Time with Family…A Tornado, Hail, a Graduation, and a Wedding

This last month has been a busy one!!

We got all our stuff done in Garnett, reports & lists to the Police and the Insurance company for our Storage Shed Theft. Lynnie, Teri, & Ryan came up to help us load our remaining things and we were off to Kingman, KS in a small caravan….

We arrived in Kingman  on Saturday,May 12th, and unloaded part of our UHaul truck to a new Storage Shed. Sunday, we finished unloading the rest of our things….whew…finally that is done and our kids can help keep an eye on it.

We spent the next couple of weeks just enjoying our kids and grandkids…even though I had lists to make for the Insurance company. I guess I let myself get really stressed out, and I ended up in the ER early one morning. Severe Abdominal pain and Chest pain.  Well, long story short…..it was Colon problems.

Our granddaughter, Samantha is graduating on the 20th of May, and on Saturday, the 19th we were out setting up for her Graduation Party….

Mac & I decided to take the little ones in to town…they weren’t a lot of help…lol. Well we made it to the highway when the Tornado sirens went off. We headed to Teri’s house to take the kids to the basement. Mac looked out the driver’s side window…and said “Look, there’s the Tornado!

Teri & the rest were right behind us. They pulled in to the garage and we parked in the driveway right behind them….This is what we saw next….

Hail damage to the truck and also to the Air Conditioner covers on the RV…another Insurance Claim to deal with….sigh.

There were 8 documented Tornado hits…

The rest of the evening went well…we finally headed back to the RV to get some rest for Sunday morning’s party and then Samantha’s Graduation.

Sunday’ Graduation Party had a great turn out…

and then off to Graduation…

Samantha was also notified that she was Student of the Year for her Senior year…Congratulations Samantha!

We left Kingman on Thursday, May 24th, and headed west to Plains, KS to see our daughter Dana & family. Mac is going to be doing some Carpentry work to help them get some remodeling done on the building that they purchased for Russell’s Law Office.

Mac has worked almost every day since we have been here. We did take a day and went to Ulysses to do some errands, see Linda & Phil…and a trip to El Ranchito for lunch.

Our granddaughter, Britny will be getting married on June 2nd. Things have been pretty crazy trying to get things done.

Saturday morning, the day that Cody & Britny will exchange vows came fast. It was a beautiful day for a wedding…..

and then to the Reception….the couple’s first dance…

and then the party!!

Looks like everyone had a great time!! Congratulations Cody & Britny! May you be blessed with many, many years of love & friendship! Love you guys!!

It took us all a couple of days to rest up from that night…LOL

We decided to extend our stay here in Plains another so Mac went back to work on the office remodel and I have dealt with the Insurance company some more. We will be leaving Plains on Monday, June 11th with an overnight stay in Childress, TX, and then on to Fort Worth for a couple of nights to see some of our friends. Then we will head on south to Conroe, TX to a Thousand Trails Park for 7-10 days to see our great friend, Arlene. We have missed her so much! We will also, get to meet a couple more friends in person, finally….

Well…this has definatly been a busy month for us…..

Hugs!!

Garnett, KS…Storage Unit Theft…Police..and Catching up with Friends

This is what awaited us when we arrived in Garnett on Monday, April 30th.after a call from the Manager of the Storage Units….about 90% of our belongings were gone. Stolen…we had already called the Police and reported the theft on April 18th after the Manager of the Garnett Inn Suites RV Park called to let us know that the padlock was missing on our Storage Unit.

We called the Police Department when we arrived in Garnett and they sent Officer Mike Carpenter out to make the report and take photos of the unit.We were just sick…until I happened upon a Backpack that wasn’t ours….it was full of tools, and a box inside with the names of the Thieves…now that’s something good!!

After that, things moved along pretty fast. The police talked to someone that had the unit next to us rented….and they were taken to the Police Department for some interrogation. After a couple hours we got a call to come down and look at some photos online to see if we could identify anything. Uh, yea…that’s my Electric Pressure Cooker.

Tuesday Morning, we got another call and were told that they thought that they had found some of our things and could we go to this house in Osawatomie. Sure thing! We loaded up and hooked up our flatbed trailer and off we went. Gary & Rosemary rode along with us. This is what we saw…

We recovered maybe about 10% of what was stolen. A lot of it was really nasty and was thrown away….yuck.

Then we had to make our lists for the Police Department and the Insurance Company. Thank God for off Premises, Replacement Cost Insurance! That will help replace some things, but the personal & sentimental items will never be replaced.

Mac’s father’s WWII Purple Hearts, Major Battle Stars, Enlistment Papers, Discharge Papers, and some German items can never be replaced. We had boxed all of that stuff up together so that we could take it to our son that lives in New Jersey. We are just sick about this. Mac’s dad’s Casket Flag that was in an Oak Frame was stolen also. We did recover the Flag, but the case was gone. There were also some items that were my mom’s and grandmother’s that we didn’t recover. That upsets us so much…why would anyone take something like this that is so precious to us and means nothing to them….sigh…

We had several emotional days of dealing with all of this, but we were able to get in some visiting with Gene & LeAnn and Geno & Al for lunch at Pizza Hut one day and dinner at the Tradewinds with Gary & Rosemary, plus lunch with Roy & Janet. Not bad…it was great seeing our friends.

Lynnie, Teri & Ryan came to Garnett on Friday to help us load up all of our stuff that we had left in that Storage Unit and also our other unit. We had rented a Unit in Kingman where the kids live so that they will help keep an eye on it. We got everything loaded up in the U-Haul on Friday and then it was off to Williamsburg to Guy & Mae’s for some ribs. Gary & Rosemary met us there and we has some great food and wonderful conversation.

Saturday we were off again…We had a little caravan going…Truck & RV, Teri pulling our flat trailer, and Lynnie driving the U-Haul Truck. We unloaded some of it Saturday evening and the rest on Sunday morning….phew….now that’s all done….

Now we just wait to hear from the Police Department & the Insurance Company.

We will be staying here in Kingman until the 22nd of May. Our granddaughter, Samantha, will be graduating from High School on the 20th.

Then we will travel to Plains, KS for Britny & Cody’s wedding on June 2nd.

When we leave Plains, we will be traveling to Houston to see our good friend Arlene for a few days before going to Corpus Christi about a summer job…

 

I forgot to mention in my last blog…that between Kingman, and Garnett….we stopped for the weekend in Emporia to spend the weekend with Jenni & family. Natalie & Justyce spent the weekend with us in the RV. It was great to see them…and we celebrated my birthday together….Grilled Cheeseburgers …and even a Birthday Cake!

While we were in Emporia, I made a Bag for Natalie and got one started for Justyce…I’ve been a Crocheting fool….LOL

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

(((HUGS)))

Carley…in one of the hats that I made her..

Catching up in Yuma and on to Amarillo

I know, I know….I am way behind on our blog. I have gotten lazy about writing but the days in Yuma are pretty much the same with a few exceptions.

Donnie & Karen Martin came to Yuma and spent the month of February. We had such a great time with them just hanging out and catching up on our lives. We didn’t do a lot of things but we did have dinner a few times, go to the Flea Market and a few Happy Hours. It was such fun seeing them again and we missed them just as soon as they pulled out of their site. Hopefully we will get to see them again soon.

Chuck & Kathy came over from their lot in California for a week. We have missed them! We had spent a lot of time with them the last year and when we separated I think we went in to withdrawal…lol. We had a great week with them and Donnie & Karen joined in on the fun. We had planned to go over to their lot and spend a week or so, but the timing just didn’t work out for this year. We will miss seeing them…

Our last month in Yuma was pretty ordinary…we hung out at home, had our Friday night card games with the gang, a couple of trips to Algodones……

We attended the going away party in Algodones on April 7th. WE all had a good time….some of us a much better time than others. Mac was in fine shape. He didn’t even remember leaving Mexico. That’s scary….

Mac & Bill getting a shoulder and neck massage…

Then the next day was Easter and we all gathered at Mike & Bette’s for dinner and lots of conversation….

We had a great time with our Yuma friends, but our time was running low. We spent Monday packing up the RV and getting ready to head out.

We left Tuesday morning and traveled up to Holbrook, AZ for the night. We had planned to spend another night on the road but once we were on I-40 we decided to go on to Amarillo. We made it there early evening and got all set up. Chris & Dusty came over to see us for a little while. The next few days were spent with Chris & Dusty after they finished work. We ate out a few times and Chris cooked Baked Spaghetti for us one night. It was really good and I asked for the recipe. I’ll have to make it one of these days.

Mac went on a guys Golfing weekend with Dusty, his dad, Terry, his cousins, and other uncles. I think they had a good time. They played gold, stayed up way too late, and maybe drank a little too much…lol

Chris and I got to spend some time together and had dinner a couple of times and lunch on  Saturday. We did a little shopping, and caught up.

On Monday, April 23rd, we headed to my sister’s in Waynoka, OK for a few days. We had such a good time catching up. Lyvonne has retired so we got to spend more time together this trip.

Our trip was cut short due to a Theft in our Storage Shed in Garnett. We left Waynoka on Thursday April 26th and drove as far as Kingman, KS to spend the night. We got to see Teri and her family for a while that evening.

We were up and on the road to Garnett to see what the damage was to our Storage Unit……..but that’s another blog….

I’ll write up the whole sordid details of the theft soon…

(((HUGS)))

Kevin F Sullivan, a Wonderful Man & a Great Friend

This week we are struggling with the sad news of the loss of our wonderful friend, Kevin Sullivan. Kevin passed away suddenly on Wednesday morning, Feb 29, 2012 in Florida. Arlene, his wife was in Florida with him. This is such a tragic loss to his family and the many people who knew this gentle man.

We met Kevin & Arlene Sullivan in person in March of 2009. We attended a gathering in Kerrville, TX of a group of Chatters in the RV-Dreams Chatroon. We had been chatting with Arlene and several others, and decided to all get together in Kerrville.

You know that feeling you get…like an instant click? That’s how it was for Mac & I when we met Kevin & Arlene. It was like we had been friends forever.

We spent two weeks at the Kerrville gathering and made plans to meet up again soon.

In October of 2009, we met up in Oklahoma at a Casino RV Park for a few days….Kevin was such a wonderful person and was very quick with jokes and sayings to make you laugh….we were leaving one of the many casino’s for the day, and I asked him “How did you make out in the Casino”? And this was his answer….

Such a clown at times….

and here…Mac and Kevin…the best of friends..

It just seemed like we would part company, and we were meeting up again somewhere else.

We met again in Mission, TX in early 2011 for a month together…this photo was on a Dolphin Sighting Cruise….

and another one on a Cruise of the Rio Grande River…

You can see in the photos that he loved Arlene with all his heart and she felt exactly the same for him. It was really easy to love this man…he had such a gentle soul.

Here we were staying in Rockport, TX for a month and had made a trip over to Port Aransas for the day. A group of friends together for lunch…

Here’s Kevin hamming it up at the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart Indiana…

and this is how we were parked a lot…right next to one another.

On to Kentucky and Churchill Downs…Kevin, Chuck, and Mac…the three amigos…

We have spent so much time with these great friends that it feels like we have know them our whole life.

We will miss you terribly our friend. Rest in Peace, Kevin. Heaven just received a very special Angel. Love you!

(((HUGS)))

“Live each day to the fullest….and make sure that all your family & friends know that you love them”

Where Did January Go??

January has sure flown by here in Yuma….We have had a lot of time to just relax. but we have also spent a lot of great time with our friends here.

 

Last Friday was dinner & cards at Mike and Bette’s…Mac won one of the pots & Bette won the other one. It is so fun to hang out with all these friends.

Just imagine if we hadn’t gotten on that RV-Dreams Chat room…we would have never met Phyllis…and never came to Yuma in the first place. Now we have several friends here that we miss everytime we have to leave. We have met so many new friends since we have went on the road fulltime! I can’t imagine not having them now….

We spent the weekend just hanging out at the RV…and a few errands ran.

 

Monday was Moose night agian! Hot Wings and listening to some Karaoke…Our friend Mike, does some Karaoke every week if he & Bette are there…

Buzz and Kendra

Bob & Mac

Jerry and Mike

Phyllis, Sharon, and Bette

Tuesday we went to Mexico with the gang….Jerry drove his van over and the 10 of us crammed in to make the trip…we all have different things to get done..some to the dentist…some to the eye doctor, some for pedicures, and others to just do a little shopping. We all met at Paraiso’s for some lunch and of course a few Margarita’s!! We had a great day with an unexpected ending!!

We started back through Custom’s and Jerry handed over everyone’s Passports. The guard looked everyone over and made sure we were all who we said we were…lol…..then the fun started!! Jerry’s van came up for a Random Check!  That meant that we all had to get out of the van and walk over to this small caged area…we went inside the cage and they went over the van inside and out with guards and search dogs!  Of course everything was fine, but it was a little excitement to close out our day in Mexico!!

Wednesday I was supposed to go Casino hopping with the girls, but I woke up in the middle of the night now feeling very well, so I passed and just stayed home. Now, Mac he met the guys at Parishes for the “DP” Club for a couple of hours. He stopped at Fry’s and then brought dinner home for us.

Not sure what today will bring…..

Stay tuned….

(((HUGS)))