Perhaps you have noticed

I have nothing to add

Fifi? Fifi, where are you?

...or make it stop

I love Wisconsin

 

Do you smell that?

Star Wars Then and Now

We went to see Star Wars in 1977, one of our first dates...

...Forty years later we went to see Star Wars, we still like dates!

Trains and Jeeps

 In December, we stayed at Verde Valley Thousand Trails RV Park. The nearest town, Cottonwood, Arizona was a western small town with a downtown still in working order. Nineteen miles north is Sedona, Arizona. Beautiful!

While browsing storefronts in Sedona, we were lured in and hooked into going to a timeshare presentation.  The reward was a Pink Jeep Tour AND a Verde Canyon Train ride. The timeshare sales people were kind, yet managed to apply a bit of pressure while trying to set the hook, but we managed to get away.  We were firm in our resolve and ended up buying nothing except a $40.00 jeep ride, which we planned to do anyway.  The train ride was a freebie. :) 

In the photo on the right my fashion statement: I am wearing, long underwear top and pants, a tee shirt, a long sleeved shirt a warm vest and a coat, pants, warm hiking socks, with mittens in my pocket. The weather was perfect.

My phone photos do not even come close to the colorful beauty of the Sedona area. If you can't have family for Christmas, make it memorable. :)

Riding the Verde Canyon Railroad was just plain fun.  Dave spent lots of time on the four-hour tour on observation deck listening to Don, our guide who knew EVERYTHING about the area. 

People

In our travels we have met so many people! We have also reconnected with friends from all over the country, which is wonderful. 

Willa and I met when we were trying to get our children to be homeschooling friends... turns out we became friends instead while living in Juneau. In this picture we are getting together in Post Falls, Idaho. 

My friend from grade school, Steph, whom I had not seen in 35 years. This was a sweet reunion!! She looks exactly the same. We picked up as though it had been yesterday. We attended grade school at St. John's in West Bend, Wisconsin. This photo was taken while Dave and I were visiting cousins at Kelly Lake, where Steph and hubby Mike have a place just across the lake. We were able to get together because of a FB comment. Crazy!  

Pictured here are my siblings. My sisters and I get together for a weekend every year and last year we thought Jesse needed to be included - it was so much fun. No one knows you like your family and loves you anyway. 






We first reconnected with the Else family when we met them at Peace Lutheran Church in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
Gary and Dulcy Else, and their daughter, Megan, live in Newport, Oregon, now. Of course, we first became friends before they were married and we all lived in Juneau, Alaska. 

Our friends Pastor Rick and his wife, Kim, (on the far right) live in Boerne, Texas.  We met them when we were all at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, years ago. We have many, many more friends we could share, but there is just no room for the treasures!!

When I met Renee Kalberer, she was our daughter's second-grade teacher in Fulda, Minnesota.  The kids and I lived with Dave's mom and dad while he was on deployment in the Navy.  Now, of course, we met Renee again in Walker, Minnesota. She is married and has kids! What?!  

This is my dear friend Barb Schelp.  She has not moved at all, and I am quite thankful I get to visit her in Corvallis, Oregon.  She took care of us when we were first married, folded us into her family without missing a beat!  Left to our own devices, we would have lived on Ramen Noodles and toast.   
Reuben and Nancy have been parents/friends at the same timeline point as Barb Schelp. They served as mentors, counselors, friends, mom and dad. They are still the same - treasures! 

Pastor Tim and Charlotte Renstrom (on the far left), live in Brahms, Minnesota, now.  When we first met them we were just off the ferry, literally, in Juneau, Alaska.  Next to Tim and Charlotte, the Jensen family, you guessed it from Hannover, North Dakota. No surprise there.  The Jensen's are members of St. Peter's Lutheran in Hannover where Dave served as pastor for a few years. How these folks all ended up at the same church on that Sunday - Wow. 

This is a small sampling of our last ten years of life on the road. We don't collect much stuff, but these pictures show what do collect along the way and they are all keepers. :) 

We could be friends

I have long been a fan of Mark Schweizer. He writes slightly irreverent books with characters who remind me of folks I know. When I meet organists who are not too hooked on only "church" music I will angle around to talking about The Liturgical Mysteries.
Ruth Ann, is the church organist at Ascension Lutheran, in El Paso, Texas, and a Mark Schweizer fan.  Ruth Ann was walking by me and I noticed the cover of her book. "Oh, I love his books," said I! She replied with a bit of a smile, "they are good but on the edge of churchy." 
I hope you are sufficiently curious and will follow this link: Author Mark Schweizer.

I met Nancy in Bullhead City, Arizona. We talked about hospitality, Jesus, travel, and downsizing.

A few years ago shortly after the death of her husband, Nancy took a road trip with no destination in mind and no word to her family she was leaving.  She ended up in Oklahoma City, at the home of a friend. She called her daughter at the end of her first day of travel, just to let everyone know she was taking a break and safe.
Nancy has the gift of encouragement. A friend of Nancy's wanted to visit her daughter on the outskirts of Los Angeles but was quite nervous about freeway and big city driving. In the end, it turns out after that first hour of nerves and striking out alone, all went well.  She has since visited her daughter a number of times.

Nancy has many trips under her belt. In her community, she drives folks to their appointments around town, but still has time for the occasional road trip. Nancy put about 8,000 miles on her car last year visiting family and friends across the country. Get out there and have no fear!

Moving On

It was a hot and steamy day in July, and the clouds resolutely remained at bay. Old haRVey and new haRVey were both EZ-bake ovens.  This is the day we moved.

New haRVey is five feet longer than old haRVey it includes a studio/bonus room, exactly what we were looking for in an RV.  Dave has a studio!  The trade-off, which we have happily made, is less kitchen storage and fewer drawers in the bedroom and bath. 


I had envisioned our move to be leisurely, filled with thoughtful pauses as I considered where we would store each item. When the real world slammed in, much to my chagrin, it was more throw and throw! The temperature hovered at 95 degrees with no wind and the inside of each RV was even worse.  By the time we loaded the last of our stuff, some of which we would have gladly pitched just to be done, we too, were done.

Our first stop with new HaRVey was St. Ignace, Michigan, because who wants to suffer moving all your stuff, then drive through Chicago on your way to Wisconsin? We enjoyed two days at a nice campground with 50 amp hook up (air conditioning :), while we sorted through everything ...again. 

I can honestly say six months later I love our haRVey and so thankful to have an RV that is not falling apart. :)  

More photos to come stay tuned.

A NEW haRVey?

Old

July 2017 was an emotional month!  It may sound strange but, saying goodbye to haRVey was much harder than we thought! At the dealership, Haylett RV, in Coldwater, Michigan, we felt compelled to share information about our quirky RV.  Strap the steps or they may fall open; use a bungee cord on the cupboards or they WILL fall open while on the road; the furnace does not work; the greywater tank... well, do not, do not overfill - just saying. Can you believe this - they did not even care!  

When I asked if they would even be able to sell the thing, they said, "Oh, yes. We'll sell it easily." 
"Who would buy it?", I queried. 
"Oh, someone will place it in the woods as a hunting shack, or on a lake for a fish camp. This is Michigan!"
At this point, Dave, who was signing papers, picked up his head and with a furrowed brow, asked, "But not for traveling over the road?"
"Oh. No!" said the salesman, with much concern in his voice, as if a child had suggested we ride on the hood of the car down the freeway. The furrow on Dave's brow increases. He thought for sure we could squeeze another three or four years out of it.

Months later I find myself having to pause and think about where the water bottle or the backpack is stored or where do we keep the AA batteries now? I forget.

New haRVey: our first time hitched and ready to go!

We do love our haRVey 2. We have discovered a few quirky behaviors which will only endear us to our new home and moving on. 

I wrote this post a while back; we have since traveled about 1000 miles and moved probably 10 times. I can happily report that haRVey 2 is broken in and is just like home. :)