Sunday, August 26 – Saturday, September 1, 2007
Sunday, August 26
Just a typical Sunday…we did spend several hours at Jean’s house watching the two final games of the Little League World Series. All the activity of the games wore us out, so we came back to Big V for a nap before going over to Mother’s house to feed the dogs for the night.
Monday, August 27
This was another basic “taking care of business” day…laundry to do over at Mother’s house and some straightening and cleaning up to do in Big V…take care of Mother’s puppies, etc. I got “Little Red” and moved trailers around so they would all fit in the boat barn. We’ve decided that we want to be able to take the cycle and the new cargo trailer on our next long Voyage journey, so I had to remove the motorcycle ramp from the smaller trailer and mount it on the big one. The only problem is that the floor of the large trailer is 1/4 inch diamond plate steel, so that involved getting a large drill and punching four holes through the flooring…not an easy task in the hot afternoon sun!
Tuesday, August 28
Yea! It was a gorgeous motorcycle day, so we got up early, went into town to feed the puppies, gassed up the Voyager, and headed up through Roswell to the cool pine country around Ruidoso…a great way to beat the heat! We hit some rain up in the mountains and tried to get it to follow us home, but didn’t have much luck with that.
Wednesday, August 29
We thought we’d probably sleep in after the long ride yesterday, but both of us woke up early. We got a little work and quite a bit of internet activity accomplished before we got back into the regular Wednesday routine of joining the Terpening clan for our Wednesday lunch at Chaos. Following lunch we went out to the little cemetery north of town to attend graveside services for Billee’s mother. We went back into town during the evening to take care of the puppies and then stopped at Ernie and Billee’s house to visit a few minutes with them and Billee’s sister and her family.
Thursday, August 30
What a great day! Finally, there was something to do to keep us busy. First, I got to use the mower to do part of Jerry and Nancy’s property. Then, while I cleaned up and fixed lunch, Jim mowed over here at Jean’s. (Wendell had already done the area around the house and the pecan trees, but that still left nearly two acres on the west side o the property.)
Since Billee has gone back to Harrison, Arkansas, with her sister, we had Ernie over for dinner and Big Red ice cream.
We received a telephone call from Barbara’s son John in San Antonio this evening. Charlie, his father-in-law (Carol’s father) is quite ill. The doctor’s discovered some serious internal injuries tonight and rushed him into surgery. We have a variety of travel plans on tap for the weekend, but they may all be scrapped if we need to go to San Antonio. Because of the timing and uncertainty of the situation, we didn’t have a chance to notify everyone of what was happening.
Friday, August 31
This morning was another “clean and straighten” time around Big V. Not knowing what news we would receive from the kids in San Antonio, we decided we’d better be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Our plans were to get as much done as possible while we could. If we got a call from San Antonio, we would be ready to make that trip. If not, I would be ready to leave with Ernie early Sunday morning to drive to Breckenridge, Texas, to pick Mother up and bring her back to Artesia.
After spending the morning getting our place cleaned up, I went over to Mother’s house to get the yard mowed and trimmed, do a little straightening inside, and take care of the puppies (they both believe the universe revolves around them, and since no one has taught them differently, that may be the case).
Jerry and Nancy invited us to join them in a drive over to Lovington to watch the Bulldogs play their first football game of the season. Yes folks, it’s hard to believe, but once again King Football has arrived in the country in all his royal splendor, and his fall home must certainly be in the heart of the Pecos Valley.
Last season the Bulldogs of Artesia High School earned their 25th New Mexico state football championship since 1957. Tonight in Lovington (home of the 15-time champions), they made it very clear that they intend to continue the tradition of the City of Champions.
It was a beautiful evening as both teams hit the new artificial blue turf (donated by Brian Urlacher, a graduate of Lovington High School) It didn’t take long for the Bulldogs to lay claim to this field (as they have to so many others over the years). After only 2 ½ minutes, the “Dawgs” had their first touchdown and extra point of the game and season, and were on their way to a 44 – 0 skinning of the Wildcats.
Barbara stayed at home to deal with any phone calls we might receive from the family in San Antonio, and unfortunately, the call came shortly after 7:30 pm that Charlie had lost his fight and had passed away.
Trying to keep the cell phone signals going between us, we mapped out different strategies for getting to San Antonio as quickly as possible. We decided that with it being a holiday weekend, motels in the area that we needed to be in might be hard to find, so we would just take Big V and the car and stay as long as necessary.
Saturday, September 1
In the cold grey light of dawn, we realized that it would take quite a while to get Big V ready to move, get the trailers moved out of the barn and the car-hauler attached…about three hours of work altogether, so we voted to just throw some things in the Vibe and take it, hoping that we could find a decent motel at a good rate in San Antonio. Also, we decided, we could make much better time in the car than in Big V, and the gas mileage would certainly be better.
So, after getting packed, saying goodbye to Jean, and making a final stop at Mother’s house to get the puppies their breakfast, we headed south on US 285 toward Carlsbad, NM, Pecos and Fort Stockton, Texas, and then down I-10 to San Antonio.
The trip was not without its moments, but was mostly uneventful, and we arrived at John and
Carol’s house at 7:30 pm and accepted their invitation to spend the night with them.
However, before we called it a night, we had a photo op session with Randi who is now 12 going on 23!
Sunday, August 26
Just a typical Sunday…we did spend several hours at Jean’s house watching the two final games of the Little League World Series. All the activity of the games wore us out, so we came back to Big V for a nap before going over to Mother’s house to feed the dogs for the night.
Monday, August 27
This was another basic “taking care of business” day…laundry to do over at Mother’s house and some straightening and cleaning up to do in Big V…take care of Mother’s puppies, etc. I got “Little Red” and moved trailers around so they would all fit in the boat barn. We’ve decided that we want to be able to take the cycle and the new cargo trailer on our next long Voyage journey, so I had to remove the motorcycle ramp from the smaller trailer and mount it on the big one. The only problem is that the floor of the large trailer is 1/4 inch diamond plate steel, so that involved getting a large drill and punching four holes through the flooring…not an easy task in the hot afternoon sun!
Tuesday, August 28
Yea! It was a gorgeous motorcycle day, so we got up early, went into town to feed the puppies, gassed up the Voyager, and headed up through Roswell to the cool pine country around Ruidoso…a great way to beat the heat! We hit some rain up in the mountains and tried to get it to follow us home, but didn’t have much luck with that.
Wednesday, August 29
We thought we’d probably sleep in after the long ride yesterday, but both of us woke up early. We got a little work and quite a bit of internet activity accomplished before we got back into the regular Wednesday routine of joining the Terpening clan for our Wednesday lunch at Chaos. Following lunch we went out to the little cemetery north of town to attend graveside services for Billee’s mother. We went back into town during the evening to take care of the puppies and then stopped at Ernie and Billee’s house to visit a few minutes with them and Billee’s sister and her family.
Thursday, August 30
What a great day! Finally, there was something to do to keep us busy. First, I got to use the mower to do part of Jerry and Nancy’s property. Then, while I cleaned up and fixed lunch, Jim mowed over here at Jean’s. (Wendell had already done the area around the house and the pecan trees, but that still left nearly two acres on the west side o the property.)
Since Billee has gone back to Harrison, Arkansas, with her sister, we had Ernie over for dinner and Big Red ice cream.
We received a telephone call from Barbara’s son John in San Antonio this evening. Charlie, his father-in-law (Carol’s father) is quite ill. The doctor’s discovered some serious internal injuries tonight and rushed him into surgery. We have a variety of travel plans on tap for the weekend, but they may all be scrapped if we need to go to San Antonio. Because of the timing and uncertainty of the situation, we didn’t have a chance to notify everyone of what was happening.
Friday, August 31
This morning was another “clean and straighten” time around Big V. Not knowing what news we would receive from the kids in San Antonio, we decided we’d better be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Our plans were to get as much done as possible while we could. If we got a call from San Antonio, we would be ready to make that trip. If not, I would be ready to leave with Ernie early Sunday morning to drive to Breckenridge, Texas, to pick Mother up and bring her back to Artesia.
After spending the morning getting our place cleaned up, I went over to Mother’s house to get the yard mowed and trimmed, do a little straightening inside, and take care of the puppies (they both believe the universe revolves around them, and since no one has taught them differently, that may be the case).
Jerry and Nancy invited us to join them in a drive over to Lovington to watch the Bulldogs play their first football game of the season. Yes folks, it’s hard to believe, but once again King Football has arrived in the country in all his royal splendor, and his fall home must certainly be in the heart of the Pecos Valley.
Last season the Bulldogs of Artesia High School earned their 25th New Mexico state football championship since 1957. Tonight in Lovington (home of the 15-time champions), they made it very clear that they intend to continue the tradition of the City of Champions.
It was a beautiful evening as both teams hit the new artificial blue turf (donated by Brian Urlacher, a graduate of Lovington High School) It didn’t take long for the Bulldogs to lay claim to this field (as they have to so many others over the years). After only 2 ½ minutes, the “Dawgs” had their first touchdown and extra point of the game and season, and were on their way to a 44 – 0 skinning of the Wildcats.
Barbara stayed at home to deal with any phone calls we might receive from the family in San Antonio, and unfortunately, the call came shortly after 7:30 pm that Charlie had lost his fight and had passed away.
Trying to keep the cell phone signals going between us, we mapped out different strategies for getting to San Antonio as quickly as possible. We decided that with it being a holiday weekend, motels in the area that we needed to be in might be hard to find, so we would just take Big V and the car and stay as long as necessary.
Saturday, September 1
In the cold grey light of dawn, we realized that it would take quite a while to get Big V ready to move, get the trailers moved out of the barn and the car-hauler attached…about three hours of work altogether, so we voted to just throw some things in the Vibe and take it, hoping that we could find a decent motel at a good rate in San Antonio. Also, we decided, we could make much better time in the car than in Big V, and the gas mileage would certainly be better.
So, after getting packed, saying goodbye to Jean, and making a final stop at Mother’s house to get the puppies their breakfast, we headed south on US 285 toward Carlsbad, NM, Pecos and Fort Stockton, Texas, and then down I-10 to San Antonio.
The trip was not without its moments, but was mostly uneventful, and we arrived at John and
Carol’s house at 7:30 pm and accepted their invitation to spend the night with them.However, before we called it a night, we had a photo op session with Randi who is now 12 going on 23!
“We’re all pretty ordinary on paper.”…Michael Bergin, first male to achieve “super model” status
From San Antonio,
Jim & Barbara
From San Antonio,
Jim & Barbara
