September 19 through 23, 2010

Sunday 19~~~~ Today was a busy day at our house, I finally finished painting the bedroom I made into an office. It looks great, I am really proud of how it turned out and it is a room we both really enjoy using with the computer out and ready to use any time of the day or night. The desk we have in there is a big corner one that has so much room and many drawers for all my projects. I have all my stamp books and stamps and the books I am writing again at my finger tips, I can do a little and not have to put it away if I get interrupted. Kent can go in there and be away from all the noise and confusion if we have a houseful. LOL Lisa and Ray came over to see us before we leave and I gave Ray a haircut and Lisa a bang trim. Tress and her two came over and joined us, so we had a houseful before long. We had a simple dinner and had fun visiting. We will be leaving on Wednesday for Bend Oregon and then work our way to Colorado. Tuesday 21~~~~~We were busy taking everything from the house back to the 5th wheel so we can be ready to leave in the morning. Pammy and Jeff came over and spent an hour or more visiting with us. With us working at the park, we didn't get much time with the kids, so they all came over for last minute visits and hug and kisses. We are a very close family and we do miss being together when we are on the road so much. Thank goodness we have cell phones and computers to keep in close contact. Wednesday 22~~~~ I called Tress last night and told her to come over for coffee early this morning, as she didn't get to come over last night because of an open house at the kids school. She said she didn't think she would make it over, so I was slow getting up this morning and getting dressed. Tress showed up and caught me in my PJ's but that was OK as I was just happy she made it over. Saying good bye to Tress is always harder, as she will always be my baby. LOL We left for Bend about 11:00 AM, stopping at Fisherman's Bend park on our way through. It was such a good feeling to drive through the park where we had spent so many hours cleaning camp sites and meeting such beautiful people. We stopped a visited a little with the few staff that is still there for the winter and said our goodbyes again. We arrived in Bend about 3 or 4 PM and we stayed at the Bend Elks Club. We called Justin and Jen to set up some visiting time with them. They were busy tonight, so we will see them tomorrow night. We walked over to the club and checked in for the RV park. It was a warm afternoon, so we decided to join some of the people at the bar, some were locals and some RV' Er's like us. We were all having fun talking about where we were from and laughing together, I was giving the bar tender a bad time because she hadn't set up a free drink for us visiting Elk Members and others soon joined in on the fun. She then told us how she had just got back from Vivian, South Dakota from driving her mother there for her 50th high school class reunion. What a shock to hear her say that, because Vivian, S.D. is where we lived and where I raised my five children before we moved to Oregon in 1977. I told the bar tender that was my town and gave her a high 5 and everyone at the bar was so amazed over it too. She asked me if I knew any of the Huffman's in Vivian and I named off a bunch of them and asked her if she wanted to to name anymore. She asked me if I knew a Iola Huffman as she was her mother. I said I did and I told her the last time I saw Iola she was singing with Arlo Huffman and Lonis Wendt and the band and I told her the name of the song she sang that night. She picked up the phone and she called her mom who lives in Bend Oregon and asked her if she knew a Sharon Luke. She was so excited, she drove right down to the Elks and she and I had the best long visit ever. It was so fun getting filled in on all the people from the little town on the prairie that I loved so much and laughing over old memories we both had. It is so amazing that we think the world is so big and then things like this happen. Kent was so amazed at me again finding someone I knew so far away from home when he lived and grew up in Bend Oregon and he never saw one person he knew while we were there. Thursday 23~~~~~Today Kent and I drove to the many fishing holes Kent used to fish in as a little boy until he was a young man. Some of them were smaller than he remembered them to be and one we couldn't find. We tried our luck at fishing at one of his favorite spots, but the mosquitoes were so bad they were eating us alive and we had to quit. We had a picnic lunch along, so we ate it in the sunshine by the water where there were no mosquitoes. We then drove up to Pilot Butte where Kent and his friend John Burgelhaus used to ride their bikes as young boys, it is so steep I don't know how they ever made it up that big hill. I love the stories they tell when they get together about all they did while growing up. We just got home in time to go see Justin and Jen's apartment and take them out for dinner. We went to the Olive garden to eat where we had a nice dinner and we got to visit before heading home to play cards at our house. They both get up pretty early, so we said our goodbyes about 9:30. They are going to Salem-Eugene for the weekend, so we will see them again on Sunday for dinner at our place.