Mesa Verde, Colorado to Santa Fe, New Mexico

It's really funny. Today we thought we would have a nice leisurely drive with Jerry's parents between Mesa Verde and Santa Fe. We would take our time and park early. Then we would get together and play games or something. About 30 miles out of Santa Fe I had just gotten up to take a picture out of the side window when... Kabloom. It sounded like a gun shot. We blew the out side tire on the drivers side. As you can see in the pictures it blew the skirting off the side of the motor home when it went. Very fortunately for us no serious damage was done. We were at a spot where we could pull along way off the road and Jerry and his Dad put on the spare and patched things up. It took about an hour and a half to do all the repairs. When we got to Santa Fe we found out that there is a world famous hot air balloon festival going on in Albuquerque. We finally found 2 RV spots for the night and ate dinner. Then we visited for awhile. Tomorrow we are going to go to Old Santa Fe and then get a new tire for the motor home. All in all an eventful day but so worth it. New Mexico is a beautiful place.

Yesterday we spent the day at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. It was so fun to climb down into the Cliff Palace and imagine that we were Indians living there in the years 1200-`1300 AD. The Indians had no written language so much of what we know about them was handed down thru stories and folk lore. A lot is just guess work. What marvels of engineering these people did with just tools made from rocks and determination. It was quite and climb down and up to get to the Palace. Jerry's parents had a little trouble but we all made it and really enjoyed the sights. I will post more pics when I have more time.

Today we went on a train from Darango to Silverton (Colorado) and back. It was a long day since we had to leave our campground at 6:30 am to catch the train and didn't get back until 7:30 pm. I will post pics and write more about this next time we have wifi.

We are so glad that we are able to spend this time with Jerry's parents. We are truly having a great time.

Tomorrow we will all go to Santa Fe, NM. After that we head to Illinois and they head home to Yuma.

Will post more when I am able.

Moving is no fun!

Well if you know me at all you know that we have been really busy packing up to move. They delivered the truck on Thursday and on Friday I worked all day packing up the house. On Saturday a group of really great guys came over and started packing the truck. By Saturday night all of the house stuff was packed in the truck using 18 feet of our 28 foot truck. Jerry started packing his garage stuff and his barn stuff in the truck. Tuesday night around midnight we closed the doors and Jerry reluctantly agreed that we needed another truck. He called the next morning and they delivered another truck when they picked up the first one. We packed Wednesday and Thursday and they picked up the truck Friday morning. We only actually 7 feet of the second truck. We finally got on the road Friday around 4 pm. We got as far as The Dalles and decided to call it a night. We also got an offer on our house and had to find someplace with wi-fi so we could sign some papers and send them back. Saturday we drove to Boise where we spent the night. Today is Sunday and we drove from Boise to Price, Utah. It snowed so hard in the Boise area they had the snow plows out on some of the side streets. Utah is so beautiful. I couldn't really tell if what Idaho looked like, it was snowing to hard. So far we have been blessed from God with a safe and pleasant trip.

TRIP TO THE CIRCUS

Last week I won 4 free tickets to the circus. I called Mom and asked her if she could go with us.

Since there were 4 tickets I asked her if she wanted to bring her friend Florence with us. After church Sunday Mom took us out to lunch and then we picked up Florence and went to the Rose Arena. Outside the entrance there were people protesting the circus. They were using megaphones and talking about how cruel Ringling Bros. is to the elephants and other animal. I wonder if they are pro abortion? Any way we got great seats and the show was amazing. The best part was watching Mom and Florence. Neither had been to the circus since their kids were little and they were enjoying every minute of it. I could hear Florence squeal with excitement during some of the high wire acts and Mom never stopped looking at the rings. I am so very glad we were able to take them with us to the circus. Another memory made.

The picture Jerry took makes me look like I'm about 400 lbs. While I'm not 400 lbs there were some people in front of us who must have been at least 400 lbs. I felt so sorry for them because I'm pretty sure they didn't fit in the seats very well and it was hard for them to move around in the aisles. The worst part is that they were pretty young 25-30 years old.

In a world where how you look is very important it's hard to be overweight. I have been pretty lucky that most people have known me skinny and fat. Most of the time when we see a really fat person we don't think "Oh that poor person" We almost always think "What a lazy slob". People are fat for lots of reasons. Of course the main reason is that we eat to much and don't exercise enough. But having been 105 lbs and then weighing 2x's as much I don't really eat any more now than I did when I was 105.

I need to work on having more compassion for people. Jerry and I saw a lady dressed in business type clothes holding a sign saying she needed money for gas. Across the street we saw a man dressed more like a bum playing a guitar. Jerry said," Should we give her some money?" I said, "No." We have all been burned by beggars and scam artists. We have given money to guy for gas and the next week across town ran into the same guy with the same line. I know that Jesus wanted us to help those who need help but how do we know who really needs help and who's just pretending. Do we help everyone so that we don't ignore those who need help. Wouldn't that encourage the cheaters? I would appreciate hearing your opinion on this. We have both been struggling with this issue for years and now with the economy more people are in need.

Hope you all have a great day and remember YOUR NEVER TO OLD TO ENJOY THE CIRCUS!

Ribs again?

Wyatt is a really messy eater!

We still had 20lbs of ribs left so we decided to have one last bar-b-que before we move. We invited our quading friends and families. It was so fun to have everyone together again.

Juliane and Jade had fun swinging one the lawn swing. Frank and Alice ate lots of ribs and still had time to smile. Steve,Taylor, Wyatt, Isaac, Liz, and Emily all sat in the house and played with the candle on the table. Ginger, Matt and Johnny all sat outside with us and enjoy the sun breaks that we had.

As it cooled down we built a fire in the fire pit and truly enjoyed the sunset and the fellowship.

We will miss these good friends so much. They have stood by us when others chose not to and remained our friends. I am so thankful that God gave them all to us.

I can't take many more of these good-byes. Good thing we are leaving soon.

HOW REDNECK IS THAT!

Funny thing happens when you are going to move away from someplace you have always lived. You start thinking "This is the last time we'll see this", "This is the last time we'll eat here", "This is the last time we'll go here". We were both raised in Portland, Oregon and never really went anywhere else. We moved into the country when the girls were really little and have lived in our house for 24 years. My husband always says, "There's Oregon, Washington, Idaho and the east coast." We have never lived more than 2 hours from the mountains, the ocean, or the desert. Jerry's spent every week-end camping on the river and water skiing. I spent many week-ends fishing with my Dad on the Willamette and camping at many lakes in Oregon. We raised our girls doing the same types of things. We have always loved camping and exploring with our family. We can't wait to start exploring the mid-west.

Last night we went to the tractor pulls in Sublimity, Oregon.

Now I know they have truck pulls Illinois but I doubt we will be sitting with the parents of one of the monster truck drivers as he made his first home town appearance. How exciting to watch their faces and reactions as he drove his truck over many cars and did wheelies across the arena.

There are many people and places in Oregon that we will miss. There is some sadness in leaving. But there is much excitement as we look forward to exploring new places and camping in new areas and just spending time with our children and grandchildren.

LABOR DAY WEEK END

Saturday Les, Bev, Christi, and Oma came over for ribs and prawns. We had a great meal and lots of fun visiting.

Monday evening The Holemans came over for Bar-B-Que ribs. We had a great time visiting with them and getting to know Julia. She is eating her first corn on the cob in the picture. She is sure a good little thing.

The closer it gets to the time we leave the sweeter these visits are getting. Knowing you will not see these people for a long time gives you a different perspective on your visits. While we can't wait to move we will miss some people very much. Sunday was our last Children's church. It was fun but sad. We will miss all of the kids.

Our prayers are still with one of our former teens. Sheridan was in a bad car accident. His neck and back were broken. He was life flighted to OHSU. His lung has collapsed and he has been on a ventilator since the accident. They want to wean him off the ventilator asap. Many prayers are being sent his way for his full recovery. It is unknown at this time if he will ever walk but, if I know Sheridan he will. He is shown in the picture with his little brother Craig Daniel.