May 27-30

We ate breakfast and called Stacy who was packing to make the trip. We went on to walk and then come home to get lunch ready. They arrived around 1:30 and we enjoyed hearing about their recent vacation to Williamsburg. Olivia wanted to go for a horseback ride so she and Peter were taken to Queen farms stable. While she was there, she asked if she could come and volunteer to work with the horses. They said she could come to lead pony rides for the kiddies and help groom the horses. This excited her. In the evening we went to the block party in downtown Waynesville. There were three bands and other entertainment especially for the kids. Forrest Ramsburg, the son of Laurie, daughter of our friends from New Haven, had his magic show on the street and had a good crowd. I finally mailed the payments to Pacificare but they will probably be late. We came home and went right to bed. Sunday we went to worship. We enjoyed witnessing a confirmation and Holy Communion. We returned home, missing another dinner at church. We enjoyed our noon dinner of spaghetti here. Then Tom took Olivia to work and Peter to the recreation center to swim. I was to get Olivia at 4:00, take her and Stacy to the center and come home. I went to the bedroom to watch the Indy 500 and the Cubs game. When I wakened it was 4:30. Evelyn had done my duty. I straightened the house, preparing for our dinner guests, Barry and Jackie Conover. I am replacing him at the church in Franklin next Sunday. He brought the readings and bulletin for the service. They are a very nice couple. They left around 8:00 and the family returned. We watched a cartoon movie explaining the mystery of Red Riding Hood. It was very funny. It finished early and we went to bed. The worst event was that we found that the air conditioner is not working. During the afternoon, it gets quite hot although it is comfortable for sleeping at night. Monday produced surprises. The Georges had decided to return home before lunch. They packed and then went with us for our walk around the lake. We got very warm and finished around 12:10 and they left for an A&W root beer stand. We took Olivia who had decided to stay with us this week to work on the horse farm. We had planned to eat at home but would not have time to go home, eat and get her to the farm on time. Instead we went to the local dairy bar and had a baked potato followed by a soft serve ice cream. It was off to the stable. Evelyn and I came back and then I showered and left for the Kern Cafe. Tom had discovered that there was a wireless connection outside the cafe which doesn’t open until next week. It is somewhat hard to see the screen outside but not impossible. I worked until time to get the horse whisperer. We came home and she watched some cartoons until dinner time. She complained that she didn’t feel well. She never vomited but we didn’t force any activity. She got better and went to look at the horses across the way. She returned home excited to look for some horses, check prices, and board one (that she wanted to buy) over in the adjacent field. Wow! Her parents will probably be interested in following up on this. J We came into the house to wait for the cooling evening breeze. I watched the History Channel’s presentation George Washington, the Warrior. It was pretty good and stimulated my memory.
We arose with the alarm and gave Olivia her medicine. I called Sharon about the air conditioner and she said she would be out in the late afternoon. We moved around slowly and finally got to the lake around 10. We found the roses were being cut and got some. I went up to the hotel lobby to see if anyone had turned my hat in to the lost and found but I found it right where I had left it Sunday. Evelyn and I walked the lake while Olivia played with 40 other kids on the playground. We all came home and had lunch before I took O to the horse farm. I returned home and stopped on the way to see if I could find a red peony and a grape holly type tree. I can’t remember the name but I found both. I wanted to take Evelyn with me to get O. but she was too tired. I took the trash so I had room to load the items we wanted to take to the church rummage sale. I also picked up the elderly lady we take to the Bible study. We all left for the study which was really not of much interest to those of us who haven’t been here very long. We took a tank sweeper, a propane grill and several sweaters I don’t wear anymore. Evelyn also took some clothes too. I took Frances home and Evelyn took Olivia to the grocery. I picked them up, we bought some gasoline and came home.

Joys of the mountains

We heard the alarm at 7:30 and struggled up. After our light breakfast, I went outside to see if I could find our builder to see what she will do about the water accumulated under our house. She was disappointed to learn of it because she thought she had solved all the water problems. She promised she would take care of the problem. I trust her but wonder if the problem will be solved or will come back again. We then went for our walk and returned home to transplant some of the plants we had bought last night. We put some into a hanging pot and others into the ground. We then had lunch and rested for a while before going into town to get some rhubarb from a friend, my suit (they lost my good wooden suit hanger at the cleaner) and go to the library. I cleared the e-mails and tried my old computer and wireless card. I think it is dead because the screen went dark. We came home for dinner and then went on to choir practice. They were glad we were back. We invited one of the church couples for dinner tomorrow night. Earlier today I ordered a 32 inch TV for $1500. It is supposed to arrive and be installed tomorrow, hopefully before our guests arrive. We are paying to have it installed to spare our son-in-law, Tom, the trouble. They are coming Friday. I need his help on other things. We watched another movie we borrowed from the library named Foxfire. It was set in some mountains like we live in. We enjoyed it and then went to bed.
We got up and went for our walk. I checked and found the wireless connection has been corrected. We didn’t have time to use it. We tried to buy a pie crust at the local Food Lion but found none. E. wanted to have it to make a pie for tonight’s guests, so I went to town to get one and return the videos to the library. I brought the crust home. She worked most of the day making the dinner. We were both tired but she worked all day. I cleaned up the outside a bit and vacuumed the floor. I then mopped the kitchen and helped wash the outside of the siding on the deck. I dozed off in the afternoon while E rested. The TV that was supposed to be delivered this afternoon never came. I hope it comes tomorrow so it will be available for the weekend. Our guests came at 6:15 and we enjoyed dinner and a game of protestant poker. They are quite a nice couple from the church we attend here. They are also very involved in the community. They helped with Folkmoot last year and we want to help this year. We will try to remember to call the volunteer office tomorrow.
We walked again and found the rose queen trimming the roses on the rose walk. I went to see if the wireless connection at the Terrace Hotel had been repaired. I could not make the connection on the regular second floor but could make it on the fourth. A young man was trying to fix the problem so I will try again soon. I was able to get on the house computers and dump several days of e-mail. Evelyn had taken the roses and gone to a shoe repair shop for some heels on the shoes she had bought last year. She returned and we came home for lunch. We talked with the builder who said she had contacted her engineer about our water problem. Finally the man called saying he would bring the TV set. He did and hooked it up, connecting the VCR, DVD, and receiver and speakers. It took him more than an hour. I appreciated his efforts until I realized he had “low balled” me. He charged me more for the set than he had quoted two days ago. He also said then that he would bring another man with him and charge $40 for the hookup. He came alone and charged $50. I don’t know why I don’t pitch a fit when things like that are done to me. I hope it is because I trust the Lord. The set is somewhat smaller than I hoped for but it is thin and is a high definition. We enjoyed it in the afternoon, except that I had to watch the sorry Chicago Cubs make a pathetic fiasco of the game of baseball. We had soup for lunch and then went downtown to listen to some music. Stacy had called earlier telling how the children were sick so they would not come until tomorrow if they were well tomorrow morning. We went to coffee house and listened to progressive jazz. It is too bad that Tom was not here to enjoy it. We met a young couple from Sarasota that was up here for the weekend. We enjoyed talking to them. We then came home to watch some of our new, expensive TV.

Back into the routine

We slept later this morning but had a small breakfast before going for our walk. The weather looked clear but rain was predicted. While walking past the roses, we were blessed that the workers were trimming them and, as usual, were giving them to passers by. We took four to the car and finished our walk. We then went to the library to use the wireless router there. We also took my suit to the cleaners and went to the Open Door rescue mission to volunteer. We could only leave our names and day preferences because the directors were on vacation. We stopped at the grocery on the way home to get some supplies for our dinner tonight. We invited one of the widows in our addition to have buffalo burgers with us. We had a package of only three. I decided we needed to smoke some of the many pork loins and short ribs we had. The smoker worked very well and things were smoked. We enjoyed our dinner with Anna. She enjoys beer and we consumed four between us. After she left, we began watching The Grapes of Wrath from the library. We only made it halfway through and tired of it. We may watch the rest tomorrow. The rest of Cottage Loop is being paved and the process began today. It rained some so it was not completed. Earlier in the day, I saw some painters in the neighborhood and asked if they would repaint the pickets on our porches. The foreman told me that they were there to paint every one in our addition. That is good news because I was thinking of looking up our builder to see when the painters would be back. The Lord truly does provide.
We have finally begun to set our alarm clock to help us get up. This is a procedure that will take some time. We thought of setting it for noon but decided that we could take a bolder move than that. We opted for 8. We also plan to eat a small breakfast each day to jump start our metabolism. We also plan to walk around 8:30 or 9 each morning. We did these things today. We then came home and pulled some of the many weeds out of our flower beds. We had lunch and cleaned up for a trip to the location where we hope to buy our gigantic TV for our entertainment center. They still had the set that was ½ inch too wide for our center. Unfortunately he has closed his TV sales business but can still get a Sony for us. He said he would call us in the afternoon but didn’t. We went to the motor home to retrieve some items and talk with the manager, Jason, but he wasn’t there. We talked on the phone as he drove back from the Asheville hospital where his infant son almost died a few days ago. He will call me in the morning but I don’t know why. We then picked up Frances, the woman from our church, to take her to the Bible study/potluck. There were only six there excluding the pastor. We took her home and got back here around 9:30. The Law and Order and NBA playoffs finished the evening.

May 18 to May 20

We rose early so the workers could finish the work on the water tank. We didn’t walk but did take time to shower. They got right n the work and patched what they thought was a crack in the tank. It turned out that that was the problem and the repair worked. We spent the morning calling about Evelyn’s prescriptions and sending e-mails to our accountant. We drove the coach out of the work bay to dump our tanks and put the living room slide out but the awning would not retract properly. We drove back in just in time to miss the storm that hit. Had the awning been correct, I would have been in the process of connecting the car. What blessings the Lord gives. We thought this was just another problem but it was really a protection. They made an adjustment and the awning worked fine in several tests. We paid our bill of only $271, hooked up the car and left. We had eaten lunch earlier and left at 2:30 heading for Ohio. We took 27 all the way to I-275 around Cincinnati and encountered only one minor delay on I-75 in KY. We drove on the Berea where we parked at the Wal-Mart and went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. I don’t like Cracker Barrel but we did enjoy their tortilla soup. Evelyn noticed that this was where I dragged the Jeep we towed last year into a dumpster. What fun that was.
We got up early Friday and drove on to our favorite destination-Middlesboro, KY. There is a Kroger store there and we shop for $100 worth of groceries so we can get a 10 cent reduction in the price per gallon of gas. We also love the hazelnut/poppy seed bread they sell. I was crushed to see that there were no loaves on the shelf. I asked that they look in the back to see if there were any more and they found one! How happy we were. You may think that is nuts but you haven’t tasted it. We left there and went on toward NC. We stopped for lunch at a Sagebrush restaurant and shared a lunch of chicken strips. We ate a ton of peanuts while awaiting our meal so we had plenty to eat. We came on to home and arrived around 4:00. It was a beautiful day so we enjoyed unloading some of the motor home items. We may have completed half of the job but still have the items under the bed and the storage doors to unload. We were amazed at the amount of groceries we now have because we had bought many things at the discount grocery in Decatur. We pledged to not eat out or go shopping until we have consumed most of the things we brought back. We spent some of the evening cooking some kind of oriental soup that I must have said I liked. It is fun to cook together: I open the cans and chop some of the ingredients.
Up and back to work on the motor home. It is hard to believe that there can be so much stuff in a motor home. We need to clean most of the things out so we can rent it out and still have most of our possessions. We had the oriental soup we made last night for our lunch and it was very tasty. We decided to take a walk around the lake while it was sunny. We had a violent storm last night and it rained off and on all day today. We did bring things into the house between rain storms and took the above mentioned walk. I had intended to do my blogging etc. at the Terrace Hotel at the lake but the wireless router has had trouble for several days. During one of the rains later in the day, I prepared the grill and cooked three buffalo burgers we had brought from Texas and eight grillers, two of which we had for dinner. I also used the remaining heat to flavor two chicken breasts for a later dinner. We also made plans to have Barry and Jackie Conover for dinner next Sunday. He is the pastor I will replace in the worship service on Pentecost. We spent the evening putting things away that Evelyn had laundered during the rains throughout the day, Tomorrow is worship and we will try to take the motor home to storage sometime tomorrow evening.
We went to church at 10:30 and decided not to stay for the lunch planned as a farewell dinner for the pastor. We learned that a seminary graduate has been assigned to this parish. I guess that means that I will not be called to be pulpit supply until the new pastor arrives. Oh, well. The Lord knows what He is doing. We came home for lunch and a relaxing afternoon mingled with continued unloading. We had learned that there was a Haywood County band concert planned for this evening at Maggie Valley’s pavilion at 6:30. We wanted to take the motor home to Maggie for storage, so we went around 5:30. We decided to ask a single lady to go to the concert with us. She was glad to be invited. While at the concert, which we enjoyed, I saw a pastor from Peachtree UMC where we had worshipped while looking for property. I told him that I was available for pulpit supply at Peachtree. He seemed to be quite interested in that information. We came home and had popcorn for our very late dinner.

Thank God for parts

We walked and prayed for the parts to arrive. The cylinder for the awning has been here since Tuesday but arms are needed. We moved the coach inside so work could be done on the water tank. I had much business to conduct on line concerning our taxes and insurance. I got most of it done while Evelyn went to check on prescription prices. When I came back, the arms had arrived and the awning was on. The tank had finally drained and it would dry out overnight. We moved back outside for the night, planning to get up early so the work could continue. The best news is that the extended warranty will pay for the awning but not likely the water tank. That is fine as long as we can get out or here tomorrow. We went to Evelyn’s aunt Pauline’s to get some of the names to write thank you notes for memorials given for Mom and a flower. We will pay for the dinner served yesterday after the funeral. We came back to our spacious motor home and wrote the thank you notes.

goodbye to a wonderful mother-in-law

Today was a sad/glory filled day. We prepared for the funeral. We had not rested well last night and were up a bit earlier than usual. We went to Geneva and greeted those who could come to the final rites. Most of the attendees were family members: Bob and Evelyn, John and Dixie, their sons Rick and Justin with his wife Kystie and their daughters Kaleigh and Kara, Miz and Pauline, their daughters Carla, Patty and Claudia’s husband Jack, Louise (Evelyn’s former secretary) and some others I have forgotten. I read some scripture, or rather blubbered through some. I took a while to understand why I cried more at this funeral than I did at my own mother’s and realized that it might have been because this was the last of our parents to leave us. I dearly loved both my mothers but am confident they are both in the loving arms of the Savior. Pastor Judy of Mom’s church delivered a marvelous message recalling Olive’s life but presenting the Gospel message giving Christ the glory He deserves. I wish more Lutheran pastors would understand that this can be done. We had a mock interment ceremony because it has rained so much during the past week that the backhoe could not even get to the gravesite to dig the grave. We had a dinner after the funeral and learned we could pay our Medicare supplement with pre-taxed dollars from our Social Security. We rushed to Fort Wayne to meet both with our financial advisor and our accountant. We then went to have dinner with our dear friends, the Grotrians, who served the wonderful rhubarb cake Janet makes. We returned home and went to bed early, praying that our part would arrive tomorrow.

Celebration of a giving life

We arose early, walked and prepared to go to the funeral home in Geneva. We ate our leftover fish for lunch here but took a sandwich for our dinner. We went early to prepare some pictures and then the people came. To our surprise, there must have been nearly 150 people come during the 4 hours of visitation. We thought there would be many fewer because of her age, but many must have come because John, Evelyn’s brother, is very respected in this community. So is his wife Dixie. Many came to support them. It was really a blessing to be a part of this celebration of life. I may post some pictures of the floral arrangements later. We did a bit of work on our taxes between visitation sessions and came home around 9:15. As I suspected, the coach had not been worked on. We can only pray that the part will arrive in time to be installed during the day tomorrow.

Resumption

All right. I will resume due to requests. We have been in Decatur, IN since May 6. Since my last entry, Mother Mann has died and literally gone to Heaven. We have had dinner at a restaurant in Geneva with the final remaining Huser daughter, Olive’s sister. Afterward we went to their home in Berne to play Hand and Foot. We had a good time with them. We have spent much time in the motor home because it has been cold and rainy since May10. We are a bit cramped because we cannot put the living room slide out because there is no awning to shield us from the rain leaking in. We have been waiting for an awning to be shipped since Monday. We learned that it had not been shipped until Friday. Lord willing, it will arrive here Monday, May 15. We also received the bifold that fits our stove surface unit, but it is the wrong color. We will try to ship it back this week and hope to receive another next week in North Carolina. Saturday night we met our friends who drew us to NC for dinner. I had brought three bottles of Kahlua for her from Mexico. Today is Mother’s Day and we went to worship at Promise Lutheran, our home church. It is not growing as it should because the church has abandoned its mission statement. God will not support churches that do that and He hasn’t supported Promise. It has not grown at all. After church we went out for Chinese food and then to see the movie RV. It was funny in parts but was so exaggerated that it was ridiculous in many more parts. Living in an RV has enough realistic humor that it needs not exaggeration. My friend, Sam from my high school days, came to have pizza with us. I love Pizza King Pizza and can only get it in IN. He also came to get some Crown Royal I brought back from Mexico for him. This completed my responsibilities as liquor mule for my friends in the north. We spent a lot of time visiting and reminiscing while sampling the Crown Royal. Sam is such a very good friend and will let us stay with him when we return in the middle of June.

Goodbye to all

Due to circumstances within my control, the blog is discontinued. I have evidently hurt too many people that I love, so I am hanging it up. Thanks for reading it from time to time. Jesus’ blessings to you all.

Blessings about Mom

The gathering at Appleby's Sunday evening.




We got up and went right to Berne for a tremendous blessing. We went into Mom’s room and she recognized both of us. Her hair was white--something she would have never tolerated--and she had a deep cough but made sense in her conversation most of the time. When she didn’t, we think we were just unable to hear what she was saying. Her voice would come and go into a whisper. She was in a Jerry chair and seemed to feel pretty good. She said she had no pains in her chest. We were blessed to spend an hour with her (Evelyn read to her) but left so as to avoid making her exhausted. She recognized and enjoyed seeing pictures of her great grandchildren. We came back and had lunch of leftover pork chops from Lambert’s restaurant. They were still delicious. Just as we finished, John and Dixie came to visit a while. I left to work on the stack of e-mail so as to not upset them and cause conflict in their visit with Evelyn. They had a nice visit, talking a great deal about their son, Justin, and his involvement with the military. He has received a promotion to Major. That is a great honor for all of them. I finally came back, and we went off to do laundry. What fun! I went to buy beer at the CVS pharmacy and found a deal on the glucosomine chondroitin that Evelyn needed. I returned to help fold the laundry and we returned for a nap and dinner. We decided to visit a Christian friend who is being treated for breast cancer. We had a good visit and supported her and her husband with prayer. We came back to the coach and watched the finish of Seabiscuit. We love that film. We were also blessed this afternoon when another coach came in for repair. We had been the only ones here and worried that the operation had been moved to another location. We are more confident now.






We went to church in Decatur where we were blessed to find one of my lay minister mentors leading the Bible class. He is pastor David Schlie who is one of the most Spirit filled LCMS pastors I have ever met. He can’t hear well but still teaches the Word magnificently. We left there after worship and had some leftovers here and then went to Berne to see Mom. She was eating and finished soon after we arrived and we talked for around an hour. We noticed that she was not as lucid as yesterday. She still coughed and was much more drowsy. It was right after she had eaten. We aren’t certain how she is mentally but may exist like this for weeks. We returned here for a nap and then left to meet Louise, Evelyn’s former secretary, and Whitney, the wife of the man who replaced her. We had dinner at Appleby’s and then went to visit Tom and Janet Grotrian, dear Christian friends we used to reunion with. After returning to our unit, I called Ned Knape and arranged to go to a minor league baseball game tomorrow night. We spent the rest of the evening at home.

California to Indiana

We awakened at 5:30 for some reason and could not go back to sleep. |I went in to shower and say goodbye again. I drove directly to Rexhall and Evelyn took the Saturn to the dealership for oil maintenance. I was here right on time but nothing was done for half an hour. I explained to everyone that we wanted to get back to Indiana ASAP and they agreed to hurry with us. I wonder how long we would have been here if they hadn’t hurried. They did fix the chair, and took the damaged awning off because the service chief said it would leak if we drove into rain as it was. They finally got to checking the battery drain about 1:30. Meanwhile Evelyn was delivered here by Saturn. We had agreed to pick the car up on our way out of town. While we waiting through the RV lunch hour, we drove over to dump at the most ill planned dump site I have ever seen. Evelyn was really disgusted as was I. After waiting all morning, we learned that the bifold that was to have been made and installed today had not even been made. It will have to be shipped to Decatur. This caused another delay because the lead man must call them and tell them what to order for us. I would have done it myself but don’t know the parts to ask for. It must be done correctly to get the extended warranty to cover it. We left there and went to get the clean, freshly serviced Saturn. We had to pay for the service but should get reimbursed from Saturn of McAllen. We drove out of Palmdale and went right on to I-15 until we reached I-40. We thought it best to skip the visit with the Maders but will call them when they return from Mexico. We had it in our minds to get out of CA today and made it to Kingman where we spent the night in the Wal-Mart. We were surprised to see another posted ordinance prohibiting overnight stays but there were 8 units parked there so we joined them. The local campground owners are delivering a lot of clout to the city fathers everywhere. It was after dark and I don’t like driving after dark while towing the car. But we got out of CA and away from $3.39 gasoline. I think things will get better as we go.
We got up very early and continued farther into Arizona. The weather was much cooler to our relief but there is a distinct and alarming lack of moisture all everywhere we have been. We learned it has not rained any to speak of since November in Weslaco. We have had nice tail winds so that has been a blessing and no trouble so far. We have noticed fuel prices declining since leaving CA : down past $3. We have been able to maneuver around the damaged awning roller we are taking to Decatur. I called Kelly RV and they said they would order the part. We hope it is ready to install when we arrive. I surprised Evelyn with a shrimp dinner we shared at noon and she made a salad for dinner. I am not fond of shrimp but can eat it and the French fries. Again we had to drive past dark and park in an empty lot. I would have stayed in a campground but it was too dark to find one. We went directly to bed around 9. We keep changing time zones and I forget what time it is. Does anyone really know what time it is?
Up and off at 7. We drove hard again and made it past Albuquerque to a small truck stop area called Clines Corners. There were several trucks there and it was quiet. We were impressed about the number of casinos in NM, although we should have reckoned with the native American population in the state. Only they are unregulated by federal laws governing gambling. NM is a poor state and looks very dirty but that is because it is desert. It is also understandable that there is nowhere for them to deposit their large junk items so they take it to a ravine. This also adds to the junky look of the landscape. But they really do use wonderful southwestern colors in their decor. Albuquerque is beautiful. Even their overpasses are beautifully decorated. Unfortunately for them, it is located in a bowl that makes it very hot there while it is comfortable 5 miles in any direction since that distance takes one to the top of nearby mountains. Once again it was dark when we stopped. I began to be concerned when I saw more than 6 deer grazing along the highway. It would have been disaster had one of them jumped out into our path. We played a game of Kings on the corner before retiring.
Wednesday we continued in NM, choosing to stop at the Tucumcari cheese factory where we have often bought cheese. This time we found that they had discontinued their retail business and the production of any type of cheese except feta. We bought a huge chunk of that, thinking Tom the Greek would help us eat it. We decided to eat out at noon and stopped at a Flying J for their big buffet. We succeeded in happily overeating. We are also finding fuel for $2.60 something per gallon. This was in both TX and NM. We have stopped at many truck stops to take advantage of the prices because we will need much more before returning to IN. We also filled the Saturn because we may not see prices this low again all summer. We found a Wal-Mart in Bristow, OK where we spent the night. We plan another driving day tomorrow although perhaps not as hard. Evelyn talked with her brother and learned that Mom has rallied a bit. The Lord may allow us to make it to her after all. He also said he had won the school board election he had entered. We hope he likes the job. It was disappointing to have to call the Maders to explain that we could not stop to see them in Nevada. They had been to Mexico to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with their adult children. We were all very close during the years John and I taught together in Indiana.
Thursday brought the realization that the storm we thought we heard last night was real. This was the first rain we had seen in 4 months. Most of the places we have visited had rain by the buckets until just before we arrived but were dry while we were there. We showered this morning (not something we do everyday while traveling) and drove on to get more “cheap” fuel. We stopped at every Flying J we came to because the prices hovered under the $2.70 mark. One time I bought propane at $1.99 thinking that was as low as I would find. Unfortunately, I saw a sign farther into MO for $1.49 unless I saw it wrong as I drove by. The highlight of the day was our stop for lunch at Lamberts restaurant, The Home of Throwed Rolls, in Springfield. It is always fun and filling to go there. A young man throws [sic] all the delicious hot yeast rolls you want to you virtually from the time you take your seat. He will fire them across the room or toss them into the air beside you but will never hand you one. Other freebees include molasses, black eyed peas, tomatoes and macaroni, fried potatoes mixed with onions, and fried okra. This is all in addition to the entree’ and two sides you order. Evelyn had chicken salad with candied yams and waldorf salad while I had two pork chops and the same two sides. There is so much freebee stuff that I didn’t even eat my pork chops but took them with us with a couple of rolls and the rest of Evelyn’s chicken salad. We both ate our yams and waldorf salad there. We drove on to a Russell Stover candy outlet and bought some candy to give to the caregivers at the nursing home in Berne. We drove on the Sullivan, MO where we stayed at a Wal-Mart. We went in and bought a watch to replace the one I broke last March. It is really challenging to drive so hard and long as we have been this week. I am generally entertained listening to talk radio and Christian tapes. Evelyn spends most of her time reading. We usually stop more frequently to stretch than we have since we are trying to get home sooner than we had originally planned. This can cause a stiffening of the back and legs. The blessing is that we can stop some and Evelyn can move around the coach as we drive.
We took off around 7 and drove to Teutopolis to meet with Don and Deana. They had decided to have lunch at their house so we could visit more easily and we did for about two hours. Their family is doing well. We were surprised to learn that they had been in TX when we went through San Antonio. We debated about going there but I had received an e-mail leading me to believe they had returned to IL. We left there and drove to the Indiana welcome center where we took a nap. We left and began listening to the Indy radio stations which told us that there were no fewer than 6 accidents in the city, one of which had traffic stacked up on I-465. We decided to try to skirt the city. We took 39 north but ran into a detour that directed us to 236 and then to 75. There was another detour forcing us to go farther out of our way. We ended up on 32 going through many small towns. The Lord did lead us to some $2.699 gas. He also led us to a route we had previously taken to Berne and Decatur. We arrived at the RV location and were shocked to see NO units waiting to be serviced. We suspected the place had closed or had been relocated. I had called them Monday telling them we would be coming for repairs this weekend. We checked the electric outlets and they were hot so we hooked up for the weekend. Shirley if you are still reading this, we have some Kahlua if you want to come to Decatur to get it. Ray, I miss your Saturday telephone calls. We will go to visit Mom Saturday morning.

Third Sunday of Easter

We arose and went to worship about 7:30. We had Holy Communion, always a blessed event. We stayed for Bible class featuring an interview with Dr. Paul Maier revealing many of the lies and distortions in the best seller, The DaVinci Code. We came home and dressed down for the day. It was very hot and got hotter in the afternoon. We went into the house just as their “church” was drawing to a close. We didn’t join them because I could tell they were saying much of the same things they had said the week before. I put the oil from the motor home into plastic jugs and Pieder took them to the auto parts store because he had to go after some item he needed to change his oil. The day was spent in preparation for tomorrow’s departure. I filled the water tank and they packed suitcases for their skiing trip. I hope there is enough snow for them. We had two good meals: a lamb stew and some filets from Emily’s grass fed beef. The beef was surprisingly tender although the marinade that made it so gave the beef a strong fishy taste. After dinner when the air had cooled, I painted the door to their laundry room with some of the blue paint left from the boys’ room. I played pool with the boys until bedtime. Evelyn spent much of the day reupholstering a stool for the girls and repairing some of their play dresses. We need rest so we can begin our marathon race for Indiana. Mom must still be hanging on. We have not heard otherwise from John. We pray that we can make it back before she passes but would rather she be comfortable.