December... Christmas Time in Texas

31 Dec:  The Smooch Family has bahd cohds!  We are stuffed up, sneezing, but we don't have Covid.  Cynthia has put away most of the stuff we brought from storage yesterday, except for whatever she assumes is recycling, which is still in the car.  She thinks everything in the boxes looks like it is to be recycled.  Ron hopes Cynthia won't accidentally (or deliberately) take him to recycling.  Ron did indeed sleep very well last night starting at 7:30 when his eyes refused to stay open and he laid down "briefly" to rest.  He first awakened at 11:30.  Cynthia had much less rest last night, but is soldiering on regardless.  Since the rain continued unabated until 4 PM, we did not manage to get out for air and exercise today, but "Tomorrow IS another day."

30 Dec:  To be or not to be... in Montgomery tonight?  That is the question.  And we made it despite rain and possibly a tiny bit of sleet.  At 6:30 AM Ron pulled up the color radar and color radar forecast.  No rain at present.  Ditto at 7:50 after we breakfasted and packed.  By the time we were rolling at 8:20, the drizzle was falling.  Not good, but it stopped encouragingly a few miles east of town, just as the radar had implied.  Soon after and eastward, the radar was sadly wrong.  We were on wet roads a lot in the next 130 miles, many times with mist, drizzle or rain falling.  For a few miles in Austin the rain was quite intense, but the worse downpour was east of Bastrop, when the color radar forecast had assured us (lulled us into thinking) that we would have clear and dry sailing.  Our route was US 290 east to Austin City Limits, then Texas 71 east to Bastrop, to Texas 21 east, rejoining US 290 east to Brenham (home of Blue Bell Ice Cream), where Blue Bell Blvd avoids town to deposit us on Texas 105 through Navasota all the way back to Montgomery, where we satiated our hunger with egg white omelets at the Magnolia Diner, before getting the key to our vacation rental from Daniel at The Management Company.  Once situated inside with a computer Ron checked the color radar again to see major storms rapidly approaching, so we high tailed it to Enterprise for Cynthia to rent a car, loaded that car full from the storage locker, and stopped at Walmart long enough to stock the pantry and allow those storms to drop a deluge for half an hour.  We watched the deluge from the safety of the Walmart store and made a break for home as soon as it stopped sufficiently.  We are going to sleep well tonight.

29 Dec:  Counting down, Fredericksburg for one more awakening.  We are shooting for 6AM tomorrow to get miles in before rain.  Ugh, forecast is intimidating.  Oh well, the plan is to check the color radar in the morning.  The plan is to breakfast at Ollie & Lena's again this morning (despite already eating a bowl of oatmeal in the hotel).  Bah humbug, the lines at the restaurant for breakfast were out on the sidewalk, and they could not seat us, so we hustled off to recycle boxboard at the city drop-off, intended to be a drive through, but the employees met us at the "Stop Here" sign.  We then walked across town to the girlie salon to see if Cynthia could walk in for her "girlie-acure."  Ron walked back to the hotel, Cynthia called to offer him a Subway sandwich, and he surprised her by walking again to meet her! 

28 Dec:  Fredericksburg for two more mornings, then we (hopefully) transition back to Montgomery, depending upon luck and thunderstorms.  Uh-oh! Inclement weather is likely to preclude travel until 1 January.  We will be in Fredericksburg during rain Tues, Wed., and snow on Thursday!  Bummer.  But, stay tuned!  We will check the color radar at 6 AM to assess our risk.  We were out the door for our morning walk before noon today since the forecast called for rain (which never materialized).  We rode out to walk the Fredericksburg Nature Trail again.  It is our favorite trail discovered here to date without the concrete and asphalt of our in-city walks.  There are other choices, but we haven't explored to find them yet.  The one that sounded most appealing was at Kerrville lake.  Also the LBJ ranch is not far.

27 Dec:  Cynthia suggested our life would make a great movie, “It's a Wonderful Life,” but Ron's comment was, “I think that's already been done."  Ron is returning for his second after-oatmeal helping of frozen mango & pineapple.  Our major exercise of the day was walking 4.2 miles roundtrip to Subway (for 12” whole grain subs with the inside scooped out and filled with vegetables), then we hustled along the concrete trail to downtown, trying to pass hordes of people aimlessly drifting along, totally ignorant of serious concrete trail walkers.  Giving up, we booked back home.  Ron shared his newly purchased HEB shredded wheat with Cynthia, and he popped some popcorn.  Using Splenda on dry popped corn makes it taste a little bit like kettle corn.  Tomorrow, tomorrow, it's almost tomorrow!  And you know the drill:  "Tomorrow IS another day!!"

26 Dec:  Fredericksburg, Texas should be less busy today?  Especially since so few restaurants are open until Jan. 2.  Subway might be open.  The day after Christmas offers a morning for rest.  We snared tickets to hike Enchanted Rock this afternoon. Yay.  Our hike up required two sit-downs to catch our breath, only once to sit on the way down to rest tight IT bands.  With two hours left before sunset, we hiked the "closed" portion of the loop trail, and on to the Buzzard Roost Primitive Camp Trail.  Despite looking closely, Ron saw no evidences of a reasonable place to camp, primitive or not.  On the way back, blinded by the setting sun, Cynthia tripped on a rock and went down hard on her right hand, shoulder and leg.  Her SKreeCH would awaken the dead, and it even got Ron's attention.  Cynthia held her injured paw against her chest for the entire return trip.  All is well.  It is a beautiful day with memories of laughing children climbing a mountain with warm, smiling faces of parents.  The copper sunset spread shades of violet over the heavenly dome with a beautiful blue band along the horizon.  Wildlife spotted includes a huge black bull (hiking gingerly on the rocks), two even bigger longhorn bulls, llamas, deer, and crazy, two-legged critters congesting downtown without masks.  The city is not less crowded.  Subway is closed so we microwaved potatoes for dinner.  All things are merry and bright for us, and for five great-grandchildren:

Jon's multigenerational family gathering

Hudson has a white Christmas

Cory's kids, continuing to be adorable

This looks realistic to me

25 Dec:  MERRY CHRISTMAS !!  And we celebrated with smooches to each other, exercises, oatmeal and computer projects, just like every other day of the year.  Now that it is noon-thirty, it is time to put on our hiking shoes and return to the Nature Trail.  We have discovered that the native grasses hereabouts have incredibly sharp balls of thorns for seeds which cling to footwear until they transfer onto the carpeting in the room, where Ron's bare feet soon discover them.  Click here to read about the sticker bur.  We had another nice, relaxing hike and enjoyed oatmeal for our Christmas dinner.

Brightest light SmoochSmooch in foreground.

24 Dec:  Christmas eve in Fredericksburg promises to be uneventful for us.  And we are happy with that.  We arose at nine AM! exercised, and walked twice, in very chilly weather, to Ole and Lena’s (oops, Emma and Ollie’s - click here) for a marvelous breakfast of scrambled egg whites, veggies, fresh fruit, sour dough toast, and awesome pancakes.  Why walk twice, you ask?  Silly question!  Second time was to retrieve Cynthia's forgotten purse ... Duh!  At the table near us was a delightful young couple from Tyler, Texas, married just two days ago.  He is studying to be a professional opera singer.  In the evening we walked to Bethany Lutheran Church to receive a powerful gospel message of hope for our fearful, covid-stricken society, that a fearful society needs a strong church sharing the Good News of Christ.  The Christmas Eve Candlelight, Carols, and Communion was marvelous.  Then we walked outdoors into the Marktplatz just in time to see the Christmas lights being turned on, making all things merry and bright! (see photo)

23 Dec:  Only two more shopping days until Christmas, or is it one?  Thank goodness Ron finally slept enough last night.  Today our sole exercise was hiking to K-Bob's for lunch.  The snooty manager said that they would bake a plain potato again for us today, but this is the last time.  They are too busy (with no more than 10 customers) to bake a single potato for us.  And we agree - it is the last time we will eat there.

22 Dec:  Ron awakened at 4:30 and was unable to fall back asleep, so it is another day of dragging along.  Cynthia is struggling to find restaurant reservations for a dinner date with clergy friends she hasn't seen in thirty years.  Fredericksburg is booked this holiday season, no room for travelers seeking reservations for meals.  Aha!  August E.’s phoned to say they have room in their “stable” for 29 Dec.  Ron is making progress on Volume 7; Cynthia finally has all of her Mac/Apple electronics synced and operative.  She has also E-mailed Christmas letters and pictures to our friends.  This afternoon we explored Cross Mountain (click here), taking a trail up to a cross with a fascinating history.  Once upon a time, Indians used the hill for a lookout and a sent smoke signals when settlers were approaching   In 1847, John Christian Durst, an early German settler bought ten acres and discovered a primitive cross on the mountain, hence its name, Cross Mountain.  The new cross was erected in 1921, and until 1941, locals held Easter sunrise services atop the mountain.  HowsomeEver it was a short hike, so we arrived at K-Bob's early this afternoon, and since we had called a hour earlier, they had a plain baked potato for Ron.  At 10pm this evening Ron is already headed for bed. 

21 Dec:  Morning arrived too early for Ron and too late for Cynthia, so we are up early and Ron is too logy to write coherently.  But then a double helping of frozen mango perked him up enough to saddle up and ride to the Lady Bird Park again for another hike on the Nature Trail, this time reading the descriptions at each marker.  (It makes more sense that way.)  Since our start was late, so was our lunch at K-Bob's, but we finished at 4:53 and were out before the place got crowded.  Ron stayed up working on Volume 7 again until 11:30.  How does it get so late so quickly?

20 Dec:  Ten more days left in Fredericksburg.  Today it is Cynthia's turn to figure out the hike.  Looks like we will ride the bike to avoid walking too far on concrete.  It just amazes us that no reservations are available for Enchanted Rock for the rest of our stay.  Apparently the college kids are making the most of semester break.  That also implies that Fredericksburg will stay exceptionally busy too.  Fooey (for us).  Cynthia's hiking choice was excellent, the Fredericksburg Nature Trail adjacent to Lady Bird Park.  There was even a printed guide and markers along the trail to educate us.  (Well, at least I read the guide a couple of times.)  It passed through at least a dozen different habitat zones and along a nice stream and large pond.  Then we rode straight to K-Bob's again for another round of baked sweet potato, baked potato, steamed broccoli and salad.  Now Ron is back to work on the index for Volume 7.  (NO, this is NOT a never-ending job.)

19 Dec:  In Fredericksburg, Texas, thunder and lightening greeted us this morning, and the rain appeared intense at 8 am.  However at 10:30 it appears to have done, so maybe we can venture outside again today.  And venture we did, first to K-Bob's in the early afternoon to feed the starving Weefee a baked sweet potato and some salmon, then to the Japanese Garden of Peace (click here) in the Pacific War memorial (click here), then to the Marktplatz (click here) to see the Vereins Kirche (click here), lights, trees, crowds and crowds of people.  (No wonder that covid is on a rampage.)  Our legs were a bit tired after yesterday's hike up Enchanted Rock.  Good grief, how did it get to be 11:30?

I guess this is artwork

Cynthia ascending

Cynthia finished ascending

Hey, there is a view from up here

18 Dec:  Once again we are preparing to hike Enchanted Rock, and the temp is already 40 degrees, cool and overcast.  We were a bit late for our 10:30 start, because we returned to the hotel for another layer of motor-cycle clothing for Cynthia.  The climb was tough for her, but the brave girl succeeded, and we had an awesome view!  Since that 0.8-mile hike up went quickly, we decided to hike another loop consisting of the Loop Trail east to Turkey Pass Trail north to Base Trail west to Echo Canyon Trail.  Our wildlife sighting for the day consisted of two mountain climbers standing on a sheer cliff 100 feet above us.  (Apparently the Base Trail is named as a base for mountain climbers.)  Then, as we struggled on the rock-strewn track that is the Echo Canyon Trail, two other climbers with large packs sashayed past us nonchalantly, rope swinging and carabiners clattering.  Click here to see the Trails Map PDF.  Cynthia's smart watch concluded that we walked 7 miles total and climbed 64 floors, but that hardly measures the energy we had to expend.  Again we feasted on baked sweet potatoes at K-Bob's, although this waitress told us that the baked potatoes ARE wiped with oil before baking.  And tonight we were both so tired that we went to sleep early and easily.

17 Dec:  Cynthia was aghast at a 25 degree temperature reading upon awakening this morning, but we have reservations to hike at Enchanted Rock at 10:30, so we are preparing to ride the bike ... twenty miles from here to there!  Fortunately the bright sun quickly warmed the atmosphere so that our ride was 48 degrees instead of 25.  The thin, cheery lady at the entrance station admitted us quickly despite the fact that Cynthia brought her mammogram instead of the entrance tickets.  We chose to hike the loop trail which was wide and level gravel trail until we ignored the "detour" sign and continued on the unmaintained part of that trail.  Apparently part of the trail washed out in a flash flood in the distant past and the trail was left closed despite being very passable if insufficient rain falls to repeat that flood.  After we passed Buzzard's Roost, a primitive camping area, we came to the beginning of the Enchanted Rock Summit Trail.  Although Cynthia was too tired and footsore to hike it herself today, she was willing to wait for Ron for 30 minutes.  Of course Ron decided to make the most of this opportunity, so he did not stop breathing hard for the entire 17 minutes uphill hiking until he got to the summit and the expansive views.  The rock surface gives such good traction that the hike down was no problem.  7.2 miles total for the day. 

16 Dec:  We are relocated to the Comfort Inn in Fredericksburg, Texas for the next fifteen days.  Fredericksburg is an old town that began with German immigrants, and it is called a ”Christmas City” because of lighting and events.  It is too cold to begin our walk in town until 11am this morning.  We walked to town and toured the Admiral Nimitz museum, which was very, very interesting, a thorough, modern treatment of the war in the Pacific 1941-1945.  After a several hours in the museum, we walked down the street to K-Bob’s Restaurant which serves baked sweet potatoes and a terrific salad bar.  Our waitress said the baked potatoes were not wiped with oil before baking, but they were suspiciously different from the usual dry baked potato.  By the time we returned to the Comfort Suites, our walk totaled five miles.  Yay! 

15 Dec:  And today we leave as early as possible - meaning before check-out at 11am.  Since the forecast called for showers at 10 and 11am, Ron packed last night, and we arose at 6:15am (while it was still dark !).  Happily, the forecast changed, and we should be riding dry all day, but the temperatures are to stay chilly (44 degrees), so there is no benefit in waiting to depart.  We should be ready to leave before 9am - record  time.  WOW, this day was not what we bargained for.  At 9am, when Ron checked tire pressures, a mist was dampening everything.  It appeared to stop by 10am but five minutes later a drizzle made everything wetter.  Finally at 11am we decided to start drizzle or no, expecting it to end as we rode west.  We dropped off the keys with Danielle, picked up a prescription at Lakeside, and stopped to put the last few things into the storage locker, but our key code was denied and similarly for another lady there.  The manager was nowhere to be found, phone calls went to a machine, and we became quite frustrated and angry as the minutes extended into an hour.  Finally someone showed up whose key code did work, and we were able to leave after noon, angry, upset and riding in mist, drizzle, and rain for the next full hour.  We kept going, assuming that we would eventually get west of it all, but that didn't happen until we were approaching Brenham, 50 miles later.  By then Ron was chilled and soaked through since he had never put on his rain gear.  Fortunately Cynthia (the smarter SmoochSmooch) was toasty warm in her heated gear.  The sun made appearance as we were bypassing Austin warming us up nicely and drying us out.  That sunshine turned against us an hour later when it blinded us as we rode straight towards it.  We did get to Fredericksburg before dark and ate at Cultures, who did manage to find potatoes for Ron.

14 Dec:  Today's plan was to move things to the storage locker in preparation for relocating tomorrow to Fredericksburg, and we were quite successful except that we forgot about the pole lamp before we returned the car to Enterprise.  Ron has backed up his MacBook twice, a necessity before traveling in cold weather.  Cynthia did think that the ride on the motorcycle was quite chilly.  There is a bit more compost to bury this evening.  A crazy busy day, but we enjoyed two walks, a lovely sunset, and lots of very young deer.

13 Dec, Sunday:  In Conroe, Texas, we attend Grace Lutheran Church and enjoy fellowship with Pastor Diane.  Today the accompanist called in cautious late Saturday, so we had no music, which changes our experience dramatically.  Sunday brunch at the Yacht Club was as good as usual, and we were able to walk all the way to the lake and return home just before a sudden downpour which would have made us miserable one minute earlier.  Ron needs to take a break from indexing to clean the kitchen and pack two bags for the motorcycle.  Both bags "packed" and the kitchen is soon to be "clean."  Ron was delighted that the spade made quick work of creating a hole in which to bury the compost.  There is now one deceptively deep depression that is no longer quite so deep.

Cynthia in dress leather jacket

12 Dec:  And we were up no earlier than yesterday, and we were just as thankful as yesterday (perhaps more so).  After breakfast and sudokus we walked to the lake, being careful to avoid the muddy construction area.  Dinner this evening at Pappadeaux with a Bankston cousin promises to be exciting, and it was; he and his wife are delightful.  The motorcycle ride home after dark was too exciting for Cynthia, especially the exit from Pappadeaux, crossing two lanes of traffic immediately to take the entrance ramp onto I-45.  (This BMW K1600GTL is advertised to do 0 to 60 in 3 seconds, so our acceleration was exhilarating.)  Cynthia is modeling a jacket she bought several years ago, only to have granddaughter Rachel borrow it before Cynthia got to wear it; Rachel returned it two weeks ago.  

11 Dec:  Time is flying here at Lake Conroe.  We arose late, exercised late, breakfasted late, sudokued late, and then the rains came as forecast.  Now we will have to wait for our walk until late, but it rained steadily all afternoon until time for dinner with Jon and Tina at 5:30.  We were disappointed that the Caddy Shack is closed due to an employee testing positive, and we didn't get to see the progress with  Jon's home remodeling.  The food was great at the Walden Yacht Club and they steamed fingerling potatoes especially for me.  It was 8:50pm by the time Ron was able to walk to the lake.  (And then his cell phone battery gave up before he got home.  Progress on index continues, and Ron again stayed up rediculously late, perhaps as late as 2am.

10 Dec:  Time for the annual mammogram.  (Cynthia, NOT Ron.)  Cynthia passed with flying colors - everything terrific.  (Ron also passed with flying colors by waking up early enough to accompany Cynthia).  But Ron was unprepared to spend 3 hours at the hospital, and he nearly died of boredom.  And then Texas Highway 105 was entirely shut down for 8 hours due to some major gas leak, so we had to retrace our steps all the way back to I-45 north in order to take FM 1097 as the next most "convenient" alternative, arriving "home" at 3:45pm.  Ron now is convinced that he will ALWAYS carry the charging cord for his computer and a pile of sudokus (Thanks Oke).  Then he again was captured by the effort towards a "perfect" index until the wee hours of tomorrow.  By the time he finished his fourth day of resuming work, he finally remembered what he was doing when he stopped a month ago.

Lake Conroe, terminus of daily walks

9 Dec:  Oops, Ron stayed up too late last night - 11:30, but he slept until 4 am first awakening and felt nicely rested by the time we arose at 8am.  Then it was off to the audiologist to tune Cynthia's electronic hearing aides.  (Ron is the biological hearing aide.)  Then we ate lunch and walked our usual walk to the lake and back.  Now Ron is again hard at it with Volume 7 index.

8 Dec:  Another good night's sleep, thanks to the miracle of salt water - to make Ron retain fluids - which increases his (very low) blood pressure.  (This morning his blood pressure was 112 over 68 with a pulse of 70.  Yesterday it was 92 over 64.)  Our walk to the lake and back was very comfortable at 70 degrees and no wind.  Today Cynthia took pictures of the artwork on the rocks.  Woo Hoo!  After a second walk at four PM, our total was 8.4 miles.  Yay for us.  Getting day passes to hike Enchanted Rock was crazy, but Cynthia prevailed, and we now have passes.  She checked the driving route to the hill country and discovered our Hilton Garden Inn is booked for Fredericksburg, VA (instead of Texas).  There is NOT a HGI in Fredericksburg, TX, sooo back to Comfort Inn & Suites there.  Oops, time got away, and Ron stayed up too late - 11:30.

7 Dec:  Ron experimented with drinking a mouthful of salt water every time he woke up to pee and is happy to report that it seems to help him sleep longer through the night (two stretches of 3 1/2 hours).  We drove over to Cypress to walk with Julie around a neighborhood lake (1 & 1/2 miles per circuit).  Here it is 8 pm, and Ron is already tired again.  At least today Ron finally tried to remember where he was with the indexing project for Volume 7 of the Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches of Pennsylvania.

6 Dec, Sunday:  We woke up early enough to make it to church on time, and we enjoyed the usual Sunday Brunch at the Yacht Club.  There were more items there that we could eat than previously.  Our Sunday walks allow us to pass through the construction area to see the progress since last year (several new structures).

Smooch and SmoochSmooch

Jon and Blalire

Kiira, Lauren and Blaire

Jon, Julie, Tina, SmoochSmooch and Smooch

Cynthia and niece Kelly

 

All God's children.  Baby Blaire in red on left.

5 Dec:  This was the main event for which Ron was summoned home, the Forde family Christmas party, in celebration of a visit by sister Marilee, her daughter Kelly and Jaden.  It was too much fun to watch 13-year-old Jaden's constant attention to 9-month-old Blaire.  Strangely, there are no pictures on the blog of Blaire playing with Jaden.  The party wrapped up by 9 pm, allowing us oldsters to get to bed on time.

4 Dec:  Ron is home, do not disturb.  Well, we did go grocery shopping and bought way too much.  Somehow it hasn't dawned that we are only here for 10 days before heading off to the "Hill Country" for two weeks.  Oke sent new sudokus and Ron is completing one or several every day.

3 Dec:  And we hope to report that the Smooches are successfully reunited, God Willing.  And she awoke at six AM with a joyful heart in anticipation.  And he arrived at 11:20 to an empty house.  Anticipations is all over the place.  Route was Texas Highway 19 through Crockett to Huntsville, right on FM (farm-to-market) 2821 W (Fish Hatchery Road) to TX 75 W to FM 1791 W to TX 149 S to Montgomery, then following familiar shortcuts around town and out the new pavement to the Pointe.  And we were indeed happily reunited at 2:30 when Cynthia arrived home 1 1/2 hours ahead of schedule.  We celebrated by going for our usual walk to the lake and decided to take Poe Street around the construction.  The newest scenery at the lake is painted rocks.  Apparently some kids and teenagers have decided to practice art by painting rocks on the lakeshore.  Some are quite artistic and well done.

2 Dec:  Forecast is quite miserable for this Wednesday in Palestine, Texas.  Let's hope that the forecasters missed so that the Smooches can reunite.  Ron awoke at 4:45am after getting to bed at 1am, so that is a good four hours uninterrupted, and it was raining here in Palestine, but then he couldn't get back to sleep until he Googled weather to discover that the rains are projected to fall ALL day along the corridor that he needs to travel to get to his beloved SmoochSmooch.  Paste a disappointed "smiley" face here.  Looks like he picked the cheapest motel in Palestine, so he is happy with that aspect at least, and he bought pretzels and spinach, so he has food for now.  Apparently he was more exhausted than he realized because he spent the entire day lying in bed, dozing.  After a final downpour at 2:30pm, he arose at 4 and walked to Mama Seafood (click here) for two more baked potatoes with salmon.  Route was suspended for this rainy day.

Baby Blair seems to like Cynthia

1 Dec:  Ron woke up near the north pole in Pittsburg, OK.  Once the blue BMW reindeer is harnessed, he hopes to be making things merry and bright in Texas by evening.  Will he reach Paris, Athens or Montgomery?  (All towns in Texas!)  A cheery "Ho!Ho!Ho!" echoes down to Cynthia from an Econolodge in Palestine, Texas, a mere 120 miles from her in Montgomery.  Ron loves saying that he started in Pittsburg, skirted Miami, rode around Paris, through Athens and ended up after dark in Palestine.  He now needs to forage for food after another day without food since breakfast.  The forecast is for rain all day tomorrow in Montgomery, so it will be a challenge for Ron to get there with the motorcycle.  He decided to gather a few provisions in case it does rain all day, but then he started towards Mama Seafood Restaurant going east instead of west, so he got there after they had nominally closed, but the drive-through attendant took pity and accepted his order for two baked potatoes.  Ron then walked another mile to Kroger without incident to buy berries, bananas, pretzels and spinach.  On the way home Ron just seemed to make one wrong turn after another until he had reached two of the edges of town to the east and south.  His buddy Ed looked up directions on the computer and directed Ron correctly back to his motel.  It is truly amazing how turned around a person can get after one innocent wrong turn.  His 2.9 mile walk turned into 8 miles!  Meantime in Montgomery, Cynthia can't slow down.  Crazy schedule! Ron's route was US 69 south until Oklahoma Alt 69 south to I-44, a toll road bypassing Miami, Oklahoma, to US 69 south at Big Cabin, to the Indian Nation Turnpike past Antlers to US 271 south to Texas 286 loop around Paris to Texas 19/ 24 south to TX 19 south through Athens to Palestine for the night.  (As he rode south on US 69, Ron was quite surprised to pass through Muskogee and to see the expanse of the Eufaula Reservoir.

November... where Ron? Hi Hudson.

30 Nov:  Forecast in Kansas City is sunny with 40 degrees for the HIGH !!  Ron will be in no hurry to get on the road despite his desire to see his bride.  After visiting with Clarence, he will continue the ride southward...likely by two PM.  And that was indeed how the day unfolded.  The temperature had not yet exceeded 30 degrees when Ron started, and his hands were soon frozen numb.  That was one very cold 30-mile ride.  Clarence actually does not live on 13th street (although Ron could swear that is what he said).  He actually lives on the street across from the Dollar General (which is also what Clarence said).  We enjoyed shooting the breeze for a couple of hours before Ron mentioned the desire to get  south and left.  Cynthia froze in Texas, too.  Jon, and Tina took her to visit new great granddaughter Blaire (as you can see below).  Ron had hoped to get to Miami, but had to settle for getting to Pittsburg, when darkness fell with a unsettling thud.  The Regency Inn looked least busy, so Ron chose that one and was well satisfied.  The nearby Colton's Steak House sold him two baked potatoes with a piece of salmon that satisfied him, and the nearby Price Chopper sold him berries, bananas and pretzels.  (He ate the entire bag of pretzels !!  Did you notice that he had eaten nothing since breakfast at 8:30 am?)  Route was I-35 south from Kearney to 12th Street then left across the Center Street Bridge following Center Ave until 13th Street.  After seeing Clarence, Ron rode west to 18th Street, south to I-35 west to US 69 south to the Shawnee Mission Post Office (where one key of three worked).  He then resumed west on Shawnee Mission Parkway to south on I-35 to US 69 south and continued on that for the rest of the day.

Jon, Tina and Blair

Cynthia with Blair

29 Nov, Sunday:  Ron plans to begin his ride around 10am from Illinois to visit cousin Jerry in Columbia, Missouri, then on towards Kansas City, God willing.  Thankfully, his beloved weefee alerted him that his phone was out of power before he started, so he was able to charge it - rather than discovering the power outage en route.  Cynthia is preparing for his arrival; she stocked the cupboards and refrigerator with veggies for fat-free potato salad, plus lentil and bean unsalted soup.  She called Ron at 5:30 to discover he is auditioning for the show, "Frozen."  He arrived at Joan’s house in Excelsior Springs, Missouri after his motorcycle recorded a 37 degree temperature.  That translates to negative thousand degrees with a sixty mph wind chill.  The trip from Mt. Olive to St. Louis to Columbia went smooth as silk with sunshine, "warm" temperatures and no wind.  The visit with cousin Jerry was very much fun.  (He is another one who likes to fold, bend and mutilate the language.)  Ron needs to remember to tell Carol about Jerry's box of pictures and meadow that he burns annually.  The second 130 miles to Kansas City was cloudy, chilly and windy until the temperatures dove at sunset, when Ron still had 30 miles to ride.  Fortunately the tall, wind-swept bridges were all in that first half of the day when there was no wind.  The visit with Joan segued into a visit to Les and wife (since they live "next door").  It was so very lovely to see those friends from my distant past again.  Cynthia lined up lodging for him at a Comfort Inn ten miles away in Kearney, MO.  Ron made dinner of an apple, a banana, and a pound of pretzels from the nearby Price Chopper.  The route was Panther Creek Road to old US 66 south to IL 138 west to I-55 south to I-270 west to I-70 west to old US 63 east of Columbia to the Cracker Barrel restaurant, I-70 west to MO 13 north through Higginsville to MO 10 west into Excelsior Springs (quite a challenge to navigate all those turns in the dark) to US 69 north to Italian Way R to R on Salem Road.  Then backtrack to US 69 N to L on MO 92 W to the Comfort Inn in Kearney.

Thanksgiving photo with nephew & family.

28 Nov:  We awoke.  Thank God !!  The plan is for Ron to accompany Carol and Bill to nephew Eric's house for Thanksgiving dinner with his family.  Oh, and Ron did remember to run a TimeMachine backup.  And Cynthia is off for a day with Fyn.  Zoe will be there for an hour before she must leave for college.  Both girls are unique: Fyn is an accomplished artist at six years old, drawing with permanent ink using no pencil prep.  She really impressed her grandmother with her fitness routine; the school’s coach is a former NFL football player.  Zoe’s majors are English and history.  A year from January she will be attending the U of Scotland in Edinburgh for one semester.  Grandmother wants to visit! 

These two aspire to ride like Ron & Cynthia

27 Nov:  Thanks to Miranda Esmonde-White (click here), Carol and Ron are prepared for a day in the woods.  Now we are just waiting for sunrise.  Good grief, is it ever wet in the woods today!  Ron waded to the fence line and cut & lopped to clear a dead fall left over by lumbering.  Meanwhile in Texas, Cynthia is thinking ahead as shown above.  Ron and Carol spent much of this day indoors where it was warm, working on genealogy, photos, and Eric's RPM coins web page (click here).  Ron did emerge for a couple of hours hoeing the paths through the woods to smooth out lumps left by the timber harvest.

26 Nov:  Thanksgiving, and I thank God for mee beloved weefee, SmoochSmooch.  And the beloved wee-fee rejoices, ”Thank God! Thank God! Thank God!”  The plan is to ride north to sistah Carol's early and arrive before noon for Thanksgiving turkey dinner at 2pm with Carol and Bill.  Meanwhile in Texas, Cynthia has arisen, exercised and oatmealed before riding south to Roxanne’s for Thanksgiving dinner.  Jon and Tina are coming, too.  Happy Thanksgiving to you!  And a fine time was had by all.  (Ron is feeling fat, but tomorrow in the woods should help.)

25 Nov:  And it rained last night complete with thunder.  Neither of the Smooches slept particularly well.  Ron realized that he had eaten fewer pretzels than needed for a good sleep.  Ah Well, "All's well that ends well," and the rains are forecast to resume in the afternoon, so Ron is out the door early for his daily dam, chipmunk & bridge circuit.  Oops, diverted to Trenton to walk with Don & Hank, but on our third lap, the heavens opened and drenched Don and Ron thoroughly.  We sat indoors and waited about an hour before Ron decided that it had been dry long enough to risk the ride home - which worked out quite well.  Now he is showered with clothes stomped clean and hanging to dry.  The DNA project is going more slowly than hoped - oh well, it is going.

24 Nov:  And here it is another tomorrow, Thanks be to God.  Ron had just finished his pushups when Cynthia called to wish him a happy SMOOCH for the day.  Now he is breakfasting, preparatory to DNA stuffs, then across the dam for the 3.5 miles.  Later Don will call with a decision about walking here or there.  We walked there in mid-afternoon which limited our after-walk conversations to end at 4:30 as the sun neared the horizon and the cold sunk in past Ron's coats.

23 Nov:  And... another good morning!  We both woke up, although 1000 miles apart.  Ron walked the dam, Chipmunk Trail and General Dean suspension bridge again this morning, then walked partway across the Dam with Don in the early afternoon, followed by (solo) mid-afternoon dinner of baked potatoes and veggies at Los Amigos.  Now he is working on DNA GEDCOM for GEDmatch again.  And darkness is falling already at 4:37 pm.  The temperatures today seem infinitely warmer than yesterday since there is next to no wind today.  At 7:30 Ron traversed the dam a second time (another 3.5 miles in an hour and a half).  Now he is sleepy and somehow it is already 10:52 pm.

22 Nov:  Finally, Cynthia had a full nine hours of sleep.  Yay!  She is headed out to walk with (yesterday's) birthday girl Julie and Roxanne at eight AM.  Ron has realized that he should recommend a good book to Cynthia, Do You Really Need Eyeglasses.  (My God, he actually remembered the exact title!!)  Now Ron has exercised (discovering an absence of aches and pains), breakfasted, DNAed, and is ready to walk the dam complete with Chipmunks and General Dean, talking to Don as he walks.  Afterwards, more DNA, since Don opted out of walking in the freezing wind.  Ron found a chess player and won their first game.  (Miracles will never cease.)  Great book reviews, you remembered the title.  When the macula deteriorates, the field of vision becomes blurry.  The only solution is sewing it together.  Do you know someone who mends?  I'm guessing that mending job needs a finer needle that I can see.  Ron walked the dam again in the dark at 5:30.  Dark at 5:30 !!

21 Nov, Sat: Good morning at 2, at 3 and 3:54 AM.  And it is the morning of the evening of today!  After much tossing and turning Cynthia decided to do some work hoping she will get bored and fall asleep.  Barely sleeping.  It is time to start this day with a haircut and girlie treats.  In contrast Ron awakened only three times in 8 hours of sleeping - thank God for pretzels.  Upon awakening, he exercised, ate, and began packing, which included charging his cell phone and backing up his computer with TimeMachine.  Maxine called at 10AM to say that cataract surgery had exhausted her too much for a visit, but at least we enjoyed entertaining each other with our wits.  At 11AM Ron embarked upon the ride to Carlyle without a real route planned, so he "winged it" with the help of the GPS and a lot of luck, considering the farm roads he chose.  The only rain was a very light drizzle (have you ever encountered drizzle at 60 mph - it really stings the eyes) just after he left Highland - only another 20 miles left.  The Mariner's Village (click here) manager welcomed me again and gave me the same room (only cleaner).  After a grocery trip, Ron commensed walking the dam but soon returned as drizzle dampened his enthusiasm.  Fortunately Los Amigos is open, so he is now stuffed with the usual two baked potatoes.  At 4:30 the color radar indicated a wide spot in the middle of showers centered on Carlyle, so he attempted another walk and made it half way across the dam before he chickened out at the first sprinkles.  In the last week, the forecasters have changed their tune about temperatures at the end of the month by minus 8 degrees; it could be a cold ride to Kansas City..

20 Nov:  And it is the evening of today! ??  Ron has discovered the joys of farm living; his body has discovered aches and pains.  Thank goodness he has an out: he promised to rejoin Cynthia early in December.  Today he finished smoothing the dirt pile, and we raked and burned leaves.  Next plan for Farmer Smooch is to return to the fence line with lopping shears and chainsaw.  Done, and Bill arrived for dinner with a plan to move the very heavy router table from shed to shed.  We rolled it (it has wheels!!) from shed to plywood to second piece of plywood and kept leapfrogging the two sheets of plywood across the yard until we got the router into the other shed.  Now Ron's clothing is in the washing machine and Carol is already in bed at 7 PM.  Farmer Smooch must have gone to bed too, or the washing machine drowned out his beloved weefee's numerous cell phone rings-a-lings.  Good night! 

19 Nov:  Tomorrow yet again.  Cynthia must arise way too early for a Dr. appointment in the Galleria area.  Ron also arose early enough to "enjoy" exercises with Carol and Miranda.  The dirt pile location is becoming even more smoothly finished since Ron discovered the joys associated with a hoe - and his back also discovered "joys" of hoeing.  Now we are preparing for a run into town to replenish supplies in anticipation of a pandemic shutdown panic purchasing epidemic.  And we found flour and pretzels and celery without any problem.  We spent the afternoon repairing fence, pulling bush honeysuckle, and clipping vines.  Now Carol is preparing dinner for Bill and Ron - YUM - salmon with Pritikin berry sauce & HUGE baked sweet potatoes.

18 Nov:  Tomorrow has relocated again and Ron again awoke early at his sister's house in Mt. Olive, Illinois.  He was fortunate to awake too late to "enjoy" Miranda's "Morning Stretch" program, but he still does his own exercises before getting out of bed.  Today he continued raking Carol's vanished dirt pile until his body complained and his pill alarm went off.  After restoring a Reunion file from the Macintosh TimeMachine, Ron is reconstructing his Ager cousins GEDCOM.  He also returned to the woods to pull bush honeysuckle and lop various vines out of the trees.

17 Nov:  Oops, no, here is tomorrow.  I am thoroughly confused.  Is this today or tomorrow?  In Texas, the condo is clean on this exercise day,  before Cynthia runs errands.  She purchased a new IPad with significantly longer battery life, plus many other features, scheduled to be delivered to Jon’s house today.  First, she left a note for FedEx with signature on Jon's door, then she boogied back at three to pick it up and back home to charge the new IPad before she  realized that Verizon had to put in the SIM card; all of this required way too much running, but the IPad is seamlessly transferred, and it is really nice.  Tomorrow is another fun exercise day.  Cynthia is re-reading Kristin Lavaransdatter by Sigrid Undset for the tenth time?  Ron's MacBook has successfully awakened from sleep a couple of times now.  Apparently the faulty GPU problem is fixed (for now).  Ron, on the other hand, has been lacking energy all day, especially after shoveling and raking dirt in Carol's yard for hours and hours.  He also took a long walk through the woods to see the 20 acres where the loggers logged.  My God, there are treetops everywhere littering the hillsides!  By the time he returned, Carol had awakened from a nap and Bill had arrived ready to eat some of Carol's wonderful salmon with Pritikin berry sauce plus baked potatoes and sweet potatoes.  (Good God, Bill forgot to inquire about the pie - he must be sick.)

16 Nov:  Tomorrow was only a day away, and just like that, here it is.  But, 4:00 AM was an earlier start than Cynthia wanted.  Unfortunately, she was wide awake, so she is up and into another busy day.  Ron woke up at 3:30 and was unable to get back to sleep, so finally arose at 5 AM for an hour packing, then laid back down for another hour's snooze.  The hope is to depart around 10 AM to visit friends in Edwardsville en route to sistah Carol's in Mt. Olive.  Not only has Carol found a new half-sister, but she has also now discovered a new half-uncle on Find-A-Grave.  WoooHooo!  Ron might have fixed his Mac!  We shall know on the morrow!  Meantime, Cynthia went to Lab Corps, and then on to see Dr. Stavinhoa.  Good report, but her blurry eyes are a concern.  She will call the retina specialist again.  

15 Nov, Sunday:  Tomorrow arrived for Ron in Carlyle, Illinois, but electricity did not.  Perhaps 45 MPH winds and lightning created an electrical boo-boo.  We don’t know if Ron’s Mac and Word will arise!  At least the cell service delivered Smooch’s first I Love You of the day!  He wins!  Cynthia has gone crazy cleaning the condo; the laundry is done, fresh sheets, towels, and vacuuming is done.  Juanita would be so proud.  Ron, home in Illinois called Don, who thought it was too windy to walk, so Ron walked the dam alone, including Chipmunk Trail and General Dean bridge.  He has felt tired today, so laid down at 5:30 and napped.  He finally gave up waiting for the Macintosh to boot and applied the fixes he found on the internet.  Lo and behold, it works again.  

14 Nov:  Ron awakened at 1:30 and was unable to get back to sleep, so he got up and worked on a GEDCOM (genealogy) until 6 AM.  The forecast rain arrived with a thunderous overture.  He is again working on that GEDCOM.  Looks awfully wet outside.  No walk anytime soon.  And the rain continued with brief respites all day- no walking, but the GEDCOM is ready to upload to GEDmatch.  OH, 8pm and the rain appears to be gone so I can walk across the dam & back, talking to Donna (since Ed was "unavailable").  A few impressive lightning bolts lit the distant horizon, but they were too far away to generate thunder.  Tomorrow's forecast includes 45 mph wind gusts.  Meanwhile in Texas, separation is not fun.  Cynthia repeated yesterday’s early rising, walked with Roxanne, and had breakfast with Jon and Tina.  Errands and reading ensued, then came the uncomfortable realization the condo is hot.  A phone call to the manager, and help is forthcoming with a new battery for the thermostat.  

13 Nov:  OhMyGod, Friday the 13th and my beloved is far, far away.  Ron slept well again and is a happy camper this morning, except that he cannot delete Fonts without logging in as "THE" administrator, whoever that is on this machine.  Was he ever surprised to discover that restoring the system fonts has corrected the Word EXC_BAD_ACCESS failure.  (Beloved Cynthia sent me the following directions without knowing that I have read the same thing a dozen times: ? With your Mac now in Recovery Mode, click on Utilities in the menu bar followed by Terminal. A new window will show up, waiting for you to enter a command. Type "resetpassword" as one word, without the quotes, and press Return. Close theTerminal window, where you will then find the Reset Password tool.)  ... Meanwhile down in Houston Town, Cynthia arose at five A.M., exercised, oatmealed, and left for a one-and-a-half hour drive to the Galleria area at 7:40 (early because of thick, dense fog) for a doctor appointment.  The uncertainty of driving in the fog, plus an unfamiliar route, created some anxiety, but it worked out well.  She arrived at 9:30... only to discover her appointment was really 11:30. She twiddled her thumbs for two hours.  Life is still good.  The worst news is that her esthetician, Bambi, has sold her business, retired, and is only working two days for a limited time. ... Meanwhile#2 back in Illinois, Ron, Don and Hank enjoyed another day of walking and talking in the woods on soft, leaf-littered trails that Hank has groomed for people and horses.  Don was again feeling much better than expected, so we were all happy.  After a couple of hours of conversation Ron left ahead of colder nighttime temperatures, ate his usual two potatoes and grilled veggies at Los Amigos, and walked across the dam talking to friend Ed.  (46 degrees morning ride, 47 degrees evening.)

12 Nov:  Ron slept even longer last night except for one disturbing dream wherein Cynthia had deserted her room in a Los Angeles resort without telling me anything and I had to ride my old Harley the length of LA.  She apologized during the 8 AM SmoochSmooch phone call.  Exercises exercised, oatmeal mealed, and now computer stuffs until 10:30 departure towards Trenton to walk with Don and Hank.  And a lovely walk it was through Hank's woods, although Don was much, much more tired from his walks of the last three days.  He did well - i.e. we did not have to carry or drag him home.  Ron went for an additional walk across the dam this evening after dinner at Los Amigos.

11 Nov:  Ron slept long and well last night, exercised, ate breakfast and is beginning to get ready to ride over to visit Don in Trenton again.  Don, Hank and Ron enjoyed a long walk in the Hank's woods, surprisingly long for Don in his current condition (recovering from a PMR heart ailment -polymyalgia rheumatica).  After saying goodbye to Hank, we sat in Don's back yard talking until his house blocked the warmth of the sunshine which motivated Ron to motivate motel-wards.  He spent the remainder of the day trying to get Microsoft Word to work - without success.  It appears to be a faulty font.  Now it is bedtime.  Goodnight and sleep tight. Cynthia had a doctor appointment   And Bambi.

10 Nov:  Mariner's Village at Lake Carlyle in southern Illinois.  Today Ron had lethargy despite adequate sleep, walked the dam while waiting or Don to call, and is about to ride over to Trenton to see Don for a short walk and a long talk.  The decision is made to get more done on genealogy with DNA while close to sistah Carol (as resource) before shutting the computer down to see if that cures the Word EXC_BAD_ACCESS error.  The noon and afternoon with Don was very good.  We walked more than Don thought possible, talking all the way, and then spent a couple of hours on the back patio until the wind freshened, and Ron rode back to Carlyle to shop for a few more food items at Walmart.  After putting those into the fridge, Ron ate potatoes at Los Amigos, changed socks and went for a walk despite the forecast and cloudy skies.  He made it 1/4 of the way back after crossing the dam when the skies opened and the heavens dumped a torrent of rain on him accompanied by incredibly strong winds.  It is really quite amazing how quickly one can go from dry to totally drenched.

9 Nov:  Wonderful !!  Ron awoke without achey muscles despite the overachieving activities of yesterday.  We again suffered through Miranda on PBS and rushed off to meet Bill at Denny's.  Mindy was waitressing today, so Ron enjoyed seeing her smiling face and the way she handled Bill's typical commentary.  Once we returned to Carol's house Ron busied himself with packing to depart and was successful shortly before noon.  The ride to Edwardsville was a bit chillier than comfortable, but Connie was home, and we enjoyed a long talk.  The ride to Aviston was also too chilly, and there was no room at the Eagle Inn.  While Ron rode towards Breeze and noted the signage indicating that Breeze was 9 miles away and Carlyle was only 8 additional miles away.  Remembering that Raj had offered to meet price if that was the reason and comparing the comfort at Knotty Pine to the comfort at Mariner's Village, Ron quickly changed destination from Breeze to Lake Carlyle and then realized that Mariner's Village was also very close to Los Amigos (restaurant) and Walmart (provisions).  Trifecta perfecto.  Amazed that his computer again booted without much delay, Ron is suspicious that the infernal device knows that he is willing to perform risky maneuvers surgery if it fails to boot.

Cynthia with newest great grandbaby

Cynthia with son Jon at Amores Restaurant

Cynthia had an equally busy day, visiting Corrie in College Station. playing with great granddaughters Abigail and Eleanor and meeting newest great - Caleb, then picking up financial IRS materials and lunching with best friends in Hempstead.  No wonder she was worn out also.

8 Nov, Sunday:  Tomorrow? No, today at Lake Conroe, Texas, Cynthia boogied off to a fast walk with daughters who both walk too fast for her.  Julie wears nice wrist weights to enhance her power walk, and that might make a good investment for Cynthia.  After exercise, they enjoyed a nice breakfast at Watch for Breakfast.  Paul called off the afternoon visit because he is not feeling well.  Cynthia should take a nap.  Ron, in contrast awoke to Miranda again, exercised and ate before nephew Eric showed up in pickup truck loaded with firewood of split, towing a large trailer with his full-sized Massey-Ferguson tractor.  The tractor performed well to Eric's delight, Carol's satisfaction, and Ron's amazement, moving a dirt pile eyesore and replacing the eyesore with a lawn ornament: huge logs dragged out of the woods in preparation for wood splitting.  While Eric was busy with the tractor, Ron and Carol split all of the wood that he brought - heavy stuff and a lot of work.  In the evening Ron continued with the clippers trimming waste material from the logs and piling kindling.  To bed early.

7 Nov:  Cynthia awoke at Lake Conroe, Texas way too early!  It is still early AM, but she arose to fast walk with daughters before it gets too warm.  This time of year the weather is almost perfect at Lake Conroe, and it will be in the mid-seventies to eighty without rain for the remainder of the month.  Julie walks faster than Ron!  Ron and Carol were up much earlier in Illinois in order to enjoy sadomasochism with Miranda.  Then Bill arrived for coffee, conversation, and to install lighting in Carol's tool shed.  Ron finished a new sudoku and clipped vines and brush piles until his arms, back and brain gave up.  Then he created a database of the Ager cousins Carol found using her DNA analysis and all the testing companies.

6 Nov:  Again Ron awoke at his sister's house in Mt. Olive in time for Miranda and Classical Stretch.  We survived again despite her sadism. Ron is exceedingly happy to report no itch.  Yup, no poison ivy.  Whew.  Now we are awaiting Bill's arrival for his morning coffee before going over to nephew Eric's to see his newly constructed palatial deer stand.  The  deer stand was indeed well constructed and obviously brand, spanking new.  The deer should be quite impressed.  After that Carol and Ron stopped at the SWICSIU credit union, the ACE Hardware store in Staunton, ? in Gillespie, and Randy's in Benld.  It’s scary for Cynthia to modify the blog without knowing if Ron is modifying "Where is Ron" in Illinois.  (No worries Sweetie, Ron returns to square one after every update.)  It was a scary day in Texas altogether; she accidentally called Ron three times.  (He even answered the third time.)  Cynthia's retina specialist said her macular degeneration is stable, so the vision changes must mean she needs reading glasses.  She forgot that driving was a challenge after the eye testing, but survived, well... until she almost backed into a red truck pulling out of a parking spot.  She survived shopping at Walmart and the pharmacy.  Whew!  She made it home, only to discover that the passport and photos which need to be renewed were nowhere to be found.  After "tearing the house apart," she searched the dumpster ... and found ... nothing, it had been emptied.  The passport is still missing.  She should go walking, but it was too dark to go far.  Still, she was quieted by hearing Ron's calming voice. 

5 Nov:  Lucky me.  Ron awoke in time for Miranda Esmonde-White (click here) and her Classical Stretch (click here).  Turns out that there are several muscles complaining about their treatment in the last three days.  So, of course we headed back into the woods to run the chainsaw and create a new, bigger, better, improved brush pile to burn.  Besides that fun, we pulled several more bush honeysuckle and clipped a few more hanging vines.  This afternoon we haven't been exciting company as we try to recover from too much fun in the morning.  Carol is cooking salmon w/ berry sauce again, thanks to the recipe Cynthia suggested.  Ron has decided to tell nephew Eric that he cannot work on his shopping cart that he needs for his RPM coin sales.  The real reason is security of the names, addresses and credit information that will be needed and will need to persist.  So, instead, Ron is free to work on DNA.  Whoopie, and we succeeded in printing a wall chart of James Ager descendants for Sistah Carol (12 pages).

4 Nov. The election results are a Cliff-hanger.  On a funny note: Just in, Biden was called for Ukraine.  Please tell sister Carol that if you put the “I Voted” sticker under your pillow, the election fairy leaves a Xanax.  Ron and Carol were up early suffering through "Classical Stretch" and realized soon after that it was calm outside meaning that we could torch the burn pile, and it produced intense heat and flames high enough to be slightly alarming.  Good thing that we had raked leaves from a circle surrounding the inferno.  Once that had settled into a hot, hot, hot bed of coals, we again abused our bodies in pursuit of bush honeysuckle (click here).  We were happy to take a break in the afternoon (and a nap for Carol) and to eat dinner at Denny's.  (Ruby Tuesday was closed to indoor dining despite the Litchfield mayor's refusal to shut down his city for the governor.)  In Texas, Cynthia spent two hours with her fiduciary, followed by her gynecologist, and next our new dentist.  And while Cynthia was writing that, Ron was working on HTML and learning CSS and PHP (click here) to try to install a shopping cart for nephew Eric's RPM coins website.  Now time for bed. 

3 Nov:  Cynthia awoke at 3:45 and did not go back to sleep.  What to do?  Vote !!  The sun rises at 6:39, and the polls open at seven.  She is ready.   Following the big vote, she is off to see Sasha for a hair cut in the Galleria.  Ron and Carol drove to the city of Benld (click here) to vote, then to Randy's and then Walmart in Litchfield for groceries, and back to the house to begin getting ready for a big dinner date with Bill this evening.  After Carol had all the possible preparations ready to go, we sashayed out to the splitter shed and split a lot of firewood lickity split.  Then we got over-confident and went back into the woods to pull bush honeysuckle again.  All went famously until one steep, steep ravine where Ron was able to get one particular tough plant despite every footstep sliding on the leaves underfoot coupled with the insistent pull of gravity.  Then he espied another couple of bushes in the bottom of the ravine and struggled with one of those until Carol brought the lopping shears and said, "Watch out, there is poison ivy everywhere around here."  And then Ron noticed that he was knee deep in leaf-less poison ivy plants.  When we returned to the house, Ron immediately used Tecnu (click here) on his hands, showered his whole body with Fels Naptha (click here), and laundered his clothes.  We will know in a day or three if that worked or if he has the dreaded ultimate itch.  Oh no! Oh, NO!  Does he have the magic cream?  After Cynthia read the tragic tale of Ron in poison ivy, she won’t sleep.  (Yes dear, he does have the magic cream but no beloved SmoochSmooch to apply it.)

2 Nov:  Thanks to dear Jon and Tina for picking Cynthia up at the airport last night.  First order of business for little lonely SmoochSmooch is to pick up car rental and the doctor appointments begin with the ENT... in Conroe, followed by Dr. Sims in the Woodlands.   Jon’s house remodeling looks great   Meanwhile, back in Illinois... Ron and sister Carol pulled out trillions of bush honeysuckle plants, an invasive plant that Carol is trying to eradicate from her tree farm property.  (Imagine trying to pull all the dandelions from your yard by hand.)

 1 Nov, Sunday:  Two-year-old great grandson Hudson asked his parents, “Where Ron?”  That makes an appropriate title for our November blog this year.  (Yes, Ron and Hudson hit it off thanks to Hudson's interest in bread and Ron's willingness to open the package and remove a piece for Hudson.)  Today is Reformation Sunday, and All Saints Sunday; they usher in change.  How much change we won’t know for a week until the election results are returned.  Cynthia’s flight to Houston is at 4:14 PM.  Ron follows along via motorcycle the first week of December.  That is a very, very, very long time for the Smooches to be apart.  We awoke early at Mariner's Village in Carlyle, packed luggage and went for one final walk over the dam and ate lunch at Los Amigos before we mounted the motorcycle and rode off into the windy, frigid atmosphere - but our departure was 45 minutes late.  (Ron admits his fault.)  The wind constantly tried its best to push us south as we rode east to west and especially when we crossed the new Mississippi River bridge connecting I-64 to I-70 north.  (Stan Musial Veterans' Memorial Bridge click here.)  Once Ron bid farewell to his beloved at the airport, the wind was no longer such a problem except that Cynthia's helmet refused to stay centered behind Ron and constantly blew to the south to block his view in the right hand mirror.  He stopped three times to try to reposition the helmet so that it would behave before he arrived in Edwardsville to visit Connie. Fortunately she was home, and after a pleasant hour of conversation, Ron discovered his third mistake of the day when the light began to fade.  Oh yes, fall back means that darkness descends much earlier than the previous day, so Ron hustled on the interstate up to Mt. Olive and precariously along th lumps and bumps of Panther Creek Road to Carol's gravel driveway with new loose rock over its bridge to arrive "just before dark."  (Ron's definition of dark is pitch black.)  Carol had prepared salmon and potatoes and veggies for her brother which were gratefully consumed ASAP.

October 2020 began with a Brrh

31 Oct:  Cynthia leaves tomorrow for Texas, leaving Ron without adult supervision for a month.  The forecast calls for sixty degree, sunshiny weather with 15 mile an hour wind.  We successfully completed two long walks, plus getting all of our packing done.   Don and Ann S joined us for a long conversation over 2 PM lunch at Los Amigos. 

30 Oct:  Glorious sunshine and warmer temps helped us enjoy our last two days at Mariners Resort with two long walks.  Unbelievably, Ron’s mac rebooted this evening just before bedtime.  He was desperate enough to research a fix on the internet and found a good candidate.  Cynthia tried blessing it, but Ron’s threat did the trick.  

29 Oct:  Hurricane Zeta sent moisture to Illinois.  We managed to stay dry during a three mile walk trying some of the fitness opportunities.  Cynthia cannot lift her body with her arms on parallel bars.  Ron was successful on everything (for limited definitions of successful).  We will be at Lake Carlyle another 4 days.  After lunch at Los Amigos, we are back home eating popcorn and doing computer stuff.  The WiFi is on, sort of.  

28 Oct: Cynthia tracked 7.8 miles total for two great walks.  Nephew Eric, wife Denise, grandnephew Kyle and grandniece Erika joined us for dinner at Los Amigos. The WiFi is down and Ron's computer also went down before dinner, just as he was feeling hopeful to finish the indexing of Volume 7.  

27 Oct:  Tomorrow Ron needs to get out for blueberries and pretzels (now that his stomach has receded satisfactorily). Cynthia tracked 8 miles total for two great walks.  

26 Oct:  First project this morning after exercises and oatmeal was to pack the box Cynthia wants to ship back to Texas (so that she doesn't have to carry luggage through the airport).  The BIG surprise was that we were able to ship it via UPS at the local NAPA auto parts store.  Our Carlyle Lake dam walk was more pleasant this morning without the winds that have made the last several days less so.  Cynthia's feet held up well despite keeping a rapid pace in order to arrive promptly at noon+02 at Los Amigos for lunch with Ron's high school friend Dick.  Unfortunately we did not get to meet Ruth Ann (who had a crush on Dick in 4th grade).  Dick certainly has plenty of interesting stories to tell and claims to have several kids, all students from abroad thanks to Rotary International.  Apparently the feeling is mutual.  His father lived to be 92 years old, so we encouraged him to consider taking his good genes to the Pritikin, hoping to improve upon his father's outstanding record.  No second walk this evening as the rains continued and continued. - until bedtime (i.e. now).

25 Oct, Sunday:  Lake Carlyle is chilly again, starting with 48 degrees (after exercises and breakfast).  Sad part is that today's high is forecast at 50 degrees.  Ron is starting the second phase of edits to The Colonial Records Volume 7, installing the index markup before making corrections that will change the pagination.  We did enjoy a pleasantly cool and a bit windy walk below the dam crossing General Dean but turned around early (due to foot pain) and came back to Los Amigos for lunch.

Saturday fishermen on Kaskaskia River below Lake Carlyle

24 Oct:  We awakened today to a temperature (after breakfast) of 43 degrees plus a 9 mph wind.  WOW, winter has jumped into our neighborhood.  Talk about a rude awakening.  Our walk across the dam, around the Chipmunk circuit, out & over General Dean bridge, and back was much more pleasant with so much less wind than yesterday.  Interesting to see so many folks fishing along the river.  Lunch at Los Amigos left us both stuffed, but Cynthia has already requested popcorn to satisfy her munchies.  Ron went out for a chilly ride to get foodstuffs to tide us over until the 1st and later for a second walk just after dark, made more enjoyable by a long phone conversation with Sock.

Fall is glorious now at Lake Carlyle

And here is another example.

23 Oct:  The temperature has again skyrocketed in the room, but the forecast is for falling temperatures all afternoon from 73 degrees now to 39 degrees overnight.  We walked across the dam pursued by a stiff, cold wind, around the cute little Chipmunk Trail, and back into a strong, cold headwind.  It was a relief to change directions along the river to the General Dean suspension bridge, over it, and back to the dam, but there the wind returned for the rest of our walk to Los Amigos.  What a surprise today to discover Volume 7 final manuscript awaiting my attention after lunch.  Now the work begins in earnest until Nov. 1.   Just before dark Cynthia declined an invitation for another walk, saying it was too cold.  Ron walked the length of the dam talking to Don on the cell phone, but his phone-holding hand became very cold.

Smooch and SmoochSmooch (in collar)

And we are happy!  See -> -> ->

22 Oct:  The temperature has skyrocketed in the room.  Time to go for a long walk before the day heats up, crossing the dam, circling the Chipmunk Trail, and crossing the bridge over the Kaskaskia.  It was a good day, a warm walk and we decided to stay indoors until twilight before our second walk across the dam today.

Hudson watching daddy in snow

21 Oct:  The pavement was wet when we arose, but no rain is forecast for the day here; a high temperature of 62 degrees.  The challenge for today is to get the room ready for the housekeepers.  Done, over and out.  Now to buy more groceries, then go for a walk.  Today we discovered the Chipmunk Trail, a cute little half-mile trail through the woods and across several tiny bridges on the other side of the lake.  But, we can be thankful it is not snowing like in other parts of the country.  Here is a cute picture of two-year-old Hudson wistfully watching his daddy, Brett, blowing snow.

20 Oct:  Another morning at Lake Carlyle dawned cold and foggy, but by the time we finished exercises and breakfast, the skies had cleared. With luck it will be somewhat "warm" by the time we walk to Walmart for flu shots.  The long part of our walk this morning was to the Post Office in downtown Carlyle, and we walked four extra blocks because our directions were to turn after CVS instead of before it.  We lunched at Los Amigos and were told that we had run them entirely out of mixed veggies, and we were served the last two baked potatoes.  They promised to shop tomorrow in order to continue feeding us.  At 3 PM, the thunder rumbled and the rains came right on time, but they were gone in a flash.

19 Oct:  Good God, did the temperature ever change.  Our walk across the dam was dam cold this morning.  The color radar forecast gives us until mid-afternoon before showers begin, but I doubt that Cynthia can be convinced to go outside again in 45 degree temperatures potentiated by 30 mph winds (unbelievable that www.weather.com says the winds are only 9 mph).  Her stomach did convince her to go outside all the way over to Los Amigos for our usual lunch (less than 100 yards).  The first baked potato was small, so Ron ordered a second, which was quite large.  He is now waaay too much over-full, similar to Thanksgiving dinners while his mother was still alive.  And moisture did indeed fall from the skies beginning around 3 pm.  Regardless, Ron is preparing to go for his second walk of the day & talk on cell phone across the dam and back.  First half of crossing the dam (talking to Clarence) was windless, second half was windy; all of return (talking to Ed) was misty and wet.

18 Oct, Sunday:  We awoke (Thank God) at Mariner's Village, exercised, ate, and are now using our computers before we head out for a morning walk.  We need to get our two walks in early since rain is forecast to begin around 3 PM until midnight.  Walk #1 was the length of the dam plus crossing the Kaskaskia on the General Dean Suspension Bridge (click here) and return to Los Amigos for our standard veggies, salad and potato lunch.  Now Ron needs to gather foodstuffs supplies at Walmart before the rains come.  Offta, and with the rains came naptime.  Later.  Editing Volume 7 index again - more issues.  Time for beddie bye.  G'night.

17 Oct:  Surprisingly windy today here at Lake Carlyle.  We've exercised, eaten and walked across the dam and across the Kaskaskia River (click here) suspension bridge that was closed yesterday.  Don and Ann came to visit us at 2 PM for a lunch at Los Amigos and stayed until 6 PM catching us up on the events of their lives.  Ron repeated the morning walk again at dark and is fading fast now that it is 10:30 PM. Goodnight.

16 Oct:  Lake Carlyle really is beautiful at this time of year without any crowds except for the birds on the lake.  After exercises and breakfast we went for our typical morning walk and received a call from sistah Carol saying, "Surprise, Bill and I are enjoying the views from the marina."  By this time Cynthia and I were near the bridge over the Kaskaskia River, far from the hotel.  We agreed to return ASAP but were stymied by a "bridge closed" fence, so we had to retrace our steps on the eastern side of the river.  By the time we met up with Carol & Bill, everyone was hungry, so we repaired to Los Amigos for lunch.  (Carol bought - Than You, Carol.)  Everyone enjoyed their meal, so we can agree with the reviews that it is a good place.  Afterwards, we all walked to a mid-point on the dam where a picnic table sits, whereupon we all sat to enjoy lovely views, birds flying & swimming, a brisk wind, and lively conversation.  (Bill and Ron are in competition to see who can say the funniest things.  No one wins, but everyone smiles.)  After they left, we returned to our room and our computers.  Now Ron can go to Walmart to get the popcorn as promised.  Done, 10:15 and time for bed.  Goodnight.

15 Oct:  Carlyle, Illinois:  We are staying at the Mariner's Village (click here) at Lake Carlyle (click here), and we were quite surprised this morning to see a wet parking lot.  After eating our oatmeal breakfast and sending in the pacemaker reading over the ether to Dr. Dougherty, we went for a nice long walk 4.8 miles across the dam to the restroom there and back to Los Amigos (click here for Facebook page) for a repeat of yesterday's lunch.  Ron's Macbook Pro continues to refuse to boot for the second entire day despite perhaps 40 retries, so he used Cynthia's computer to reply to a couple of dozen e-mails.  Then we went for a second, shorter walk across the dam and back, including a climb up the dam from the road below because Cynthia had suggested that we needed more regular aerobic exercise.  After dinner of oatmeal, Ron continued to respond to e-mails and restart his computer.  Hey !!  It came up immediately after I wrote that it refused to boot.  Whoopie !!  I guess it pays to embarrass it before the entire world.  So now it is time for Ron to go on a third walk and talk, this time to Ed.  10:17, time for bed.  More tomorrow.

14 Oct:  The ride from Litchfield to Carlyle (east on Illinois 16 to south on Illinois 127) looked innocuous enough on the map, but the wind made the ride far less comfortable.  Sometimes the crosswind was left to right and others it was right to left.  Sometimes it seemed quite light and others it was somewhat fierce.  Even long sweeping curves present a challenge to composure when a strong wind gust hits in the middle of the turn.  We checked in to the hotel, delighted to recognize our hosts from October 2018, and immediately headed over to Los Amigos, a new Mexican restaurant next door.  We ordered large salads with grilled veggies and a baked potato each and were delighted that it satisfied our diet so well.  Then we rode over to Walmart for groceries, and Ron plugged his computer into the wall socket.

13 Oct:  Mt. Olive, Illinois is the closest town to Ron's sister in the hinterlands of rural Illinois, and we rode the motorcycle to her house soon after breakfast.  Litchfield Trail wasn't so bad despite new rock chip, but Panther Creek Road was not rendered any smoother by the chip and there was a surplus amount in the middle of the road awaiting a grader.  Cynthia dismounted at Carol's driveway for an eight-tenths mile walk in preference to riding on gravel.  (Ever since our New Mexico escapade in May of 2018, she has been terrified of dirt roads.)  We walked to Carol's pond to feed the catfish.  (I throw in one pellet at a time to watch, whereas Carol throws in half the jar at once.)  Carol fixed us baked potatoes upon request, and she and Bill joined us later for dinner at Ruby Tuesday.  Not only that, but Carol and Bill gave Cynthia a ride to the restaurant so that she didn't have to endure the insecurity of riding the motorcycle on a gravel driveway.  Me, I took Panther Creek Road the other direction into Mt. Olive so that I wouldn't have to ride on newly applied rock chip.

12 Oct:  We left Keokuk, Iowa early, continuing south on US Highway 218 briefly until we crossed the Mississippi on US 136.  It was quite the surprise that this took next to no time.  Then Ron began looking for a quick turn onto Illinois Highway 96 south.  Once we were headed south, the wind from the west became quite strong as we continued to US Highway 24 east to I-172 bypassing Quincy and becoming I-72.  Ron began to think that he had missed the turn for Illinois 100 south when it finally came into view.  Then IL 106 east to Hillview Road south.  The wind was quite the nuisance, especially near woods that reflected it so that it shoved us to the west.  Then Illinois 108 east to I-55 south to Litchfield.  After all these turns we arrived in Litchfield in time to have dinner at Ruby Tuesday with Bill and Carol.  The biggest surprise was that the Ruby Tuesday in Litchfield, Illinois had their salad bar open and well-stocked.

11 Oct, Sunday:  So we got up early, exercised, ate, packed and left Ottumwa too late to arrive at the Methodist Church in Keosauqua on time for the 9 AM worship service, so we tried staying on US 34 all the way to Fairfield before turning south on Iowa 1, and it was quicker and smoother as we had been told, so we were only about five minutes late.  Doris was playing organ, and we tried to sneak in late without being seen, but the minister and cousin Marvin embarrassed us (slightly) by introducing us to the congregation.  The sermon encouraged us to pray frequently, but my interpretation was that frequent prayer will keep us mindful of God's presence in our lives and will improve our relationships with other humans.  After services, Sharon Beatty asked if we would like to see the original Benjamin Beatty house where she now lives.  We agreed immediately after she promised to drive us out there in a car and return us to Marvin's house in the country, thereby saving us from riding the motorcycle on two long gravel roads, eating the dust of every passing motorist.  Sharon's husband Melvin is a wonderful character.  We thoroughly enjoyed meeting him and getting to know Sharon a bit better.  True to her word, Sharon and Melvin drove us to Marvins where we got to watch Philip park a tractor and wagon in the middle of the front yard and witness Doris's reaction to this all-too-common occurrence in her life.  Holly and Jonathan came by to visit with us, and he is a much-older, much bigger 7-year-old now, and not quite so active as he was two years ago.  Doris fed us some veggies before Marvin then drove us out to Lebanon to see cousin Ken's new home.  Ken is finishing the interior himself, and it looks to be a wonderfully comfortable place for a bachelor to live in the country.  All that work has him looking very thin and fit and happy.  The open loft is accented by 8x8 beams salvaged from a barn somewhere nearby.  The second-floor deck has wonderful views of fields and woods.  Ken really surprised me by saying that he no longer plays video car racing games.  Marvin returned us to our motorcycle parked by the church, and we were early enough for cousin Scott and Nadine to join us for dinner at the 1st Street Grill.  As it was getting dark, they drove us out to see their property, but it was too dark to see much of the gardening work and they returned us to town quickly so that we could ride south on Iowa Highway 1, east on Iowa Highway 2, south on US 218 to a Hampton Inn in Keokuk, Iowa.  After dark, Ron makes it a point to stay close behind another vehicle through deer country.  If my headlight is not illuminating their license plate, I need to move closer.  

10 Oct:  We arose no earlier in Iowa City, did our morning exercises and again enjoyed lots of oatmeal with berries, thanks to Nola's cooking.  Ron enjoyed sudokus from a book of Vic's.  (Hotels are not generally supplying newspapers now, and Ron is sudoku deprived.)  We thanked our hosts, packed and were on the road an hour later than Ron had hoped, so he decided to call cousin Marvin from Walmart.  When we stopped at Walmart for MSM, Ron decided to resume riding promptly instead of calling cousin Marvin and to instead call from Washington, Iowa, but Iowa Highway 1 just passed through a brief corner of Washington, so the call was postponed until Fairfield.  In Fairfield, the most appealing restaurant turned out to be Mexican, unable to meet our diet, and we missed the Subway as we left town on Highway 1.  (Apparently Subway is on a different "Main Street.")  By the time we arrived in Keosauqua, it was two PM and time to feed the diabetic weefee.  The town was crowded with tourists for the annual Keosauqua Fall Festival and the Van Buren Scenic Drive Festival.  We saw lots of motorcycles in town, and the 1st Street Grill was crowded with one table left for us in a corner.  The restaurant actually did a fine job of feeding us with a good salad for Ron and vegetable wrap for Cynthia.  After ordering, Ron attempted to call cousin Marvin but found no Verizon signal there, outside, by the river, or anywhere within a couple of blocks.  The waitress recommended right beside a window, but that didn't work for Ron either.  This was quite a disappointment because Ron had promised to call Marvin much earlier.  (And it is harvest time.)  Only one of Ron's cousins in Keosauqua lives on a paved road, so we went to visit Rex, Suzie, and daughter Brigette.  (Ron had to ask directions from another resident after failing to find the house where he kinda sorta remembered it.  The house was on top of the hill, not at the foot.)  Everyone was cheerful and healthy although Susie has had a number of health problems in the last couple of years.  We also met two of Brigette's kids who are probably in high school.  The closest accommodation that Cynthia has liked was the Hampton Inn in Ottumwa, and we rode north on Iowa 1 to a left on Iowa 16 through Selma (where Ron's father was born) and through Eldon (where ancestor Jesse Nicholson is buried) to a left on US 34 into Keokuk, then had to stop to find an address since my GPS does not show that hotel.  After settling in at a familiar Hampton Inn in Ottumwa and eating at Subway across the street, Ron called Marin and apologized for not calling earlier.  Marvin said that church was holding services and seemed pleased that Ron and Cynthia would see them there in the morning (9 AM = way too early).  The route from Iowa City was simplicity itself: I-80 west to US 6 exit south to Iowa Highway 1 to Keosauqua.

Ron, Vic and Nola at Coralville Reservoir

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library

9 Oct:  Iowa City:  We awoke late, arose late and exercised as usual before venturing upstairs to discover  that Nola had cooked old fashioned Quaker oats for us and had fruit to go with.  Vic and Nola took us out for a hike on the Coralville Reservoir Trail amidst the glorious fall scenery.  They are bird watchers and never go out without binoculars (but we saw no interesting birds).  We returned home for a great lunch, then off to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and birthplace.  Surprisingly, the Library and visitor center were closed although the houses were open and park rangers provided a short guided tour.  We saw both the tiny house where Hoover was born and the plot where he is buried plus a reconstruction of his father's blacksmith business.  We realize how rich we modern Americans are when we see that a family of five lived in two very small rooms in 1900 (14' x 20' = 280 square feet total for 2 rooms, 2 adults and 3 children).  For dinner, Nola made awesome salmon topped with balsamic vinegar sauce and fresh berries.  Yum, Thanks Nola.

8 Oct:  The ride to Iowa City was uneventful.  Ron chose to take I-35 from the hotel until old US Highway 6 veered north 20 miles east of Des Moines.  US 6 was much quieter and more pleasant over rolling hills although the spectacular fall colors we had enjoyed in Minnesota were less frequent in Iowa.  A stop at the Amana Colonies for Amish sauerkraut and pickled beets was a disappointment because that was the entirety of what we could eat (although that is a wonderful combination).  We arrived at Vic and Nola's (off Debuque Road) in time for Cynthia’s first ever enchilada (and a delicious one using a Pritikin recipe with sweet potato, spinach and black bean filling).  Nola is an awesome cook, and Vic has a million entertaining stories from his 30 years of medical practice.  En route Cynthia was meditating that "Politics has become the religion of hatred.  Hatred is a cancer that eats one’s own flesh."  It is insane.  

7 Oct:  From Urbandale, Iowa, we rode west and south about 10 miles on I-80/ I-35 to Mills Civic Parkway to visit cousin Sandy in East Des Moines.  Sandy is delightfully cheerful as always, and she even fed us an afternoon snack.  We all walked around the tiny lake near city hall and thoroughly enjoyed sculptures and colorful red maples and burnt-orange sugar maple trees (even sometimes with hot pink highlights).  As we started back to the hotel, we saw the bright white tail of a whitetail deer bounding into the woods.  We had hoped to visit Cynthia's classmate Carol, but her independent living facility mandates a 14-day quarantine if she leaves the property, and visitors are not allowed on the property.  What ever happened to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?  I guess the same forces that long ago mandated motorcycle helmet laws (which I hate) have grown more powerful.  Since we had such a lovely visit with Sandy and had no possibility of seeing Carol, there was no reason to stay an additional day in Des Moines.

6 Oct:  Northwood, Iowa:  We need to pack and leave before noon.  Done.  Upon Cynthia's request, we stopped in Nora Springs to see her niece Penny, who suffered cancers of various forms and is missing most of her left jaw.  Penny is living with her sister Paula and is speaking much better than two years ago.  As we prepared to ride away, Penny asked for a motorcycle ride.  Ron agreed after asking if her leg is strong enough to get on the bike.  She assured me that it is strong enough, but the problem was controlling the other leg, which was tough to get over the seat.  Cynthia has prepared me for a passenger balancing precariously on one peg, and Penny managed to eventually get seated properly.  We rode through town two different ways and back to the house without incident.  Penny was thrilled but tumbled to the ground while Paula helped her get off the bike.  (Cynthia got a great video of that fall.)  Thankfully, she is well!  As we rode south in Iowa, a large pheasant flew up right in front of us, and we missed it by about a foot, a GREAT view of pheasant in flight about a foot away from the top left front of the fairing (windshield).  We took Iowa 105 east to US 65 south to East State Street in Mason City east to business US 18 east to Nora Springs (and were lucky to discover the Ponderosa Trail subdivision).  Then we took Zinnia Road (county road S70) south to county road B47 west to US 65 south almost into Hampton (including a detour to county road S43), turned right on Iowa Highway 3 west (which was a rough road)  to US Highway 69 south through Ames and Ankeny into Urbandale, Iowa where we got on I-35/ I-80 west to the Hilton Garden Inn.  This was a very nice, very uncrowded route, but it was a windy day, seemingly far windier than the 11-15 mph forecast.  The bonus was discovering a Texas Roadhouse restaurant immediately adjacent to the hotel and further discovering that they served baked sweet potatoes, a favorite for us on this diet.

5 Oct:  We woke up early despite going to bed late.  Jane at 9 AM, Annie at 11, hiking until exhausted, dinner and collapse are on the schedule for today.  Ron and Richard had a great deal of fun conversations discussing "guy" things.  We assume that Cynthia and Jane did not discuss guy things.  Dave and Annie showed up promptly before 11 to take us to the Lime Creek Nature Center (click here) for a lovely hike with Connie and Heather, during which Cynthia and Ron mistakenly thought that the girls were going off to "La Femme Toilette," and consequently became totally separated from the group and thereafter became totally lost without any clue as to location or direction other than picking the most likely trail underfoot.  Eventually a bicyclist, the only other person we ever saw, gave us simple directions that allowed us to find the correct parking lot.  4.4 miles according to Cynthia.  Annie and Dave were waiting for us at the parking lot, and off we all went to Subway for lunch.  Now poor Annie has to rush through preparations for dinner whilst I type on this computer.  Usually Ron tells people that they cannot cook for us because our diet is too restrictive: no oil, no butter, no fat, no cheese, and no salt, but Annie cooked a magnificent meal for us two years ago, and I am looking forward to stuffing my face again tonight.  Face happily stuffed, now we need to retire to rest our tummies.  Annie again cooked a magnificent meal for six (Ann & Dale, Annie & Dave, Cynthia & Ron) and used her guest Corelware (click here).  Ron thoroughly enjoyed the dishes that were made specifically for his diet.  (He did share.)  The discussions about fine china prompted Ron to reflect that no one uses china any more because no one cooks any more, hence the younger generation has no use for the parental china when serving carry-out meals.

4 Oct:  Who knows what tomorrow brings?  At least we woke up well rested and ready for our morning exercises and breakfast.  Looks like we will spend most of the day working on computer projects followed by an evening visit with Ann 'n Dale, God willing.  Thanks to cousin Charleton, Ron has just found out about the Rambo Mansion in Rock Hill, South Carolina (click here for video tour).  We arrived more than an hour early to revisit all of Cynthia's memories of Swensrud Park, which sits just below her childhood home.  Our picnic at the park with Ann & Dale, Tanna & family was lovely, even with an energetic two-year-old and her five-year-old brother making use of every slide and climb on the playground.  However, it did get too cold for nearly all the adults by 6:30, so we brought our celebration of friendship to an early ending.  Tomorrow is another day.  Good Grief, how did it get to be 10:42 already.  Goodnight.

3 Oct:  In Northwood, Iowa, today dawned early for us and cloudy too.  We miss our Western sunshine, but it is good to be seeing familiar faces and sights.  We rode the 9 miles to town at 10:20 AM and 47 degrees, Brrrrh, and visited with a couple of Cynthia's cousins (everybody in Northwood is Cynthia's cousin) at the "creamery" being restored at 611 Central Avenue (Iowa Highway 105).  Our excitement of the day was provided by medivac helicopter which landed smack in the middle of the street.  Afterwards we walked around the Northwood cemetery, taking in the sights.  The cemetery walks in Butte were much more pleasant since we did not know anyone buried there.  4 PM sharp, we assembled with 6 of Cynthia's classmates (plus 4 spouses) for a fabulous, fun evening of dinner, drinks, and a tiny bit of conversation.  Present were Annie and Dave, Vic and Nola, Jerry and Betty, Myra, Laverne and Cynthia and Ron.  At 9 PM, the last of the stragglers straggled out of the restaurant and headed home.

2 Oct:  Annie brought us an amazing vase of flowers and wonderful homemade, homegrown foods, and left without saying hi because there was a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door !!  (Annie, that sign is meant for the housekeepers, not friends.  Y'all hear !!)  Cousin Ray showed up at the stroke of noon and drove us inside a heated car to Subway for another veggie sub, a wonderful warm trip to town with good company to boot.  We talked genealogy, covid and politics (since we agree).  Personally I think that it is great that the president has covid, and I feel confident that he will recover fine without undue discomforts, thereby proving that he walks the walk and that most of us will be among the 98% that recover without problems.  VERY amusing that after all the trash talk about President Trump, the stock market has experienced a major fall due to the announcement that he has covid.  Tonight we walked over to the Diamond Jo casino restaurant to meet cousin David.  No telling what he has been up to since we last saw him two years ago.  He and Pat did tell us lots and lots that they have been up to, but my memory isn't good enough to repeat all that.  We all enjoyed our conversation and the good food there at the Woodfire Grill.  Dave gave us a parting gift of CDs that he has made of his music.  A multi-talented individual, he teaches history in high school, has played in bands all across the states of Iowa and Minnesota, and enjoys being a re-enactor of pioneer festivals (and he looks the part with a huge long scraggly beard).

1 Oct:  Eagan, Minnesota:  After packing our bags and loading the motorcycle ASAP this morning, we rode through very chilly temperatures (51 degrees) to Hasting, Minnesota, where we enjoyed our second windowside visit with Greg for nearly an hour before we lunched with Donna, again at Perkins.  The ride southward through the Minnesota countryside was punctuated by a stop to see the Valley Grove Lutheran Church where Cynthia preached at one snowy midnight Christmas service in 2007.  The skies were threatening for much of the day, and we rode through winds and light rain on I-35 after passing through Faribault.  About 20 miles from the Iowa state line, the skies looked too dark dead ahead, so Ron opted to exit the interstate when he saw a sign indicating that an alternate I-35 route was somewhat east of the interstate.  This kept us out from under the darkest skies but did not keep us entirely dry.  When that county road 26 came to a T intersection, Cynthia piped up, "US 65 is right there," so we rode into her home town of Northwood in a light rain and immediately parked the bike, looked for an open restaurant, and found Subway.  Ron was a bit shocked to discover that his hands were BRIGHT red from the cold rain.  By the time we finished our vegetable sub, the rain had stopped, so we walked about town briefly, visited the house where Cynthia had lived and talked with the new owners, a couple whose husband had also grown up in that house.  We were able to ride to the Holiday Inn Express beside Diamond Jo Casino without difficulty (except for still being cold - high temperature all day was 51 degrees).  Ron plugged the Macintosh into power and was delighted that the machine rebooted successfully without excessive restarts so that he can resume working on the index for Volume 7.  Our routing for the day began at the Hilton Garden Inn in Eagan and proceeded east on Cliff Road (county road 32) to Blaine Avenue (county road 71) south to 117th street east to US 52 south to Minnesota 55 east to Hastings.  From there we rode south through town to Vermillion Road (county road 47) west to Northfield Boulevard (continuing county road 47) southwest into Hampton, MN, L on US Highway 52 south to a R on Minnesota 56 south to R on county road 31 west to L on Minnesota Highway 246 south to county road 30 (160th Street) west to Valley Grove Church.  From there we continued south on 246 briefly and continued straight onto Kane Road which led us to county road 20 through Faribault to I-35 south towards Northwood, but we soon exited after rain (maybe Ellendale) and continued south first on county road 26 and later on US Highway 65 into Northwood, then Iowa 105 west to the casino and our lodging.