Saturday, October 12

Leo's Birthday

Today is Leo's birthday and since we have our ducks in a row and we are ready to depart in the morning we were invited out to share his birthday treat. How could we go wrong with Keri making it? French Silk Pie was his choice and a good choice it was.



No Internet for now

Usually, I wait to disconnect our Internet until after we are gone but this year I had to return equipment
for the first time. So here I sit on the day before departing without any Internet.
When faced with this situation in the past, I write the entries and then post them later.
And that is what the plan is this time as well.

It has been very wet the past couple of days and we had about 3 inches of rain overall and we were
sitting in the middle of a lake but the rain let up and has dried out some. It dried up enough for Butch
to get the last mowing done. For a while the sun came out and gave us some relief from the cold.
The thermometer read a cold 31 degrees at 6:00 a.m. After all the hubbub that takes place in the moving
and preparing the house for an unoccupied winter is now done and I think a nap is in order.

Friday, October 11

Iowa Trivia season ends for us

Last night  Dugan, Sharon, Karla, Devon, Butch and I played trivia at the casino and we played it very well! We came in second giving up our third place win for the first time all summer. We indeed played like a team with participation by all six in attendance. It was SOOOOO much fun!!

Butch and I are wrapping things up with departure scheduled for Sunday morning. This morning's outdoor temp was 35 degrees and it is expected to be lower than that the next two mornings. Oh, how I hope they have miscalculated how low it will go.
This morning we got our flu shots, went to see if we could vote ( ballots aren't in yet), took care of blending our two lots in preparation for building a garage next Spring, and filled the car with gas. When we came home Butch started in winterizing the house and garage.

When we were getting our flu shots there was another couple getting theirs two and we started a conversation. They were from Jamaica Iowa, full-time RV'ed for 10 years, go south every winter (Mesa AZ) and we had a whole bunch of in common things. After we walked away Butch went back and asked their names. Gordon and Jan Van Gundy. Butch said we used to know a Jan Van Gundy. It was the same Jan! She was married to Ron Morgan when we were very, very young and we ran with them a bit. She divorced Ron and Married Gordon and they have been married for 55 years! It was great reconnecting after all these years. We hope we can reconnect again next Spring when we return. Jan was a bunch of fun in her youth and I am sure she still is and it will be great getting to know Gordon too.

Sometimes what I write has limited interest to many people. When those times happen I am usually making notes for myself so I can come back and review. For instance, it might have been better to leave earlier this fall with the weather changing so fast and severely. That has been true the past two falls.
Last years post on the very same day!!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11

Last prep day

Tomorrow we will be headed south. Butch is doing the final touches of getting the house ready. I am doing a couple of loads of laundry in the motorhome to make sure a seal hasn't dried up or some other pending problem hasn't reared its ugly head. So far so good.
One of the very oddest of coincidences is that we left last year over 5 weeks later than this year and the weather is exactly the same! In the thirties! Nothing like little reminders to tell you it is time to skedaddle for warmer temperatures.
Tonight is our last trivia time at Hyvee for 2018 and our number one guy with an encyclopedia for a brain will not be there. We are going and we will do the best we can. It should be interesting even if it is painful.
Tuesday we voted for the mid-terms, gave our internet a shut-off date, paid our second half car insurance and went to Ames for our last dermatology appointment. Mickey invited us for supper at her house and it was delicious. Her new kitchen is beautiful.
The rest of my today will be readying the inside of the motorhome for travel. That may sound easy but when you have to think about and how everything might move if jostled it becomes more of a puzzle. It is a puzzle with which I am very familiar.
Back to work!

Tuesday, October 8

View from the Motorhome.

I took this early this morning. It is what I see when looking north from where I sit while on my computer.

Monday, October 7

Quick Note

Just a quick note to tell you we are still working at getting things wrapped up here and getting ready to head out early Sunday morning. So much of it is a timing thing- you know, cannot do this until we do that sort of stuff. List making is very important these days.

Leo and Keri hosted a very nice going-away party for us Sunday with many of our dearest family and friends in attendance. Wonderful food! How could it be anything but wonderful with Keri at the helm!
So early to bed for me so I can get started on tomorrow's list before first light.