Okay, okay, okay, Santa may have skipped me because I did not add any more pictures to this site for over a year but I've been my own santa for a long time now. Ever since the Windows 2017 fall update this computer has been rather funky, won't shut down, music won't play, and generally being weird. Now I have a new motherboard which obviously required a new processor, great gobs of new memory, and a pair of faster hard drives. It's now rather snappy and a lot more fun to use so I can fill that resolution to add more in 2019. Actually I have all the pictures for 2010 picked out, I just need to get them in the pages with all the verbage.
In 2018 we did stick with our plan heading west and celebrated New Years in Albuquerque where someone broke into our trailer and stole my new mountain bike Santa brought me and some other things that really really upset me. By February we were in Flagstaff with a side trip to the Grand Canyon before Lori tripped and caused a large blood clot to shift in her lungs. Long story but Flagstaff Medical Center did an excellent overhaul and I was very lucky to get her back. Most of April was spent in Las Vegas with a ten day flight to Columbus to help the doctors. While we were gone there was another trailer break-in but this time the alarm functioned and they just ran away. On to California we explored the eastern Sierras including Death Valley, north to Bishop, Mono Lake, and the Bristle Cone Pine Forest. We wanted to cross the pass to Yosemite but the park service had not cleared the snow so we had to loop south to Fresno stopping to see the Joshau Tree Forest and the Salton Sea along the way. From Fresno we explored the western Sierras from the Sequoia National Forest to Yosemite before moving north to Yuba City and some time in the Feather River Canyon. Shifting west to the coast we followed US101 past the redwoods and up to the Columbia River before spending July 4th in Longview and visiting Mt. St. Helens. After stopping in Yakima we visited Lori's sister in Clarkston and I took a trip into Hell's Canyon on the Snake River. By early August we got to Omek in north central Washington before reaching Seattle to catch the grandkids between summer activities and going back to school.
By late August the fire season was upon us and leaving Edmonds visibility was down to 200 yards in places due to a fire on the Olympic Peninsula. As far east as Spokane visiting one of Lori's friends the smoke was making photography difficult and the outlook into Montana was not good. The original plan was to again fly back for the fall visit with the doctors but Lori was having increasing difficulty with her knee and we decided to return for a longer visit and determine what repairs were needed. Looping down to Crater Lake which we could not see across due to smoke we passed thru Reno and were still seeing heavy smoke until we got to Utah. After seeing the Dinosaur National Monument and Colorado National Monument we were just leaving Grand Junction when Lori's knee shifted yet again and earned her another hospital visit for 4 stitches in her eyelid. Passing through Denver we were basically just wandering back to Columbus where the doctors finally decided her knee needed rebuilt.
The doctors wanted to do Lori's knee in early January which would keep us in the frozen north over the winter. Currently we are having Christmas/New Years in St. Louis then heading down to Houston and other parts of Texas before returning to have Lori's knee done in early April. Where we go from there will depend on how the knee recovers. Most days there should be a picture on Instagram from someplace we have been in the last week but even that has been erratic of late.
During our western travels in 2018 I took a lot of photographs and do not have then all organized yet. Between a lengthy stay in Houston and letting Lori's knee recover I should be able to get some more work done on this site. There are many more pictures to add.
This site is planed as a work in progress. After retiring in 2006, we started sending reports back to the wonderful lady that had always watched the house while we traveled. Unfortunately Ruth Lambert is no longer with us so the major incentive for the reports is also gone and sending color copies to all our friends and relatives does start to get rather expensive hence this more convenient website presentation. As in our rambling, the reporting tended to be rather erratic and although it only got into 2010 it was reaching 300 pages and filling two 2 inch notebooks. That puts me seven years behind and four years to convert so its going to take considerable time if ever to get everything posted.
We retired in mid 2006 and decided to wander the USA to actually see what it really looks like. In some 40 years of actually working for a living John has had extensive travel but rare opportunities to see an area. Usually it's dark going into the plant and dark coming out so most of the scenery is the inside of a plant, motel room, or restaurant. Actually in the last six months before retirement John put in two 34 hour days; ya walk into the plant and walk out 34 hours later. So we sold the house and the majority of the "stuff" and are now OLD (medicare recipients), UNEMPLOYED (retired), HOMELESS (not destitute), and enjoying the nomad lifestyle. NO! we don't have an RV; we sold the house, we're not driving it. We have two tents to camp when we want, but mostly motel camp. Staying a week or a month tends to be economical most places and we are definitely budget travelers. Look for us where its warm but not real hot with a reasonable cost of living.