My brother-in-law, CPT Bruce Hays was killed in Afghanistan in September, 2008. Before he deployed, he bought his wife an anniversary present, a beat up old 1959 Chevy pick-up truck. He paid a local mechanic nearly $20,000 to fix it up. The mechanic pocketed the 20k, and skipped town. The following is a story about what happened next. Be sure to view the news clip, as well!

Click here for the Las Cruces Sun-News article about this old truck, and one determined lady… my sister-in-law!

The other day, I started looking at prices for tickets to Orlando, FL, so that I could go visit my aunt and uncle and cousin who live there.  I was startled to discover that as the spring progresses tickets get more expensive!  Scott and I haven’t flown much recently, so things may have changed.  But in the past, the further out you bought the tickets, the cheaper the fares.  Not now! I looked first at the end of February.  Tickets were around 300 each.  A week later they were $450 each!

Once I heard from Kathy today that any time would work I jumped in and bought tickets.   I was able to get the two tickets, with fees, taxes, etc., for $680.  I guess that’s a good price.  I’ve rented a car for the days we are there, as well.  So, coming up VERY VERY soon, we’re flying to Florida for a weekend just to visit my most wonderful Aunt Jeanie.  I’ve missed her!  The last time I saw her was in March 2010.

In case you wonder when we’re travelling, I must tell you that I am not going to reveal that here, until we’re either in route, or have returned.  I doubt many people read my blog, but there’s no need advertising our absences!  At least not until we’ve arranged a house-sitter.

For much of that time, we’ve shared our home with others.  After living for two years in apartments in West Omaha, we moved into a house in Council Bluffs with 3 other individuals.  Jim, Pam and Gary became part of our family.  Much too soon after we moved in, Jim passed away from a heart attack.  Four years later on, Pam passed away, the result of her body’s inability to process carbon dioxide in her system (she frequently turned off her oxygen bottle in order to have a cigarette.)

And now the end of this arrangement is upon us.  On Saturday, Gary will be moving to Portland to be close to his nieces and what family he has.  I’d like to say it was an amicable parting, and we are really working to make it as amicable as possible.  Unfortunately, this is occurring because there was just no way we could continue to provide Gary a home.

For an arrangement like the one we all had to work, there has to be mutual trust and respect.  Over the past year, that has been slowly eroding.  I am tempted to go in to the reasons for this, but I think it best to leave it at that.  We no longer feel comfortable keeping Gary in our home.

On top of this, we need to prepare to sell our home, and having Gary in the house will impede that progress.

I’m glad Gary is leaving.  But a part of me is sad, too.  13 years we’ve shared a home and our lives, that’s 25% of our lives (almost).  It’s hard to say goodbye.

But more so, I’m looking forward to no longer sharing a home with anyone but Scott!

Post Script:  The above was written yesterday, 12/15/2011.  Last night we learned the family will be here TODAY, so by the time we go to bed tonight Gary will be gone.  I feel a little ashamed to mention this but, I actually feel a little like I did as a kid at Christmas time… that sense of anticipation for Santa…

This morning, I awoke to a glorious sunrise streaming through our back window.  One of the selling points for this trailer was that the back of the trailer is a big picture window.  Saturday night we forgot to close the curtains, and so this morning, every shade of orange from bright fire orange down through cantaloupe, and numerous beams of light pink burst through the trailer to our bedroom at the front of the trailer… and into my eyes.  It is mornings like this that are the reason why Scott and I love camping up here… well, why I love camping up here.  Scott slept until well after the sun had hauled itself into the sky and put away it’s dawn blankets of orange.

We drove down to Laramie today to fill up our five 6 gallon water jugs and to buy groceries for our week.  It was a nice drive.  The mountains here had a lot more moisture than in years past, and the grass is still relatively green.  Herds of cattle grazed near the road… really near the road… we had to slow to 5 mph to creep through them, as some were napping on the verge.  We drove through gulches where in years past nary a drop of water was to be found, to find this year flowing streams burbling along.  Alas, the nasty pine beetles have killed upwards of 50% of the forests up here, and so the green canopy of pines that I always love to see are mottled dark, drab brown and green.  I guess it’s only a matter of time before they all die.

Arriving back in camp after our journey, we followed two pickups pulling the camp gear, so after running up to our trailer and putting our groceries away, Scott and I went back down to “Camp Central” and helped them put up the big canopies and stage tent.  Since Scott and I were new to this, we got to be the guinea pigs.  They handed us the instructions, and sat back and watched as we directed the younger guys in how to put the canopies together.  Amazingly simple!  The purpose of this test was to see if the new typed out instructions could be followed easily by someone who’d never done it before.

Setting up the stage tent was more complicated, and we merely assisted with that one.

We left after a couple of hours… I was feeling the strain of the higher altitude and the direct heat.  I’m sunburned now!

We’ve spent the rest of the day doing the other thing I really enjoy about up here… relaxing.  Dozing. Puttering.  We’ll finish up the evening with a rousing set of Cribbage, and call it a night, probably before the last rays of the sun leave the sky.

I was going to call this post “Rendezvous Day 1”.  But Rendezvous doesn’t officially start until Wednesday.  Scott and I believe in being early!

Actually the area where we camp is so beautiful, that we just don’t mind being here a few extra days.

Yesterday’s drive went well.  We left Council Bluffs by 1 pm and encountered no problems on our first leg of the journey west.  I had anticipated arriving in North Platte around 7 pm taking in to account more frequent stops for gasoline and whatnot.  But my estimations were terrible!  By 5:30 pm we were arrived, settled in and wondering what to do with ourselves!  We camped in a little RV park down by the Platte River, just 100 yards away.  When I’d originally visited the website for the RV park, I got the GPS coordinates for the park, and it’s address.  Oddly enough the address was located 3 miles from the GPS coordinates!  I emailed the park to let them know their coordinates were wrong.  They wrote back to assure me they would get that corrected.  Guess what?!?!?  The coordinates are right.  The address is for mail purposes only!

After dinner, we played Cribbage for a while… and at 9:40 we went to bed!

This morning, we were on the road by 7:30 am  After stops in Sidney for gas (ouch! 4.099 per gallon!) and in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for water, we got to our site at 1 pm.

Now we’re settled in, well on our way to getting things put away.  It was hot up here when we got in, over 90.  But NO humidity.  It was almost pleasurable!  Now, it’s 5:30, the sun is behind clouds, and the temps are dropping.

Not sure whether we’ll watch a movie tonight… or play more Cribbage!

More tomorrow!

Scott and I’ll be spending the next 8 days within 100 yards of:  41.24274,  -105.36442

See if you can figure out where that is!  (And yes, if you do it right, you’ll see the hilltop where we are; a hint: online maps let you put in GPS coordinates!)

The weather here in Omaha is doing it’s best to drive us away!  Hot, humid beyond memory.  It’s horrid.  And by the time the sun sets tomorrow, we’ll be on a mountain so arid (“How arid IS it?”), so arid that even after a summer downpour, 20 minutes later, the roads will be dusty again!

Hot in the daytime, unless you step under shade, in which case the temp drops 10 degrees.  Cold at night!  Coat time!

Yup, if I had bajillion bucks, I’d quit work, move to my mountain top in Wyoming for the summer, and spend the rest of the year… somewhere else (because no, I don’t do Wyoming mountain snow/cold!)

Wyoming Equality Pride’s Rendezvous 2011, HERE WE COME!

First just to wrap up from my last entry (entitled “Ouch”), Scott diligently packed my wound every morning, and became an old pro at it in no time!  By June 8th, there was nothing left to pack, just a little hole.  The doctor said “Stop the packing.  No need to come back.”

By today, even that little hole has closed up. 

Scott and I have been having a lot of fun these past weeks.  This past winter was a very cold winter in Council Bluffs.  One of the problems we’ve had is that we live in an old house, nearly 95 years old.  The windows are all original.  The sealant around the edges of the glass panes… I can’t remember what that’s called… has become all dry and brittle and is falling out.  And so, around many of the windows, are great gaping crevises through which the frigid air can blow.  Chunks of cardboard can be passed through them!  On windy days, the drapes on some of the windows can be seen to billow out!

When we returned from our March trip to California, Arizona and New Mexico, we discovered that in our bedroom, one of the panes had completely fallen out!  Thank goodness winter was over by then.

Oh, and one more thing… we have NO storm windows!  Or even screens on most of the windows!

In addition, the windows have become so old that the glass is no longer clear!  When looking out through our windows everything is distorted.  And that really is a problem, especially when the neighbor is having his house reroofed, and there are cute guys on his roof and we can’t see them clearly! 

So, we knuckled over and put new windows on the house.  Yup, we replaced ALL of them!  Twenty-five new windows!  And they look great!  And the house feels nicer! 

But, you know, you can’t put up dingy old curtains over brand new windows!  All the blinds had to come down, too!  Our bedroom especially has been the beneficiary of new curtains.  It’s getting ready to undergo a total remodel… painting, new headboard for the bed (built in to the wall) new wainscoting (hmmm, wonder if that’s spelled right!?).

Our room currently has white walls, with forest green wainscoting.  The walls do not rise to the ceiling in 90 degree angles, but rather curve near the top.  This makes painting a challenge.  What to do.

We’re going to paint the walls grey… not super dark, but pretty dark.  Then, we’re putting in wainscoting in STARK, glossy white.  The headboard will be floor to ceiling, also stark, glossy white.  We’ve already bought a new coverlet for our bed in blue.  It’s hard to describe this blue, so I won’t try very hard… it’s a shimmery blue… yeah, that’ll have to do it until I can get a picture.

The curtains are gold, with a merlot colored sheer under them.  It’s going to be nice, if not a little dark… but that’s okay.  We kind of want that look.  Relaxing… sexy…

Well, guess that’s it for now!

And, because there isn’t a lot to write about, here are some pictures from our trip so far to entertain:

In my last blog entry, Scott and I, intrepid explorers that we are, had safely arrived in Barstow, California.  Okay, really we had arrived in Yermo, California, which is about 6 miles east of Barstow on I-15.  The KOA there in Yermo was a pleasant little community, nestled in the trees and bushes, giving a sense of privacy to each lot.

Well, after Yermo, life got pretty busy; Scott and I just didn’t have a lot of time to spend writing.  We do apologize for that.  I’ll take up here where I left off Friday evening.

Saturday morning, Scott and I quickly packed up and hooked up, and were on the road by 8:30 a.m.  The drive south from Yermo, along I-15 to “the 91″ and then on toll roads right to Newport Beach, CA, was relatively uneventful.  We arrived at Newport Dunes RV Park at 11:15.  Setting up the camper in record time, we met Bob & Marcy at the front gates, then zipped off to Balboa to The Crab Cooker for lunch.  Well, okay.  I’m not sure “zipped off” is the right phrase… we took the ferry over to Balboa, so we probably sat waiting our turn for a half hour or more!

We ran a couple of errands with Bob & Marcy, then went to see the movie “Blind Side” – the movie for which Sandra Bullock won the Oscar.  It was a fantastic movie, far, far, far better than I expected it to be! (Neither Scott nor I are football fans, and I expected it to be a “football movie”.  We’re both of the opinion that football itself is pretty boring… and a movie about football… well, why bother!?)

Sunday, Scott and I were at Bob & Marcy’s for breakfast by a little after 8 a.m.  Bob made the world’s best pancakes (Bob I hope you’re reading this… and if you are… please send us the recipe!)  And about the time the pancakes were done, the house exploded with the arrival of my nephew Brad and his daughter and son, Karen & Bennett.  I was really disappointed that Brad’s wife had to work Sunday.  But there will be other opportunities to see her and hopefully get to know her!

But, let’s be honest here… about 75% of the purpose of this 10 day trip of Scott’s & mine was to see Karen & Bennett, and that we got to do!  They’re the sweetest little ones imaginable… and considering that Brad was such a monster growing up… okay, bad joke, you weren’t really Brad!

Over breakfast, I had a brief opportunity to reconnect with Brett, as well.  I’m impressed by both my nephews, how hard they work.  It was Sunday, but Brett was off to spend a day working.

I also have to say I was extremely impressed with Brad’s parenting skills.   There is a quiet, unassuming air of self-confidence about Brad in his approach to raising both Bennett & Karen.

After breakfast, we spent the day, Bob, Brad, Scott & I, at the Montage resort in Laguna Beach, walking in the park overlooking the ocean, then walking down to the ocean.  I had to get my toes wet.  I can’t get anywhere near an ocean without making sure my feet come in contact with the waves!

The evening ended for us after a dinner of salad and some of the best pizza!

Monday morning, Scott and I were a little slow getting started.  We left Newport Beach, heading for Scottsdale about 9 a.m.  I have to say that while Newport Dunes is nice enough as an RV Park, it certainly disappointed me.  Perhaps I’m spoiled by the campgrounds we normally stay at, but I felt Newport Dunes grossly overcharged us for our stay.  Scott and I have stayed in RV Campgrounds for less than half what we were charged at the Dunes, and yet were provided with much nicer facilities than those at the Dunes.  I’m just not really sure we’ll stay there again!

We had little trouble with traffic for our trip to Scottsdale… just as Bob predicted.  I worried for nought!  We stopped at Chiriaco Summit for lunch, and as recommended by Bob we had the Date Shake.  Bob, your memory is a bit faulty.  The Date Shake at Chiriaco was no where near as good as the Date shake at the Shake Shack!

I had originally anticipated that we’d get to Scottsdale about 7 p.m. but we made far better time, and in addition, I had forgotten that because Arizona does not participate in DST, we didn’t lose an hour.  So, we were in our site and set up, and ready to head to Aunt Jeanie’s by 6:05 p.m.

As a result, Aunt Jeanie & Uncle Lew, with Scott and I, went to Busters, had a GREAT dinner (I’d never tried Lahvash before… Yum!!!!) and enjoyed a really nice conversation.  I fear that Scott and I may have stayed a little too late at Aunt Jeanies, but we really had such a nice time!

Here it is Day 7, and Scott and I are once again on the road.  We’re on I10, just passing the exit for Bowie, AZ, about half way to today’s destination!  Of course, by the time you see this, we’ll have arrived in Alamogordo.  And we’re on schedule to arrive there in about 4 hours.

UPDATE: Since I wrote that yesterday, we have arrived safely in Alamogordo, NM, and are set up at our site.  The problem is while the campground does have WiFi for internet, the site we are in does NOT.  When we arrived yesterday, Scott was in a hurry to get to his folks place… and rightfully so!  So, here we are, on Day 8, really!  If I have some time today, I’ll try to put up a post with pictures!

We got off to a fairly early start, about 10 minutes later than I’d have liked.  At 8:10 we pulled out of the KOA and hit the road. 

Our first stop was in Elk City, where we visited Gene Smith, Inc. the Chevy, GMC, etc dealer in town.  Their technician came out, took a look, did a few magical things, uttered hocus pocus several times, then changed two fuses, and we were off.  Total cost of 15 minutes work?  $8.21 for the fuse!  We now had turn signals, brake lights, and the trailer brakes to assist with stopping!  Very important.

Todays’ journey was pretty straight forward.  Interstate 40 from the minute we started until we pulled off here in GAllup.  This isn’t to say it was uneventful.  Okay, it was uneventful.  Except for constant wind out of the north, which made it very hard going.  We had to keep our speed down to 60 to 65 mph to keep the trailer under control.

It snowed.  It rained.  It was sunny.  It was overcast & foggy.  Sometimes all of those in a 2 minute time span!

We got to Gallup at about 7, unhooked the truck, hooked up the trailer to water and electric and sewer, and now, we’re getting ready to think about bed time.  And that, my friends, family & other readers… is that!  Now for the story I promised you the other day: I promised you a look at our modern routine.  Of course, that really is a little harder than it sounds.  We travel in many ways, these days.  Sometimes, we travel by car alone.  Others we take the trailer.  Others we fly.  But currently, we’re on the road with our trailer, so that’s what you’ll get.

Now

I have been conditioned to arise early.  Princess Nikki likes things just right, and that means at 5:30 a.m. we wake up.  Whether Daddy (that’s me) wants to or not!  This, coupled with Dad’s careful training, assures that when I’m on the road, I’m up at 5:30 a.m. every day.  I sneak out of bed, quietly dress, and slip into the main area of the trailer (the living room).  Thanks to modern technology, I pour myself a cup of freshly brewed coffee, then step outside to get some fresh air and enjoy the quiet of the great outdoors.  My cup quickly finished, I return to trailer, pour another cup of coffee and fire up the laptop.  I’ve carefully ensured that the campground selected for the night has WiFi for my internet connection.  I peruse my emails, favorite websites, and a bit of news.  At 6:30, if it’s a travel day, I pour my 3rd cup of coffee and another cup for Scott.  Scott isn’t like Mom.  He needs to be awakened.  I gently call to him and present him with his coffee as he joins me.

We eat a quick bowl of cereal with some toast, generally in silence unless there is some really interesting news, as it takes Scott a bit to fire up in the morning.  During this time, another pot of coffee is brewing.

Dishes are now washed, and the trailer put into “travel mode”… all things put in their places, the bed made, and breakables nestled in their protective nests.  The new pot of coffee is poured into the thermos, the brewer cleaned, and pot rinsed then nestled away.  While Scott is doing all this, I’m “breaking camp” carefully following the checklist to disconnect the hookups and hookup the truck. 

At 8 a.m., we’re on the road, if not a bit sooner.

And that is our daily routine!