A Little More Visiting

Wednesday, July 1 – Saturday, July 11

Wednesday, July 1, 2009…Happy 3rd year retirement to us!

Yep! It’s sometimes hard for us to believe that we’ve been playing hooky from school for 3 years; but we certainly have. And, we have no complaints about these years either. It’s been quite a ride, in more ways than one.

Since we’re extremely behind on our journal entries, we’ve made the executive decision to condense these memories into mainly photos and an occasional side note.

Today, July 1st, Jim and I left Heather’s family preparing for their journey to Boston and we took off with Jaycie and friend Kiersten for Holiday Village where we would meet up with daughter Leah who was bringing John’s daughter Randi with her.

It was with a little trepidation and a healthier dose of optimism that we handled 6 people in our little abode for 4 nights and 5 days, especially with the temps in the 100+ each day.

However, it’s one of those life experiences that one says, “Been there, done that, don’t think I’ll do it again!” Don’t misunderstand; we had a tremendous time overall, but…just think about it…that was a house full!

After getting everything unpacked and Big V in shape, we all headed to the pool to cool off.
July 2nd we took the girls and TJ’s grandson, Joseph, to the beach at Lake Hawkins where we enjoyed the water as well as a picnic.
Nights were spent watching DVD’s and gnawing away at bowls of popcorn before calling a day over.

One interesting bit of information that needs to be documented for “family history” is the attention that Randi, the oldest granddaughter, received at the pool. Seems as though some young man decided she was worthy of pursuing; however, the feeling was definitely not returned by Randi. Therefore, it was left to Grams to issue his marching orders, which I gladly did, when he arrived at our lot on the 4th intending to make a “date” to watch the fireworks with Randi that night.

The cowboy church that Jim and I attend in Quitman had a roping contest the morning of the 4th; so we decided to give these city girls a taste of the cowboy life. The bottom middle photo was taken by Jaycie’s friend, Kiersten. We were impressed by the photography ability of all 3 girls.
The Fourth of July picnic on the night of the 4th found our lot full with Jim’s mom, Billee, Ernie, TJ, Joseph, Ladd and Angela as well as the 6 of us.
Playing washers consumed some of our time…Unfortunately for Randi and me, Gramps and Jaycie placed 1st, Kiersten and Leah 2nd, and Randi with Grams as her partner claimed last place and were proud of it! Winning is so overrated!

Early on the morning of the 5th Leah headed back to Kansas as the girls and Jim and I travelled over to Cleburne where we had made plans to attend church with my sister Nancy and her family. After church the congregation was having a picnic lunch which we also attended before heading over to Nancy and Tom’s for more visiting.
Leaving Cleburne in our rear view mirror, we made the 2 hour trip to Richardson where we were planning to spend the night and take care of the cats, Smoky and Simba. It was during the ride over to Heather’s that we realized the roaring noise from the rear of Big V was getting louder and it was agreed that we should take the car in to have it checked out!

Well…Monday morning brought the news from the Pontiac dealership that the Vibe was definitely not in the best of health! The bearing was burned out in one of the rear wheel hubs, but…they couldn’t fix it since they had to order one of the parts. With this news, Jim and I decided that we should just stay put and find things for the girls to do in the Dallas area instead of returning to the lake as we intended. We had already told the girls that Monday was a day of rest for them and they found different ways to keep themselves occupied!

For Jaycie and Kiersten that meant checking out all the costumes that Abby had in her toy box and demonstrating their creative talents with song and dance routines.

Randi, being of a different persuasion, chose to surf the net and then, somewhat reluctantly agreed to pose for some photos for her grandmother.
It has long been a tradition for the girls that when they stay with Gramps and Grams they make a scrapbook of their visit. Therefore, much time was taken accomplishing this endeavor.
If you’ll notice Kiersten’s entry, it says, “I am mad at Symba” … last night, Jim and I forgot to put the gate up properly so Simba spent much of the night scratching at our doors and meowing…though none of us had the wherewithal to get up and do anything about it. It’s just one of those funny memories that will wind up being a favorite to relate.

After a lot of research on Monday, Jim and I decided that we’d take the girls on an adventure Tuesday.

This adventure began with catching the train at the George Bush DART station…final destination…the Dallas Zoo.
The train ride took approximately 40 minutes, but we all enjoyed the experience! Now it was time to hit the zoo! And…what a zoo it was!
Jim and I basically chose this outing just with the girls in mind…not really thinking that we, too, would really enjoy it…just wanted the girls to enjoy themselves… that would be enough for us. At least that’s what we thought…after all, a zoo’s a zoo, right? Nope! We definitely recommend that if you’re ever in the area, this is a must place to go.

With one last set of photos, it was time to board the train for the trip back home to Heather and Andy’s. It would take the girls the rest of the night to get caught up on their scrapbooks.

A last minute phone call from Cathey set Jim and me to scrambling with plans of returning to our lot to get the girls’ belongings. Due to some changes in Cat’s work schedule, she needed to pick up Jaycie and Kiersten on Wednesday instead of Thursday.

Therefore, we all hit the road early on Wednesday morning to pack up all the girls’ supplies. All the time Jim and I were praying that the Vibe didn’t decide this was the time to break down!

Once we had everything packed in the car, the girls and I headed back to Richardson while Jim rode the cycle into Mineola to check the mail and see his Mom. Then, he, too, came to Richardson so we’d be able to leave the Vibe alone once it was just the 2 of us again.

Cathey arrived around 2:30 and we quickly loaded up Jaycie and Kiersten’s luggage and they headed out for the trip back to Lubbock.
Randi, Gramps, and I settled down to an afternoon and evening of watching the Gilmore Girls on a DVD that Heather and Andy had. It didn’t take long for Jim and me to get hooked on this series! We continued this vegetation period through to the next day! So…with nothing particularly exciting to do, and with permission from Randi’s folks, Gramps took Randi on her first motorcycle ride. Their path took them riding around the neighborhood; so Grams’ job was to run (okay, so I didn’t run!) from the alleyway to the front of the house taking photos as they passed by!

On Friday, the three of us journeyed over to a beach at Lake Lewiston that we had found on the internet. Though this beach was not nearly as nice as Lake Hawkins, we did while away some time swimming and picnicking. For some unexplained reason, the camera chose this day to make perfectly yucky pictures and none of us realized it until we got back to the house and started to print them for Randi’s scrapbook.

Saturday, the 11th, we drove over to Temple, TX, to meet John and Carol who were rather eager to see their missing teen-ager!

After a breakfast/lunch at Denny’s and enjoying a short visit, we all piled into our respective vehicles for the journeys back home. For us, home once again meant Heather and Andy’s since we’re still waiting on the part needed to fix the Vibe.

It was with a grateful heart that we arrived once again with no car trouble other than a roar like a 747 jet coming from the rear of the Vibe.

Our time with the older granddaughters, daughter, and grand friend (what we called Kiersten) was now officially over. And, what wonderful, lasting memories we shared…some we’ll even be able to laugh at years from now!

Alone and awfully quiet in Richardson,

"Family is the essence that helps define our very identity"…on a favorite photo frame

Jim and Barbara

A Little Visit

Sunday, June 21 – Tuesday, June 30

Sunday, June 21

Happy Father’s Day!!!

We got up early this morning, straightened the house, loaded the car for our trip to New Mexico, closed Big V down, and then headed off to Mineola to attend church with Mother, T.J., and Joseph.

When the service was over, Mother took Barbara and me to a really good restaurant to enjoy a buffet spread before we took off on our journey. We enjoyed a very nice hour of good food and conversation before taking Mother back to her house and saying our goodbyes.

It was a very warm (downright hot) day and we decided we weren’t interested in driving all day just to get to Artesia late at night, so we stopped early and just chilled out for the late afternoon and evening.

Monday, June 22

This was nothing more than a travel day, with eleven hours of driving to do to reach Artesia at a decent hour. The hot West Texas winds were blowing all day, but the Vibe’s air conditioner was up to the task and we arrived in Artesia in time to unload and put away our luggage in Jean’s spare bedroom before going over to Jerry and Nancy’s house for pizza and a lot of catching up on the happenings of our families.

We did find, when we got to Jean’s house, that she had bought a new car and that for Mother’s Day Jerry had arranged to have the section of the driveway from Eastwind Road to the house paved…Lots of excitement that no one had told us about.

It was great to be back with the family and hear all the things that had been going on with them…we’ve really missed them since we left in the middle of March.

Tuesday, June 23

After enjoying an early morning cup of coffee on the back porch while we watched the sun come up over 12-mile hill, we adjourned to the house for a light breakfast.

While Barbara and Jean visited inside, I went out to do some work around the place. I had mowed Jean’s four acres before we left in March and was expecting to do that again while we were here this week, but with no appreciable rainfall since we left (only .6 of an inch since January 1), nothing had grown except under the pecan trees (where the watering schedule for the trees benefits the grasses and weeds) and over the septic tank. Beyond that, it is as dry as I’ve ever seen it.

I did do some weeding around the concrete pad where we park Big V when we’re in town and then put out some weed killer and some “ant candy.” There seems to be a bumper crop of ants this year, with about twenty large beds on the west side of the property.

Later in the day we drove into town to check the mail and go to Forrest Tires to see about a problem we thought we were having with the Vibe’s tires. We’ve been hearing a constant rumbling sound that could have been tires that were mounted incorrectly, but found that was not the problem. We still don’t know what that particular problem is, but did find out, when they rotated the tires, that both front tires were worn out. In fact, the right front tire was beginning to separate…guess we were extremely fortunate that we didn’t have a serious problem with it in that hot drive yesterday.

There were no tires our size in stock, but they told us they would order them and would have them in by noon Friday. We had no choice but to put all of our plans, including a trip to Roswell tomorrow or Thursday, on hold until the Vibe had new shoes.

Tonight we just hung around the house, watched the College World Series game, and visited with Jean.

Wednesday, June 24

We finally got into the swing of our “Artesia routine” today…had a leisurely breakfast with Jean, worked a little around the place during the morning, joined the “lunch bunch” at Chaos with Jean, Jerry, Nancy, Becky, and Susie.

The afternoons are blistering hot, so we just stayed inside, read, and took short naps until everyone got home from work.

Jerry, Nancy, and Becky came over for ice cream during the evening. While Jerry, Jean, and I watched the championship game of the College World Series, Barbara, Becky, and Nancy were busy playing a card game.

I don’t know who won the card game, but Texas lost the World Series to LSU, a real downer for all of us.

Thursday, June 25

We all voted yesterday that this would be a good day for a family trip to Ruidoso, so shortly before 9:00 this morning the whole clan, including James and Susie, who drove over from Hobbs, piled into Jean’s new vehicle and we took off for an adventure, beginning with a stop in Roswell for apple fritters and other assorted goodies to tide everyone over until lunch.

After visiting the Apache Travel Center for a while, we drove on up the mountain to the Inn of the Mountain Gods for some fun time and a great buffet lunch.

Later, we went back down to the travel center for a few minutes before pointing the car back toward Artesia.

Since James and Susie had WAY more fun than the rest of us during the day, they offered to take us all out to dinner at The Wellhead, a steak house in Artesia. Nancy, who had to stay behind and work today, joined us for the evening meal and we all enjoyed a great evening of good food and conversation (except when we couldn’t hear the conversation for the loud music).

Friday, June 26

I went out early with Jerry this morning to join the Methodist Men’s Breakfast group at the hospital cafeteria. During the summer months they meet there instead of cooking breakfast at the church kitchen. It was really nice to see some familiar faces and exchange news of our activities since the last time we met.

Since our new tires weren’t expected in until around noon, we just hung around Jean’s house this morning, and took time to organize everything that we would need to pack before returning to East Texas. We found a few things out in the barn that we wanted to take back with us, but since we would be picking up Jaycie and one of her friends in Lubbock, we decided there was nothing here that we just couldn’t live without until the next time we return.

During the afternoon I went down to Forrest Tires to get a front end alignment and have the new tires mounted, but found that the tires wouldn’t be in until later this evening. I did get the alignment and a promise from the staff that they would balance and mount the new tires at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow…not the most satisfactory arrangement, but there really wasn’t much choice.

Saturday, June 27

It was with a bit of trepidation that we drove to Forrest Tires a few minutes before 8:00 this morning, but true to their word (at least the last one), they were prepared for us and within thirty minutes we were back on the road for a trip to Roswell to do some shopping and visiting.

Our first stop in Roswell was at the donut shop for a couple of apple fritters. Then, we went to Champion Sports to buy a couple of new visors for our motorcycle helmets. While we were there, we also found a couple of hydration vests to wear during really hot rides…all we’ll have to do is soak them in water, strap them on, and voila…we have air conditioning for ourselves. Several folks have told us that they work wonderfully…now we’ll have to find out for ourselves.

No trip to Roswell is complete without a stop at Happy Jack’s used book store, and we felt a need for a complete trip, so we stopped to turn in a large batch of books that one or both of us has read and invest in a new batch for the weeks ahead.

With the main part of our shopping completed, we went to Cal and Carol’s (Barbara’s sister and brother-in-law) house for a visit. We were delighted to see that Cal is holding his own as he continues to have breathing problems.

After talking for a bit, Barbara and Carol went out for a bit of shopping while I stayed at the house and shared stories with Cal. The girls always seem to find plenty to talk about and share while they are out store-looking...

When the girls got back, Carol prepared the table with a variety of sandwich items and we sat down to a light lunch before Barbara and I had to leave to go see Jerry and Jane (my brother and sister-in-law). Unfortunately, even with several phone calls and much doorbell ringing, we somehow missed Jerry and Jane this afternoon, but did finally connect via a phone call later in the evening.

Back in Artesia, we joined the family over at Jerry and Nancy’s house for grilled chicken (Jerry tried out a couple of new spice rubs) and all the trimmings. While waiting for the meat to be ready, Becky and Barbara decided to revisit their childhood by playing a game of Pick-Up Sticks (see bottom right photo). We finished off the evening with a rousing game of Chickenfoot, one of our favorite activities when we all get together.
Sunday, June 28

Today we joined Jerry, Nancy, and Becky for the morning worship service at First United Methodist Church. After the service, there was a church-wide wiener roast and brat cookout where a good time (and good food) was had by all.

Before returning to Jean’s house, we stopped at the laundry to run a couple of loads of clothes through the washers and dryers, hoping to get everything ready for our trip tomorrow.

This afternoon and evening we packed and repacked, finally getting everything “just so” in the Vibe. All that was left was to say our goodbyes to the family, get a good night’s sleep, and strike out tomorrow on another new adventure.

Monday, June 29

After spending a leisurely early morning with Jean, we threw the last of our belongings in the car, said goodbye again, and struck out across southeastern New Mexico for a trip to Lubbock. After stops in Hobbs and Lovington, we drove on to Lubbock to spend an evening visiting Jimmy Clint, Cathey, and Jaycie, and getting Jaycie and her friend Kiersten ready to go spend some time with Grams and Gramps in East Texas. Kiersten and her family came over to get all the information about our plans and to bring Kiersten’s clothes so we could have them packed and ready to go by 7:30 tomorrow morning. Tuesday, June 30

It was another travel day…we finally left Lubbock around 8:30 (after a couple of false starts and a stop at McDonald’s for breakfast). Our route for the day took us down U.S. 87 to Aspermont, and then across U.S. 380 to Denton, where we turned south on I-35E.

As a side trip, we drove to Plano so the girls could visit WOGA, the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy. Both girls had been on the same cheer teams in Lubbock, and wanted to see what this new facility was all about. From Plano, we made our way a few miles to Richardson, where we spent the night with Heather, Andy, Alexander, and Abby. Because Heather and her family are leaving for a two week trip to Boston tomorrow, we needed to get our final instructions about house and cat sitting. Our original plan was to spend another night there, but after that plan was made, we found that Leah was going to bring granddaughter Randi down for several days, so we cut this visit short and promised to make it up on the other end…kind of like daylight saving time.
Heather and Andy were busy getting kids, clothes, and other necessities packed for their flight to Boston, but took time out to fix a great supper for all of us and we used the time to get caught up on the latest news.

With an early start on our schedule for tomorrow, we all headed for bed at a semi-decent hour, with Abby graciously giving up her room for Jaycie and Kiersten while she bedded down on an air mattress for the night in Alexander’s room.

ADDENDUM

June 30, 2009

In a strange twist of fate, we found ourselves once again headed toward East Texas exactly one year after we left Artesia with Mother to move her to Mineola. The route was a little different, and we did spend the night in Heather and Andy’s house in Dallas rather than in a roadside rest area, but we couldn’t help remembering the significance of the date…three years to the day after packing Big V and leaving Liberal, Kansas, to start our retirement, and one year to the day that we moved Mother to her new home.

As we ponder the events of the past six months, we again realize the wonderful blessings that we have received, both in our travels, and in meeting new friends when we are “home” in either Artesia or on our lot at Holiday Village of Lake Fork.

Ah, yes, arguably our most significant event of the past three years was the purchase of a lot at Holiday Village in late February. Until that time, Artesia was our home when we weren’t on the road in either Big V or the Vibe. But, circumstances dictated that we have something closer to Mineola and Mother, so we took the big step toward land ownership. Now, we claim two home bases…Artesia and Lake Fork.

Our only major trip in Big V during this half-year was to go to Ethridge, Tennessee, in April to join a team building a new church, and then on to Toccoa, Georgia, to volunteer for three weeks at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center. In addition to serving God through our efforts, we had the very real blessing of greeting old friends and meeting many new ones through work and activities that will bind us together forever.

And, there were all those miles we traveled to see friends and family. While the motorcycle again got short shrift in logging miles, the Vibe and Big V more than made up for it, as we traveled 11,186 miles in the Vibe, 2,453 miles in Big V, and only 445 miles on the cycle, for a total of 14,084 miles in six months. But, our plans for the immediate future include making up for lost time on the Voyager by riding through parts of the upper mid-west before once again loading up Big V and the Vibe for another trip to Toccoa and then on to Richmond, Virginia..

It has been interesting to review the past five journals to see where the retirement journey has led us, as we look forward to whatever is in store for us in the future. Our thanks go out to all our friends and family who have commented on or contributed to our story…it wouldn’t be the same without you.

And so, we head off into our fourth year of retirement and an uncertain future, thanking you for your love and friendship, and wishing you the very best for your families and yourselves,

Thanks for continuing this journey with us.

"Any idiot can face a crisis; it is this day-to-day living that wears you out." - Anton Chekhov

From Richardson, Texas, and on the way to Our LITTLE Lot at Holiday Village,

Jim & Barbara