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| At Linville Falls Park, NC |
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| Pat with her father
After returning from Greece, we moved into Tom and Julie’s
house for several months. Their hospitality is remarkable and much appreciated.
We thank Susan and Windsor for storing our RV in their driveway for almost 2
months. We enjoyed a pre-Thanksgivings dinner at Mimi’s with our friends and
later Pat’s family gathered at Linda and Rick’s for Thanksgiving dinner.
We took a break from winter in MD and headed down to a
timeshare in Boone, NC. From here we could do hikes from the Blue Ridge
Parkway. We went down as far as Linville Falls. We also did a day trip to the
Biltmore in Asheville. We went down to see the mansion decorated for Christmas,
but taking pictures inside was not allowed, and it was only modestly decorated
on the outside. We returned to MD in time for Carol and Cordale’s annual
Christmas dinner and party. On Christmas Eve we had dinner with my family at a
Baltimore restaurant. On Christmas morning, Jenn fixed us breakfast and later
that day, Pat’s family had dinner at Linda and Rick’s. We were all delighted
when Jenn and Patrick became engaged in January.
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| Patrick and Jenn |
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| Jocelyn and Chris
One weekend we went up to York to visit with Pat’s father.
First I caught the flu, the next day Pat came down with a cold. We settled in
at our pre-paid hotel room and kept our distance from Pat’s father. I had to
cancel my prostate biopsy. (I guess having the flu wasn't all bad). Later that
week, we attended the Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, PA with my sister
Barb. We saw a performance of “Moses”. It’s quite a spectacle with all the live
animals.
One problem with RVs
is that they have to be level when parked so the refrigerator doesn't overheat
and self destruct. The big RVs have automatic levelers; we just have leveling
blocks. Believe me, leveling the RV several times a day gets old real quick.
Some ingenious engineer created a device to monitor the boiler temperature of
the RV refrigerator; shut it down before it overheats, and restart it when it
cools down. I convinced Eldon to help me install it. We didn't set any speed
record for installation, but after 2 short days of tinkering, we got it done.
Meanwhile, Lois kept our bellies full of homemade goodies. Now, no more
leveling-Hallelujah!
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| Happy to be heading South
Pat spent a good deal of the winter dealing with her back
problems. This included getting an MRI, 6 weeks of PT, and three epidural
shots. On the plus side, now she needs less pain meds. That’s a good thing for
obvious reasons, but also because the DEA expanded the list of what they
consider controlled substances and have cracked down on their distribution. Now
they are much more difficult or even impossible to get while traveling. At one
point, we thought we would have to fly back to MD every three months to get a
refill. It might still come to that.
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| View from Jekyll Island, GA |
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| Sunset at Jekyll Island
I spent (believe me, “spent” is the correct term) a lot of
time on the computer planning our trip to Hawaii and Australia. We planned to
drive the RV to Albuquerque, NM and fly from there. Since airfare was involved,
the travel dates were set in concrete. The initial plan was to leave MD in
early January and slowly work our way south and then west. Pat’s PT schedule
required another month in MD. So Pat stayed in MD, and I did a solo RV trip on
a compressed schedule. I picked Pat up at the Dallas airport and we enjoyed a
few days camping in West Texas. Pat developed a severe tooth ache, so we hurried
to Albuquerque, where Pat found a dentist to perform a root canal and install a
crown done before we leave. We spent several frustrating days trying to get
stuff done before our trip; it seemed we kept running into incompetent
employees. On our last weekend in NM, we explored El Malpais and El Morro
National Monuments. Next stop, Maui.
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| Wake-Robin |
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| Meaher SP, LA |
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| Palo Duro SP, TX |
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| Palo Duro |
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| El Malpais National Conservation Area |
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| Palo Duro |
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La Ventana Arch |
