided not to have any work done locally, except for the tire replacement, which he got some bids on. 

After lunch, Geri and Don had to do some shopping for equipment for the coach, which they were sure they could find here in Elkhart.  They asked me to go with them, and, though it was getting pretty hot outside, I agreed to.  We turned out going from store to store to store trying to find the parts Don was looking for, and no one had them!  The funny thing is that the main thing he was looking for was a light fixture that is made in the city of Camarillo, about ten miles from home!  We did get a good tour of Elkhart out of it, though; it looks like they’re doing a very nice job of renovating their downtown area, with a really nice theater and other upgrades of older buildings. 

When we got back to the coach, it was dinner time for me, and time for Don to start dinner for them.  He cooked up some bratwurst sausages, which he served with red cabbage and Bush’s Beans.  Made for some very good plates, except I didn’t taste much bratwurst.  We noticed a steady stream of AirStream trailers coming into the park during the evening, and by sundown there were several rows of them in front of us.  Looks like an AirStream convention!  Don is pleased to see these fine trailers being cared for so well, as they really are attractive.

No work scheduled for tomorrow that I know of, so they should be doing some touring, probably to the new RV Museum that was under construction the last time they were here.  Personally, if it’s as warm as it was today, I think I’d rather stay in the air conditioning.  If it works out that way, I’ll interview them and give you a full report on their wanderings tomorrow night!  Ciao, all!

Day 62 – Elkhart, Indiana

Short blog tonight, typical travel day, no real excitement. Underway about eleven, fuel stop that went pretty well, Don spotted a “Girls Gone Wild” motorhome going east on I-80.  Got into the Elkhart RV Park about 2:30, and it was just as hot here as it was in Bellevue; maybe even hotter.  Geri hauled me out of the coolness of the coach to meet a gaggle of three Goldies from North Carolina who were visiting locally, one of them a cream white lady who was very pretty, the other two were guys, a little older than me.  Nice folks, nice dogs, but I was glad to get back into the A/C. 

Don made the discovery that my blog has been picked up by an Indonesian Golfing magazine, for some reason.  They must be getting really short on news!

Not much of a dinner tonight, leftovers and watermelon, though I did get my share of melon.  I understand that we’ll be going through some maintenance work here, including maybe a new set of tires on the rear wheels.  Hope that we have some time for fun things, too, and maybe even a bath for me.  Whatever happens, I’ll keep you up to date!

Day 61 – Bellevue, Ohio

Kind of a ho-hum day for me, although Don and I had a nice walk in the morning, with some really fine grass for rolling.  They had some morning programs that they wanted to see on the TV, so there was no rush to get on the road for touring.  When they finally did get ready to go, it was obvious that my presence wasn’t going to be required, out of concern for my welfare in the hot weather.  While I can fully appreciate their desire to keep me out of harm’s way, I still would prefer that they would find a fully air-conditioned vehicle that we all could enjoy in perfect comfort.  Don’t get me wrong, I do love the truck; my private compartment, in decent weather, is all I could ask for.  But it does occasionally limit my ability to accompany them on fun tours.  Well, enough of that.

They finally headed out a little before noon, and I watched a little TV and napped a bit.  About two hours later, they were back from their mini-tour of Sandusky.  Concerning the city itself, Geri and Don were in general agreement that it had obviously seen better days, but that there were some obvious attempts to improve the appearance of the place, mostly successful.  They disagreed strongly on the lunch that they had shared; Don was greatly pleased with the quality of the fish (perch) sandwich that they got at a waterfront takeout joint; Geri was unenthusiastic after one bite, and brought hers home for Don to eat at a future date.  They do have their differences. 

Geri took me out for some visiting and socializing with our neighbors, which I always enjoy, and we had some very pleasant encounters.  The heat didn’t bother me that much, ‘cause I tried to always stay in the shade of something.  When we returned to the coach, Don was planning a little excursion for the late afternoon to some of the small towns close to our campground.  Some clouds had come in, and the temperature had dropped to the point where they decided that I could come with them, so it was into the truck and on the road.

Don had found out that the part of Ohio that we were in was called the Firelands, because most of the land had been given by our very early Government to people from Connecticut whose homes and farms had been burned by the British during the Revolution.  Some of the older homes in the little towns we went through looked as though they have been moved from New England!  Our principal target for this tour was a town called Milan, which they tell me is the name of a big city in Italy.  When we got there, we found it to be a very attractive small town, with a compact downtown area loaded with Victorian era brick buildings, surrounded by neighborhoods of well kept and restored older homes.  One of the homes was very special, as it was the birthplace of a very famous American inventor, Thomas Edison.  Don tells me that he was the driving force in the development of electric power for widespread use in homes, shops and industry.  He wanted to tell me about Edison’s battles with Nicola Tesla, George Westinghouse, and the Government, and the eventual victory of alternating current, but Geri cut him short and he had to stifle. 

On the way back to the Lazy J, we stopped in nearby Bellevue, and looked over the collection of railroad equipment in the local Rail Museum.  The Museum is on the grounds of the estate once owned by Henry Flagler, who was a partner of J. D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil, and who did a lot for the development of Florida.  We headed back to the coach, and Geri fixed my dinner, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  A little later, Don warmed up some leftovers for their dinner, and it looked like they really enjoyed it; I know that the plates were excellent (steak and pasta leavings)!

Tomorrow we travel to Elkhart, Indiana, where our coach was built some years ago.  I understand that we’re going to have some work done on the rig there, and we’ll probably be there a few days.  I kind of remember it from the last time we came through here, maybe six years ago, when we were getting a new windshield installed in the La Palma.  It wasn’t much fun for Buddy and I, ‘cause we were staying in the parking lot of the shop that was doing the work.  I hope we don’t do that this time.  Whatever happens, I’ll be reporting it for you!

Day 60 – Bellevue, Ohio

A thunderous start for our travel day today, complete with some rain, which the locals say is needed.  Don and I had a relatively short walk this morning, as we all wanted to get our act together and get on the road before the weather became worse.  We did get going a little before eleven, which is doing OK for us.  Heading west on I-80, Geri made contact with the Lazy J RV Park, where we are currently hanging out, and got our reservation.  We entered Ohio and cruised down the Turnpike ($15.80 worth) until our turnoff about 50 miles short of Toledo.  Garmy helped us find the Park very easily, and we were all pleased to see how grassy it was and how large the sites were.  The only problem we found was the satellite access, which was a little spotty, creating some interruptions in service.  Not that I care that much, but I truly want them to be happy in their camping circumstances, and if they can’t obtain 472 channels of TV broadcasts, they are less than pleased. 

After completing their setup, I was left to nap in the rig while they went shopping in Bellevue, which apparently was successful; they came back with many bags of groceries, apparently none of them for me.  Geri got my dinner ready, while Don started preparation of their food, which was a pasta dish with Italian sausage, mushrooms, bell pepper, and sun dried tomatoes.  They were smacking their lips over it, and I got my turn when the plates needed cleaning up.  They were right, it was great! 

Geri got Don to move the coach forward a few feet, hoping to get a better grab on the satellite.  In doing so, we seem to have alienated our nextdoor neighbor, who ran inside her coach and shut the door as soon as our engine started.  Oh, well; at least the move worked, and we have super TV reception.  Geri took me for another nice walk, and the Park Manager, who was closing up the office, recognized me and gave me some very nice treats.  I’m such a charmer! 

I don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow, but I don’t think anyone else does, either.  All I can say is, whatever happens, I’ll report it!  Vaya con Perros!

Day 59 – Emlenton, Pennsylvania

Today was tour day, and a long day it was.  We really shortened up our usual morning routines, and got on the road a little after ten.  We headed north up into Pennslvania’s Oil Country, and landed in Oil City in time for lunch.  No, really, that’s the name of the town, Oil City!  It’s right in the middle of the oil production area, and was the early consolidation point for oil shipments heading down the Allegheny River.  The downtown area has many old office buildings dating from the late 19^th century, including one where the Rockefeller oil monopoly was started.  We all thought that it was a very attractive town, and Geri and Don selected a restaurant downtown for their lunch.  They thoughtfully had brought mine with them, and I had it in the truck.  They came back from the restaurant claiming that they had been served the absolute best cheesesteak sandwiches that they had ever eaten.  I understand that this is a Pennsylvania thing, but Don had told me that they had originated in Philadelphia; my rudimentary geography tells me that we’re at the other end of the state!  Well, I’m glad they enjoyed their lunch.

We then continued north to the original oil discovery area, in Titusville, and stopped at the town park where I was allowed to depart the truck and stretch my legs.  It was a pleasant place, and we wandered around looking at the memorials and historical markers that had been placed there over the years.  Back in the truck, we did a driving tour of the town, viewing some lovely old homes and churches, and finding a motel entirely composed of cabooses from the railroads that served the area.  Cute!  Don was pleased to find a huge building that had been a boiler and oil equipment manufacturing facility, and later made naval guns and parts for ship engines during both of the World Wars. 

We found our way out to the site of the original oil well drilled in the United States, known as the Drake Well, for the guy who drilled it in 1859.  It’s really a museum site, with lots of displays of oil well drilling and production equipment, and a very realistic reproduction of the actual equipment that Drake used to drill the first well, or so Don tells me.  My level of interest in this is a bit less than Geri’s, which is substantially lower than Don’s.  The thing that excited Geri the most was a display in the museum building that extolled the virtues of fluorescent light bulbs as a means of preventing global warming.  I thing we have a photo of her demonstrating her enthusiasm over this presentation. 

We returned to our temporary home via a detour to Foxburg, where they had dinner last night.  They felt the need to take some pics of the Country’s oldest golf course and the American Golfing Hall of Fame at the Club House of the Foxburg Country Club.  I’m not totally sure, but I have a feeling that their need to document their presence has something to do with some of their relatives who play golf, in lots of different places, but haven’t played on this historic course.  Or maybe they just thought it was a neat thing.  I don’t know. 

On our way back the coach, we stopped at the local truck stop restaurant, which advertised America’s Worst Best Apple Pie.  They have strong feelings on this subject, having experienced the famous apple pies of Julian, California, and judged them to be the finest that they have experienced.  Geri bought a couple of slices of their pie, and we took them back to the rig.  After she took me out for a pleasant walk, she went to the Park office and purchased some of the Hershey’s vanilla ice cream that they are very proud of.  Back in the coach, she topped off the pie slices, which they said were as thick as the hamburgers they had last night, with the ice cream, and they both dived in.  There was mutual approval of the quality of the pie, but two thumbs down on the ice cream, which they said didn’t have a strong enough vanilla flavoring.  The pie, they judged, was very good, but fell a bit short of the Julian variety.  Well, that’s our excitement for the night.

We are back on the road tomorrow, apparently to some place in Ohio.  I remember a campground in Ohio where old Buddy and I had a lot of fun chasing through the woods after squirrels, and I tried to climb a tree to catch one!  I’d like to go back to that place!  Whatever happens, I’ll keep you up do date on our fun and foibles.  Sayonara, guys!

Day 58 – Emlenton, Pennsylvania

Today started out pretty routinely, with Don getting up early and scanning the computer looking for places to go and things to see in the area of Bellefonte.  He was zeroing in on a place called Penn’s Cave, where they take you through a series of caverns in a boat.  He figured he could sell Geri on that.  Then he heard Geri’s calling from the bedroom, asking why the TV went off.  He quickly discovered that all the power from the park receptacle was off, and that this was a problem throughout the park.  This didn’t concern him a great deal, ‘cause he knew that if the outage continued, he could just start up our generator and we’d have plenty of power.  Well, a half hour later the power was still out, so he coaxed the generator into starting up.  It ran OK, but, for some reason, didn’t produce any power.  Another problem to put on the list.  Don immediately called for a high-level meeting with Geri, and they agreed that we had to plan on pulling up stakes here and relocate further down the road.

We were about halfway through our departure drill when the power came back on, though Don said the voltage was very low.  We continued our preparations, and were on the road a little after ten.  They had selected a campground about 120 miles down I-80, in a town called Emlenton.  Geri had told Don that we should take Exit 45, that information coming from her Smart Phone.  Don followed her directions, and we wound down a curvy road into downtown Emlenton, drove the length of

Main Street

, then came to a stop as the street ended at the Post Office.  The Captain requested that the Navigator take a new reading on her sextant and chart a new course for our intended port of call.  Well, he didn’t really put it that way.  Anyway, Geri called the RV Park on her Dumb Phone, found that we could either climb a very steep and curvy grade or go back to I-80 and run down to Exit 42, where we should have gotten off.  Don voted for retracing our steps, but he had to disconnect the truck from the coach in order to get turned around and out of Emlenton.  So, with Geri leading the way in the truck, we headed back to the highway, drove 3 miles, and found the Park almost immediately. 

We got set up and were relaxing in the coach’s air conditioning, there was a knock on the door; it was the Park Manager, informing us that we had a bad leak in our water system, and water was pouring out of the bottom of the coach.  Don knew exactly what was wrong, and how to fix it; just turn the valve that he had used to relieve the pressure on the hose back to the normal position, instead of directing the water flow to the storage tank, where it was now running wild.  It was a quick fix, but he was really embarrassed about it. 

Don took the truck into town to get a wash, and he came back with a load of literature about the region.  Turns out that this is oil country, the place that the first oil well ever was drilled.  It still produces quite a bit of oil; Don says that he read recently that Pennsylvania was the fifth largest oil producing state in the country.  And this little town of Emlenton was the headquarters of Quaker State Oil, one of the first oil conglomerates.  There are other interesting features, like the Golfing Hall of Fame, and the oldest golf course in the country that is still in use.  We might do a driveby on those.  Should be good touring tomorrow.

Geri and Don went to dinner at a place right next to the Allegheny River in the village of Foxburg, following the recommendation of the guy at the RV Park.  They loved the food, and didn’t produce a scrap of leftovers for me. 

Back at the rig, we immersed ourselves in Caylee TV with the rest of the world, worked on the blog, ate a few cookies, and went to bed.  Tour Time Tomorrow! 

Day 57 – Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

Travel day today, so short blog, no pics.  Funny thing happened on our walk this morning.  Don and I were looking at the fishing pond up the hill from our site, and Don was wondering where its water came from.  I had an idea about that, so I strolled around to the uphill side of the pond and invited him to follow me.  He was surprised to find what he called a “seep”, which he told me was a release of ground water along a wide area, like a real spread out spring.  He thanked me for pointing this out, but cautioned me not to get my paws too wet or muddy.  He quickly hiked out of the wet area, then turned to find me; I was involved in investigating the odor of a plant on the edge of the pond, and when he called me, I took off running toward him at a full gallop through the seep area.  He started laughing, and told me that I looked like a TV commercial with a wild stallion running through the surf, splashing water left and right.  I took it as a compliment.

We hauled out of our mountain top park around eleven, making our way cautiously down the hill and hooking up the truck once we got down.  We headed south on I-88 through Binghamton, where we picked up the I-81 to proceed further south to the I-80.  We made a stop at a Flying J in northern Pennsylvania for some fuel and propane; got the fuel, but the propane equipment, for some reason, wasn’t capable of filling our tank.  So, we carried on until reaching Bellefonte and the local KOA, whose propane station did a fine job of filling us up. 

Not much dinner excitement tonight, mostly soup; got some bowls to clean up, pretty good stuff.  Don’t know what’s happening tomorrow, nobody’s ready to commit.  I can see that there’s some desire to head for home, but also some to check out whatever might be interesting in the area.  Whatever happens, your faithful reporter will fill you in!  ‘Night, All!

Day 56 – Oneonta, New York

I felt really good this morning, up until I started my usual ritual with Don; while he’s putting his shoes and socks on, preparing for our walk, I give his wrist watch a good cleaning with my tongue, just to show my high regard for him.  But this morning, I suddenly thought that I was going to upchuck my breakfast, and I frantically asked to be let outside!  Don responded quickly, almost falling out the door himself, and I found some grass to eat to settle my stomach.  Some young ladies showed up while I was self-medicating, and wanted to be introduced to me.  Ordinarily, I would respond to such requests with great enthusiasm, letting them know how happy I was to meet them.  This morning, though, I gave them a half-hearted greeting, and continued my search for more grass.  I think Don was a little peeved with me.  The grass seemed to work, though, and once we got into our walk, I was running and rolling like nothing ever happened.  Who needs Veterinarians? 

After our morning walk, Don did some routine maintenance that I preferred not to be involved in (dumping the tanks), and a few other things.  Don proposed that we do some touring today, but Geri begged off, wanting a day of rest.  So, Don and I piled into the truck and headed north on one of the State highways.  We got held up in a traffic jam because of an accident on the road, but soon we were in a very pretty town where there were a lot of people on the street, in a very touristy looking setting.  I stuck my head through the window and asked Don where we were; I was shocked and amazed to find out!  Listen up, my pal Cooper, back in Ventura!  There’s a town in New York named for you!  We were in Cooperstown!  There seemed to be a lot of kids, even adults, in baseball uniforms on the street, and there was some kind of a museum related to the game there.  We didn’t go in, ‘cause Don thinks baseball is the second most boring game in the world (next to soccer).  Instead, we drove up alongside a really big lake through some very pretty forests, until we got to a State park called Glimmerglass; where they got that name, I’ll never know.  We went first to a small covered bridge which claimed to be the oldest in the country!  We had a very pleasant walk through the trails there, then got back in the truck and went further into the park, until we reached a big house called Hyde Hall, which was really what you would call a mansion.  Turns out it was built in 1835, which is before even Don was born.  The family that owned it had a run of bad luck, and let it get into really poor shape before they finally lost it in bankruptcy.  A bunch of local people got together and raised a pile of money to buy it and restore it, which is what is going on now.  Don loves these kind of stories.  It still looks pretty good from the outside, though.  We took another nice walk in the woods nearby the mansion, and I was careful not to walk in the mud. 

We drove back to Cooperstown on the other side of the lake, which is just as beautiful.  Cooperstown has some really grand houses in it, nicer than anything in Ventura.  There must be some money in this baseball thing.  We headed back toward Oneonta through a little town called Hartwick, which is where the college used to be long ago.  We stopped and walked through the town park, and saw absolutely no one there.  Maybe they were all in Cooperstown.  We continued back toward Oneonta, and crossed over the river, which is called the Susquehanna.  It’s a pretty big river, and it goes all the way to Delaware (wherever that is) before it gets to the ocean.  Don took some pictures of it from bridges we crossed. 

When we got back to the coach, it was time to start cooking Fourth of July dinner on the grill, of course.  Don did the steaks and even sauteed the mushrooms on the grill, because we’ve run out of LP gas.  With a microwaved potato and some chilled green bean salad, it turned out to be pretty good.  My plates were superb.  As darkness began to fall, we all loaded back into the truck and drove across the river to a parking lot opposite the park where the fireworks were going to be fired off.  I know that a lot of dogs really get wierded out by fireworks, but I’ve never minded them at all.  I know that Geri and Don wouldn’t expose me to anything that might be harmful to me, so I just don’t worry about the noise.  They thought the fireworks were great, Don even thought they were better than we have in Ventura.  He liked the way the booms resonated off the surrounding hills, making an echo effect. 

When we got back to the coach, it was time to finish up the blog and hit the hay; travel day tomorrow, don’t know where we’re going, but I sure know where we’ve been!

Days 54, 55 – Oneonta, New York

Hope you’ll excuse my failure to post last night, but I really didn’t have that much to say.  Truth is, I don’t have that much more to say tonight.  But let me bring you up to date, anyway.  Don and I did have a really nice walk yesterday morning, up here on our hilltop home.  We walked up a road to an open air pavilion with really great grass all the way around it.  I did a lot of rolling and running, and found a spot that required some excavation in order to savor the odors properly.  It’s always exciting to explore new territory, and this spot has a lot to offer. 

Upon our return, we all worked on coach cleanup, with Don working the front of the rig, Geri doing the interior, and me supervising and staying out of the way.  Chores finished, we had lunch and then took off in the truck for some sightseeing.  We wandered into the downtown area, parked the truck, and walked the main street, which we all found very charming.  There were some small dogs who wanted to kill me, but that’s typical.  Back in the truck, we drove up to the Academic Area of town, where the State University of New York (SUNY) and Hartwick College are located.  Both campuses (campi?) are very attractive, though Hartwick seems to have better view of the countryside.  It also has a lot of one-way and dead end streets, which tested Don sorely.  We dropped Geri off to have her nails done downtown, and Don and I went to a large park for a walk and a review of the monuments in place there.  One of these was a small railway caboose, enclosed in a large glass showcase, sort of like a shrine.  After reading the plaques on the caboose, Don explained to me that it was the meeting place for the guys who, in 1883, initiated the formation of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, a big railway workers union.  This used to be a big railroad town, with the largest turntable in the country! 

After we picked Geri up, we did some more exploring of the area, during which they discovered a very popular barbeque restaurant; they decided to violate one of our family’s key precepts, that The Dog Eats First!  They came out of the place obviously happily stuffed, and carrying (laughingly called) doggy bags.  Seems that the ribs were very good.  Back in the rig, I got my dinner (finally), we watched a little TV, and went to bed fairly early.

This morning showed up with a bang and a boom; big thunderstorms all around us!  Heavy rain, lightning in the clouds around us, plenty exciting.  The storm kept us all pinned down all morning, but at the first break, Don was out and into the truck on one of his genealogical expeditions, which he seems to do at least once every trip.  Geri and I kept close to the coach most of the day, as the storm wouldn’t really go away. 

Don returned late in the afternoon, and gave me a rundown on his adventures during the day.  I hadn’t understood until this trip that some of his ancestors had lived nearby, in Schoharie County, after their emigration from Germany.  Some of the information he had on them was questionable, and he was hoping to get some info locally to clear things up.  He told me that today he had gone to a place called The Old Stone Fort, which had started life in 1772 as a Church which one of his ancestors helped to build.  When he was paying his admission fee, he told the lady what he was looking for, and she let him know that there was a local Genealogist on duty in the back room, and took him back to introduce him.  Well, the upshot was that the massive documentation they had there was more than enough to solve his problem with who belonged to who back in the early 1700’s, and he left there a very happy camper.  He said that the drive through occasional downpours was well worth it, and he got to see a lot of really interesting little towns along the way.

Leftovers for dinner, a few good plates for me, catchup on the blog, and so to bed.  Tomorrow’s the Fourth of July!  Should be party time around here.  I’ll let you know what happens!

Day 53 – Oneonta, New York

While we were preparing to leave the KOA in Brattleboro this morning, I noticed that the park was starting to fill up, with new arrivals coming in very early.  Yesterday evening, arriving back from our tour, I saw that several Class A diesel motorhomes, like ours, had arrived and were parked near each other.  Looked like a rally for big brown motorhomes; maybe we should have joined in.  Anyway, it appeared that the Fourth of July weekend was going to be a big one for the KOA.  They were already putting out their decorations, lots of red, white and blue bunting; looked really nice!

We headed out around eleven, after Don had made the decision to follow his Navigator’s advice and stay on the Interstates for the trip.  His main motive in this was fuel stop availability being better on the big highways than on the State routes.  And we needed a fuel stop; our last fillup was shortly after we arrived in Maine!  So, we headed south on I-91 into Massachusetts, planning to make a stop in the town of Whatley for fuel, as there were supposed to be two truck stops there.  When we pulled off the highway, Geri spied one of the places, called “Roady’s”, apparently possessing two diesel pumps.  Don said he didn’t like the looks of it, and crossed over the 91 to find the other truck stop.  Well, there were two more gas stations, neither of them a truck stop!  Agreeing that Roady’s was going to be our fuel stop, Don ingeniously turned into a dead end road in order to get turned around and back across the 91.  With his usual luck, the end of the road was parking area for a steel fabrication company, lots of turn around room, once he avoided the railroad switch engine that was trying to pull into the lot.  Anyway, flush with fuel from Roady’s, we headed south again until we hit the Mass Turnpike north of Springfield.  Don managed to get into the wrong lane at the Turnpike entrance, and wound up without a card showing our entrance point.  Geri was sure the State Troopers were going to come after us.  When we finally exited Massachusetts and the Turnpike, the kid in the toll booth had no problem, just charged us the maximum toll for our rig. 

The Mass Turnpike immediately became the New York Thruway, another money maker which we were finally able to exit for $8.85 some 60 miles down the road.  Finally winding up on I-88, we cruised through the bucolic and beautiful country of Schoharie and Otsego Counties that we last saw six years ago, when we were returning from our first Transcon in the La Palma.  When we arrived in Oneonta, we had no trouble finding our campground; it wasn’t too far off the 88, but it was almost straight up from the town’s main street!  The road up the hill to the RV Park had to be at least a 12% grade in some places, and Don had to gun the big diesel full tilt to claw our way up.  Once we were there, we admired the view from the place; we didn’t admire the appearance of our truck, which was no longer red, but a very dusty brown.  Once we got set up in our site, Don hosed off the truck good enough to drive down to a car wash, and returned it to its normal color. 

We’re in a very beautiful spot here, surrounded by baseball freaks (we’re near Cooperstown).  We’re going to be here through the Fourth, and Don is already planning a genealogical expedition to Schoharie County, where one of his ancestors was planted after emigrating from Germany.  From what he’s been reading to Geri and me, she was a very opinionated woman, fond of direct action.  He might share some stories about her later.  We had some frozen dinners, resulting in some tasty plates, worked on the blog, watched a little TV, and then to bed.  Expect an exciting day tomorrow!