SpringTrip07 - Report 1

Dear Family and Friends:

On the road again -- finally! Haven't been out in TuziTwo since Yellowstone last fall (except when we parked it in our driveway and slept there while the Easterling kids were here at the first of April). It's been a very snowy winter and in fact just two days ago we had snow blowing in the air, so we're ready for spring, bigtime. This is going to be a six-week plus trip. Not only that, but we're going to see all six kids in one trip. That'll take care of our 2007 obligations -- just kidding, kids. Here's the itinerary:

April

26 - depart

27-29 - Abilene, TX

30 - Fredericksburg, TX

May

1-4 - Fredericksburg, TX

5-6 - Arlington, TX (Heidi joins us here and travels with us to Nashville)

7-9 - Branson, MO

11-15 - Nashville (Mandi and Paul)

20-22 - Ames, IA (Statistics Conference!

23-26 - Sioux Falls, SD (Jeff and Valerie Hinkle)

29-31 - Grand Rapids, MI (Matt and Suzie Hinkle; Kaci's graduation)

June

1-3 - Grand Rapids

7-10 - Boiling Springs State Park, OK (Easterling family reunion -- Jeff, Mike, and families)

12 - Cedar Crest, NM (home)

April 26. We leave home about 1030 am, right after Regis Philbin's return from heart surgery. Three hundred miles later we're stopped for the night at the Lubbock KOA, where we've stayed a few times before. Perfect RV park locale: near the highway and a busy railroad! Not a hard day's travel, but we're tired, after 2-3 days of getting ready and loading, and ready to stop. Everything seems to work, including satellite TV.

Here's a shot at a roadside rest area en route -- you know that Texas panhandle town, Route, just down the road from Muleshoe.

Day 2 starts with an unusual problem -- About 6:30 am I start to leave for a trip to the KOA facilities and I can't unlock the front door. That's the only door. The lock had been working smoothly, up to now, but I can't budge the deadbolt knob. What to do? I could wait until someone walks by and throw them a key and see if the door will unlock from the outside. The wait might be too long and would be embarrassing. I could force the knob, but that might make things worse. I could go out the emergency window -- but I'm not sure but what when I release its latches, it might crash to the ground, which you would want in an emergency but not now. So, I decide to climb out the driver's side window. The decorative bed spread is laying nearby (we have daily rituals of unmaking the bed and making the bed) so I get the idea to lay it over the window sill and hang it down the outside to protect the motor home. I squeeze out backwards, dangle, and drop lightly, catlike, to the ground. The lock won't budge from the outside either, not surprisingly, so I get a screwdriver out of my toolbox, get the ladder out of the basement, climb back inside and with a little bit of work -- the knob was lined up with the screws -- take the back off the lock. Still can't retract the deadbolt, so it's back through the window and somehow working the key in the loosened lock retracts the bolt. There is a second door lock, so we won't be without security until I get the lock replaced. Getting the back of the lock back on just to hold the lock on proves difficult -- a three-hand job with only two hands. Susie soon arises, though, I tell her about the excitement, and together we soon get the lock secured and away we go.

The standard way from Lubbock to Abilene is to angle down US 84 to I-20, then east to Abilene -- about 180 miles total. I decide to take a more scenic, meaning two-lane, route. And it is more scenic -- more rolling hills as we cross several branches of the Brazos river. We stop in a rest area to check the map and as we pull out I notice a group of three mailboxes, all full of bullet holes. That's neat, shoulda got the picture. Then, almost immediately there's a large ranch gate proclaiming Hang 'Em High. No doubt now, we're in legendary west Texas -- Big Country, the Abilene newspaper calls it. Some people say there's nothing out here. One thing I get a kick out of, however, is ranch gates -- you can see how each owner is trying to make a statement. If there's not one already, there ought to be a book of these.

Two more hopes I have for this route are a small-town cafe and a Texas county courthouse -- and we find both. In Aspermont, after passing one cafe with no room to park, I spot a small place with lots of pick-ups parked around and a sign out front saying only -- catfish. Be still my heart. Susie says that, but not about catfish, so I borrowed it. We go around the block, park, and enjoy a catfish lunch. The interior is what you'd expect -- tattered oilcloth tablecloths, ripped-up vinyl chairs, well-weathered men in boots, jeans, and battered cowboy hats -- even saw one wearing spurs, interesting folks of both sexes. Lots of big people, most of whom seemed to be eating hamburgers, not catfish.

On down the road toward Abilene we go through Anson, which features this courthouse. I'm sure I got a picture of this one in 2005 when we lived in Abilene, but it's easier to take a new picture than find the old one.

Got to Abilene in mid-afternoon, parked in the Rays' (Elsie and Ken -- our Abilene and Mediterranean cruise friends) driveway, rested in their backyard, went downtown to the Grace Museum for an art show (some outstanding Texas scenes by a local artist) and snacks.

That's all for now. We'll be here until Monday when the Rays and us are motor homing down to Fredericksburg for a few days.

Cheers,

Rob and Susie

Malia's Baptism Weekend

Big Weekend! Valerie and Jeff scheduled Malia's baptism for our church, St. John's United Methodist Church, in Albuquerque, on April 1. (St. John's is Jeff's home church and also where he and Valerie were married.) Both sides of the family came -- son Mike, his wife, Karen, and their son, Jason; Valerie's two sisters and their families and Valerie's mother and stepfather. Because Sunday was Palm Sunday, with various additions to the service that would make it run long, we scheduled the baptism to immediately follow the service, open to all who would like to attend. Made for a nice, intimate gathering, friends and family standing next to the altar. Malia took it all very calmly and seriously. A little water on her head didn't faze her a bit.

You may remember that Malia received a Buddhist blessing in China in December. Now, according to your point of view, she's either protected in two religions or this baptism overrides the Buddhist blessing.

Church lunch followed, more opportunity to introduce Malia around and a chance for Mike and Jeff to connect with church family friends, and then the families gathered at our house for visiting and celebrating.

Malia (she's now 15.5 months) just started walking on her own two days previously, so a lot of our entertainment was watching and catching her as she careened around house and patio.



Spent some quality time with Grandma, too!

The two cousins got along famously.

Here Malia is playing peekaboo with the quilt that the St. John's quilting group made for her, while Jason watches.

We had started the weekend with Saturday lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then reinforced that with a Monday afternoon lunch at a different Mexican restaurant. That evening, we had a professional photographer come out and take family pictures at our house. We've seen Mike's family group pix and they're great. Looking forward to seeing how the rest turned out.

Jeff, Valerie, and Malia returned to Denver on Tuesday. Mike, Karen, Jason, and I took a trip to Bandelier National Monument (ancient Indian ruins, for those who may not be familiar with this site) with a stop in Santa Fe on the way home. Very nice spring day. This picture turned out sort of artsy, so I decided to include it.

Here, tourists (Jason, Karen, and Mike) stroll the portico of the Palace of Governors in Santa Fe.

In sum, it was a very special weekend. Susie and I both get weepy just thinking about Malia being abandoned on a government building doorstep when she was one day old, and now, fifteen months later, what a change her life has seen! Then you add two families gathering, linked by this precious little girl and the sacrament of baptism, and the sentiment really runs deep. Life is good.

Love,

Susie and Rob

p.s. For more pictures of the weekend, go to Valerie and Jeff's blog: http://bringinghomemalia.blogspot.com/

OKLAHOMA!

OKLAHOMA! continued.

Snowed through the night, Friday, and most of the day, Saturday, but the show went on. Actually, temperature near enough to freezing that the main roads were clear.

We got a backstage tour -- here's the theatre interior -- had dinner (Italian), then went to the show.





From the time Laurey (Kaci) walked out of Aunt Eller's cabin singing "Oh, what a beautiful morning," we were captivated. Here's Susie's review and impressions.


"When I was a little girl in the fifth grade, my dad (a high school music teacher in Raton, New Mexico) took my mom, my brother and me to Colorado Springs to see the traveling production of "Oklahoma." What a thrill---that was my first exposure to the musical theatre. A few years later I was cast as Ado Annie in my college production of "Oklahoma." I remember that my dad sat in the balcony, hung over the railing and cried like a baby--from pride, I hope. Little did I know that some fifty years later I would see my precious granddaughter in the leading role of Laurey and not to be outdone by my dad, I cried like a baby.


"Now, of course, we all can brag about our outstanding grandchildren, but I'm here to tell you that she was beyond outstanding! Her reviews have been wonderful and she has great times ahead of her at the music conservatory in her college of choice--Baldwin-Wallace. Interestingly enough, I was able to dig out some old reviews of my college performances and sent them to Kaci. I told her that I didn't want her to think that she got all of her talent from her mother!


"Luckily, we have been able to see a couple of her other performances but this production was staged by the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre and was quite a production. I feel so blessed to be able to travel to see as many of our grandchildren's activities as we have. We now have six grandchildren--Matt (Jeff's son) is all grown up, Tony is attending the College of Santa Fe (close to his Grami and Rob), Andrew in the 8th grade (a drummer and a good soccer player), Jason (a first grader and also a good soccer player) and our new little China doll, Malia. God is good!"

We went back for Sunday matinee and it seemed even better, or maybe it was because we had seats with better acoustics. Of course, the cast loosened up when Ice, the horse that is led on stage at the beginning of the play, loosened up in another way. His trainer soon appeared with a shovel and wet rag and that took care of that.

Monday it was back to Midway Airport, Chicago. We flew to Las Vegas with Heidi for a couple of days of basketball, maybe more -- Mountain West Conference tournaments, men's and women's. Won't report on that. It was in all the papers.

Cheers,

Rob and Susie

OKLAHOMA! in Michigan

March 2, 2007

Well, another kind of OKLAHOMA trip. Granddaughter Kaci Hinkle is starring as Laurey in the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre presentation of OKLAHOMA! We are going and the other three Hinkle kids are also so there will be a family reunion in Grand Rapids this weekend. Well, that was the plan, but winter weather intervened.

We planned to leave Albq on Thursday, March 1, and were on the way to the airport early that morning when we got phone call from daughter Mandi, closely watching the weather from her SW Airlines vantage point. Weather outlook seemed bad enough in Chicago that we decided to wait until the next day. On Friday both Mandi and daughter Heidi would be flying in to Chicago and we would meet them there, weather willing, and drive to Grand Rapids together. That part worked.

As we left Albq we were told that Chicago was under weather advisory, meaning that our flight could be diverted. But, it wasn't. Strong wind and blowing snow in Chicago made for a bumpy descent but we all got in, had lunch, picked up rental car, and headed for Grand Rapids, normally a 3 hour drive away. Very cold and windy as we selected our car: the car we finally left in was our third choice: first car was too small, second car was too smokey, but the third car was ju-ust right!

Strong wind and light snow the first half of the way, but not sticking to the roadway, so no problem. Then, on up into Michigan, on I-196 along the SW side of the state, traffic slowed to a crawl due to numerous incidents of cars sliding off the road. Almost all were from the southbound lanes, though, and it never seemed particularly treacherous in our lanes. With cell phones we kept in touch with Kaci's father, Matt, all the way and finally got to their house about 4.5 hours after leaving Chicago's Midway Airport.

We made it, but, unfortunately, son, Jeff, and Valerie Hinkle couldn't fly out of Sioux Falls, SD. Airport was closed Friday under blizzard whiteout conditions and would still be closed Saturday. Too bad. Note for the future: Do not plan trips to or out of the upper midwest in early March. Earlier in the planning stages we had planned to drive Tuzigoot, but decided against it, partly because of possibility of winter weather problems and partly because we decided to fly to Las Vegas from here in order to see some of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournaments.

Meanwhile, here are some excerpts from the newspaper's review of OKLAHOMA after its opening:

As the main twosome, Alexander and Hinkle shine, for the most part, although the male lead's singing voice could have been more robust here and there. Granted, it was hard to compete with Hinkle, who delivers the kind of voluminous, dazzling vocals that seem made for musical theater. .... Hinkle is ideal as Laurey, coy but not silly, and sassy without being over-the-top.

So you can see why we're eager to see the show. Our unbiased reviews in the next installment.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Malia Fix, continued

Picking up where Blogger interupted us:

Plan Monday, Feb. 19, was to spend a day and a half getting home -- take a mountain route through CO rather than the I-25 route we've taken several times in the last year. Stop whenever we felt like it.

Stopped by to say good-bye to Malia and Valerie (Jeff gone to work) -- see picture at top of previous posting -- then headed down Hwy 285, SW from Denver, into the mountains. Forecast was for developing mountain snow during the day, but it was nice and clear to start with (don't mean to sound foreboding, so I'll tell you now that we didn't get trapped in a blizzard).

Here's a shot in the South Park area -- you can see the clouds looming over the mountain peaks. They increased through the day, but no rain or snow at our level. Just cold and windy.

Had lunch in Buena Vista -- see shot of historic courthouse. The Collegiate Range (Mt. Princeton, Mt. Harvard, etc.) was pretty much socked in, so we couldn't see the high mountains in this area. Drove through historic downtown Salida, but didn't stop to browse or shop -- some other time in better weather -- then south through the San Luis Valley and into New Mexico.

Stopped at Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Just before you get there, from the west, there is a settlement of unusual, partially underground houses. Sign said, I believe, Spaceship Earth. There is a visitor's center, so some time will have to stop and find out what that's all about -- 21st century version of Taos commune society, I would guess.

The reason for going through Taos was to do some prep work for a possible outing of St. John's RVers this summer. I had talked by phone to the preacher at El Pueblito United Methodist Church and wanted to meet him. Turned out he was in Albuquerque, but I had a nice visit with lady at the church with a group preparing a Mardi Gras dinner. We also scoped out a Taos RV park where we might stay.

By now, it was late afternoon, but rather than stay the night, we decided to head on home -- hard to stop when you're within a couple of hours at home.

Next up: trip to Grand Rapids, MI, first weekend in March, for granddaughter Kaci's performance as Laurie in OKLAHOMA! All four Hinkle siblings will be there for a reunion and more family fun.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Malia Fix

Feb. 16, we drive to Denver to spend the weekend with Malia, Jeff, and Valerie. This would be our "Malia fix" Susie mentioned earlier, not having seen her, and them, since LAX returning from China. Because it's winter, we pack extra water, food, and blankets. Almost had to use them a half-hour from home.

I'll stick the last picture in here first -- three "Easterling girls" -- just to set the theme.


To catch I-25 east of Santa Fe when heading north we sometimes take county roads and state highways that lead east from our area. It was a windy day -- very strong wind from the north. As we drove east snow that had been around several days was being driven across the road -- looked almost like fast-flowing, frothy water. Actually, quite pretty, sun shining; sorry I didn't get a picture. No real problem driving for a while, though, as visibility was good and the snow was not accumulating on the road.

After about nine miles of this we got to a point where there were drifts on both side of the road, narrowing the road to one lane while the blowing snow really reduced visibility. Spotted a car stopped on the road ahead of us. We stopped and the car's driver came back and told us she couldn't go any further. We'd have to back up. We did so, for about 100 yards, hoping nobody would come up suddenly behind us, and got turned around in a driveway, back-tracked and then took the road north to Madrid, then Santa Fe, with no problems. Told Susie I could just see us in a ditch, all day, with our emergency supplies, 10 miles from home!

Whenever we get the opportunity we stop in Las Vegas, Susie's main home town, for a meal at the Spic and Span restaurant. We even planned ahead this time, very light breakfast at home, brunch at S and S. False start delayed us a bit, but we enjoyed it as always. Great Mexican food, tortillas prepared on site. Outstanding donuts, too. Uneventful journey after that: some periods of high wind; the usual construction slow-downs through Colo Springs.

(I love the drive from Las Vegas to Raton (some call it boring) -- majestic golden plains framed by mountains and mesas, punctuated by ranches and occasional tree-lined stream beds. Ah, New Mexico!)

Got to Highlands Ranch to find Malia decked out in a shirt her statistical grandpa got her (caption: I'm statistically significant). Didn't take her long to remember her China traveling companions.

For our Albuquerque friends, mark April 1 on your calendars: Malia will be baptized at our church -- St. John's United Methodist -- and there may be other opportunities to greet Malia and her family that weekend.

Saturday morning we stayed with Malia while her parents made a half-hour trip to Target. Both parents and child handled the separation well. Here we watch basketball -- getting psyched up for March Madness.

Saturday pm we all went down to the Cherry Creek Mall for some shopping and people-watching.

Later that evening, on the way to dinner, Susie started playing a game with Malia with a little soccer ball that made Malia laugh and giggle more than we'd heard her. All in all, a great day. Malia, of course, did exceptionally well.

Sunday morning Susie and I drove to nearby Parker, CO, where my boyhood friend, Dennis Clark, preaches and shepherds his flock. Dennis and I go back to the summer before I was in sixth grade. We lived in Manhattan, KS, and Dennis was spending the summer there, living on the same block, while his dad was in summer school. My dad had just gotten the job of president of Northern Oklahoma Jr. College, in Tonkawa. He needed to hire a band instructor. I told him, my friend Dennis's father is a HS band director -- hire him. He did, and Dennis's Mom later became my Dad's secretary. (Small world dept.: The Clarks were in Hope, KS, at the time, home town of Albuquerque/St. John's friends, Anita and Loren Keller.) We palled around together and with a third musketeer, James Gilbert, all the way through high school. Then, I went to OSU, they went to OU, but, hey, can't hold a grudge forever.

Sunday evening we celebrated Chinese New Year with two other couples with adopted Chinese daughters by going to a nearby Chinese restaurant. Another good time was had by all. Here, Susie corrals the three girls for a picture. Btw, all four girls are wearing Chinese garb -- Susie's jacket from Guangzhou.

Blogger apparently has a space limit, so I'll continue this report in a separate posting.

Cheers,

Rob and Susie

Oklahoma, Feb. 07

Because I contemplate possibly teaching at Oklahoma State U, my alma mater, some day, I contacted the stat dept in January and said I come to OK every once in a while to visit family, so I wondered if I might come to Stillwater to visit the dept some time, give a seminar, and talk about teaching possibilities. In particular, I'd like the visit to coincide with an OSU home basketball game, especially if somebody could find me a ticket. For the marquee games, at least, the tix tend to be sold out.

So, I was invited to give a seminar Friday, 2/9, and a request was sent out to find a ticket for me for the Sat. game against Texas Tech. On two-week notice, I committed, thinking surely a ticket would come available.

Nothing was forthcoming from the dept contacts, so a few days before my visit I got into a couple of e-bay auctions, but dropped out when prices went over $100 (regular prices are $25 - $40). Decided I'd take my chance with sidewalk scalpers on game day.

Thursday, flew to OKC and spent the night with my Mom, sister, Verla, and her family in nearby Edmond, then drove to Stillwater (about 1 hr. away) Friday morning.

But first, the big entertainment event Thursday night was to go to rock concert by Luma, a band (oops, I should define them as alternative rock) that two of my nephews play in -- my sister, Connie's sons Marcus and Stephen. If you go to the Luma website, which may be the first time any of you dared to go to myspace.com, the first and third guys in the picture are them. The venue was called the Jazz Lab, sponsored by the U of Central OK, there in Edmond. Some name acts have played there, so being booked there was a big deal. Also, the show was being taped for a Live album. There was a large, enthusiastic crowd. My nephews, Stephen on lead guitar (electric, need I say) and Marcus on bass were all over the stage like good rockers are supposed to do. Amazing! Verla and I left before concert was over -- so I could go over my notes -- but we found out later that neighbors called police to complain about noise, so it was a great success.

Friday, in Stillwater: checked with the ticket office -- nothing reserved, but general admission tickets would go on sale, on-line, that evening at 6:00. But, that would require lining up a few hours in the cold before the game, so decided I'd stick with the scalper plan.

Several years back I had met the receptionist at the Alumni Association office and found that she was married to good acquaintance from Tonkawa -- Bob Vincent, class of '61 (vs. my class, '60). So, I looked her up and had a good visit, but, alas, no ticket leads. Also roamed the campus a bit -- here's quad with library at end, student union on right.


Meanwhile, why am I here? Oh, yes: statistics. Had lunch with dept chairman and a prof who came to OSU the year I graduated -- 1967. We've gotten to know each other well over the years. Lunch was at a nice on-campus cafe that the hotel and restaurant admin dept runs as a way for its students to get to know the business.

Gave seminar -- Passion-Driven Statistics. No doubt many of you recall I started flogging this theme with seminars at SMU and Abilene Christian a couple of years ago. The idea is that it is subject-matter enthusiasm and smarts, say in medicine, science, restaurant management, whatever, that leads to good statistical plans and analyses. But, you could never tell that from many of our texts -- boring. I name names, give examples. Got pretty good eyeball to eyeball feedback during the talk, but was disappointed at absence of questions and comments afterwards. Oh, well.

Also was disappointed to find that two of my profs who live in Stillwater had not been notified about my visit. I called Dave Weeks, who was my thesis advisor and is partly responsible for my concerned view of statistics, but no answer. Back to Edmond for pizza dinner at my other sister's, Connie, house.

Saturday morning I called the Weeks' residence again to set up a visit with Dave and Shirley either before or after the game. When I innocently mentioned that I was planning to buy ticket from scalper, Shirley insisted I use her ticket. So, I got to their house about an hour before game time, then went with Dave to historic Gallagher-Iba Arena for the game.

Back when I was a callow undergrad at OSU I liked to hang out at then Gallagher Hall just to watch "Mr. Iba" coach. Back before the shot clock, when basketball was really basketball. Since then Gallagher has been expanded, essentially by building a shell over the old gym and putting seats into the space created -- from 6000+ seats to 13,000+. The Wikipedia says it's one of the country's best, and rowdiest, college basketball arenas. It turned out that there were quite a few empty seats -- season ticket no-show, I guess. I didn't have time to see how much scalper action was going on, though.



The game was worthy of its setting -- a double overtime victory over Texas Tech, with OSU miraculously overcoming large deficits in the last minute of regulation time and the first overtime. Shirley had a pot of soup ready after the game and we had a nice visit before I returned to Edmond just in time to see nephew, Sterling, in a city-league basketball game.

Sunday morning was church with Verla, son Sterling, and Mom, then after lunch we all went to an Edmond nursing home where Verla played the guitar (acoustic) and led the singing and her husband, Clarence, taught a Bible lesson. Mom and Verla sang a nice duet -- this picture.


There was an OSU-OU wrestling match at Gallagher-Iba on Sunday afternoon, but I forewent that -- had spent enough time on the road between Edmond and Stillwater. OSU won big, as usual.

Brought back memories of when I was a grad student there and Tonkawa friends, Dennis Clark and James Gilbert, both OU students at the time, came to come visit the weekend of a OSU-OU wrestling match. Well, the match was going so much in OSU's favor that Dennis and James decided to leave before it was over -- beat the crowd and avoid having to listen to the OSU fans gloat in victory. BUT, after they left OU rallied -- won a couple of matches over heavily-favored Cowboys and won the match. Too bad, guys.

Oh, nothing was decided about teaching at OSU -- maybe spring 08. I ain't going unless I can get basketball season tickets, though.

Cheers,

Rob

Next weekend to Denver, so we can return this blog to its Malia theme.

Family Trip, January, 2007

Jan. 5, 2007

Home from China, out of the snow: time to travel -- again. Our trip plan: fly to Raleigh, NC, for son, Mike's, birthday on 1/8. Then, drive to Burgess, VA, where my brother, Lael, and his wife, Katherine, live on a sailboat -- Painted Skies. After a couple of days there, return to Raleigh for grandson, Jason's, birthday on 1/16. Didn't quite work out that way.

Here's a plug for our chariot of the sky, Southwest Airlines. En route to Raleigh, we changed planes in Nashville and had lunch with Mandi, whose SW passes keep us in the air.

We had a very nice weekend with the kids. Wet weather kept us indoors, but Jason and I played a lot of indoors baseball. That plus NFL playoff games on TV.

Then, Monday it was time to celebrate Mike's birthday. Karen's parents, Kathy and Bob Nauman, came over for dinner, cake, and BCS national championship football. That's an IBC Root Beer bottle in Jason's hands, in case you were wondering.

Here's where the plans changed:

We had also learned, en route to Raleigh, that Susie's cousin, Jane, had just died. From our previous reports you may remember Dick and Jane and their dog, Spot, who live in a beautiful home overlooking spectacular Torch Lake, Michigan.

Just last summer, soon after Jane had buried her mother, Susie's Aunt Adelaide, about whom we reported in September, 2005, I believe, Jane was diagnosed with liver and pancreatic cancer. As you probably know, these tend to be rapidly deadly, but Jane fought bravely with chemo and medication.

She had a good Christmas with all her family -- four kids and numerous grandchildren, but at year's end, took a bad turn. We were told just before we left home that the doctors said she probably only had 1-3 weeks to live. We considered going to Michigan to see her before we went to Raleigh, but it really seemed too late. Her brother, Jim, told Susie that Jane might not recognize her. We had seen Jane in late July and she and Susie had had a chance to cry, and talk, and hug.

After years of being separated by half a continent, Susie and Jane had gotten really close since fall, 2001, when we were in Ann Arbor and got together with them (Dick and Jane Thie) several times. Dick and Jane traveled with us in spring, 2002, on our first major motorhome trip, the one to Arizona that included a stop at Tuzigoot National Monument -- and etched that name into our consciousness. Two of our later Tuzigoot trips included a stop by Torch Lake.

Funeral arrangements were set for Thursday, Jan. 11. We decided to go. We considered driving from Raleigh to Torch Lake, because I had a nonrefundable car rental previously set up through Priceline for the period we would need to drive to MI, but decided it made more sense to fly to Detroit (it's a thousand miles from Raleigh to Torch Lake), then drive to Grand Rapids where son, Matt, lives. From there we could make round trip to Torch Lake on Thursday, then retrace our steps back to Detroit and Raleigh.

Trip up went well. Only light snow as we approached GR on Tuesday evening. Wednesday was an R&R day and gave me a chance to get some Michigan barns in winter pictures.

On Thursday there was a family-only burial ceremony for Jane at a cemetery on the shore of Torch Lake. This was followed by a memorial service in the Thies' church, the Congregational Church in Central Lake. The sanctuary was packed and the service was inspirational. Dick gave the eulogy, very loving, spiritual, moving, with some touches of humor. During an informal period, the kids, several grandkids, friends, and Susie talked about Jane. Susie later posted this note on the CarePage that was established when Jane was diagnosed:

Rob and I cannot tell you how moved we were by the whole experience yesterday as we celebrated Jane's life with you. Dick's words were so inspirational and such a witness to so many. The children and grandchildren's involvements were a real testimony to the legacy that Jane has left. We are so proud to have been a part of this celebration and, more especially, to be a part of this wonderful family. Our memories will be a comfort as we deal with our grief. We will certainly do everything we can to assure Jane that our love for her is steadfast and our commitment to her family will be a "forever" thing.

After the service lunch for the 150+ attendees was served at a restaurant overlooking Torch Lake. Highlight was a slide show that Jane's daughter, Diana, put together with music and snapshots of Jane's life.

After lunch we drove back to Grand Rapids for the night and Friday. Friday's main activity was a tour of the Gerald R. Ford Museum and a visit to his gravesite. At the time of his funeral, I was involved with being towed out of the snow and missed most of the observances, so it was good to have this opportunity to reflect on Ford and his times via his museum.

In a nice turn, in Grand Rapids they refer to him as "Gerald (Our) Ford." The museum has well-done exhibits pertaining to Ford's career, the 70s in general, and to Watergate. What a decade that was! Aptly summarized by the Alka-Seltzer guy: "I can't believe I ate the whole thing." His wife says something like, "Shut up, Ralph. You did."

Lots of good information, too, about Mrs. Ford and their four children, one of whom, daughter Susan, lives in Albuquerque. There was a special exhibit on slavery and the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision.

Here's a U Michigan tribute on the museum grounds:

And here's a picture of Pres. Ford in the back of a campaign train, I think, but it looks like it could be a bus -- reason enough for me to include it.

Judy and I, Mike and Jeff, were in DC from '75 to '77. I was working at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. I remember making the smart-aleck comment to someone when we left Albq in '75 that we'd probably be in Washington longer than Pres. Ford would. In hindsight, I think it's too bad he didn't get another term. One personal highlight of our DC time was being on the Mall for the Bicentennial Fireworks show. Another was being downtown for Carter's inauguration and almost getting our little boys crushed by the crowds.

Here's the burial site for the Fords against a backdrop of a corner of the museum. Just a simple wall with their names.

At any rate, if you're ever in this area, we recommend a stop at the Gerald R. Ford Museum.

Grandson, Tony, attends the College of Santa Fe and Friday was his last day at home for the Christmas break. Reason enough to eat out. Matt picked out a nice Italian restaurant located in a converted elegant old house. Here are a couple of pix. A very fine time was had by all.

Saturday, January 13.

We rise early and make the three-hour drive back to the Detroit airport. Some rain along the way, but not so cold as to be creating ice as has been happening in the southwest this weekend. Flights to Raleigh via BWI are not crowded, but the check-in line in BWI was long due to canceled flights in the southwest. Nevertheless, had time for a crabcake lunch in BWI airport.

Raleigh, I should say Cary, weather has been very mild -- around 70 degrees, as it was the previous weekend, and holding. Sunday we attend church with Mike, Karen, and Jason. The church, St. Francis United Methodist Church, Cary, NC, is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and a former minister delivers the sermon. The church's brass band provides special music. We go to brunch and then football games consume most of the rest of the day.

Monday is Martin Luther King Day, no school and Mike and Karen are off work. We go to the Naumans for lunch and fun. The Naumans' house has a large basement and Mike has built a large slot-car track in one room. Here's one of his pictures that I copied:

Has a computer-controlled lap timer and counter and Mike is starting to construct scenery, as well as dreaming about even bigger tracks. He and Bob have bought woodworking equipment and that occupies another room. Boys and their toys. The Nauman house provides ample opportunity.

In China we bought Jason what we call a hacky-bird -- a contraption that functions like a hacky-sack, but this one has feathers, like a badminton birdie. And it has a stack of disks that provide the springiness. In Chinese parks we would often see people in a circle kicking the bird around. Good for developing soccer skills so we bought our soccer-playing grandsons, Jason and Andrew, each one. One of our guides said this "sport" is also popular among retired people. Good for the constitution.

Here, Jason is preparing to kick, then following the hacky-bird's flight. It's hard to make a circle with two people, but we came close to an occasional returnable pass from one of us to the other.

Jason and I also went "exploring" along the creek behind the house and found 10 golf balls. We figure the balls must have washed down the stream during their last big rain -- there is a golf course in the development.

Tuesday was Jason's seventh birthday. He set the menu: Domino's pizza, cookie cake, moose tracks ice cream.

We seriously considered going to Virginia to visit brother, Lael, and Katherine on Wednesday, as we had planned for the previous week, but decided to head on home. We'll catch up with them another time.

[Note added. Weather got nasty Wed. and Thur. in the NC-VA area, so we fortunately missed out on that.]

Southwest Airlines got us home in comfort -- we flew via Phoenix because this route had the most available seats and got us home in early afternoon. Saw lots of ice (apparently) and snow as we flew over Texas.

So, as you realize if you've read this far, this was primarily a family trip -- two birthdays and, sadly, a funeral. I don't know if it's age or maturity, but family gatherings of any type seem to have increasing importance. That makes this a special trip for us.

More family doin's in the future. As Susie says, we need to go to Denver in the next few weeks for a "Malia fix." Then, the first of March it will be back to Grand Rapids. Granddaughter Kaci has the lead in the city theatre's production of "Oklahoma." All the Hinkle kids are coming for the show and a reunion of that side of the family. We'll keep you posted.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Snow Falling on Cedar Crest

We got home from Las Vegas about 1:00 am, Wednesday, 12/27. There was quite a bit of snow in our driveway remaining from the pre-Christmas snow -- our tail of the storm that shut down Denver. Then, about Thursday noon it started snowing again and didn't stop until Saturday pm, at which point we had nearly two feet of snow in the driveway. Thursday night I had planned to go to book club, but a UPS driver who came by in late afternoon advised against it, so I stayed home. We had food enough and other necessities so we just snuggled in. Here are some pix of the accumulated snow.

Sat. afternoon I decided to try the snow blower I had bought from our friends, the Youngs, about two years ago when they moved to Texas. Hadn't used it since, though. Well, it wouldn't start. So, I shoveled snow a while, trying to make a track through our driveway, which is uphill.

(Here's a night picture out the living room window, illuminated by moonlight.)

Continued shoveling, occasionally, on Sunday and Monday, no hurry -- we weren't leaving town until Friday -- and got one track down to gravel. Figured I should be able to put the Explorer in 4wd and back out. Well, it wouldn't go into 4wd. Just requires a button-push on the dash, but it wouldn't shift. Without 4wd it was hard going with much tire-spinning, but after more shoveling and repeated tries, I finally backed up the drive and into our plowed road. Drove up to the gate and got a couple of old newspapers.

Returning home, I decided I should back down the driveway so I could drive out frontwards. Somehow, though, through inept driving, I got off the track and ended up with the rear wheels straddling a RR tie that borders the driveway. @@*&&##@ (Oh, darn!) Only way out now would be a tow truck.

It being New Year's Day, I didn't even try to get a tow truck, but on Tuesday I called AAA. Sorry, they said. Our tow services say they can't get to your place. Try tomorrow. I doubted that claim, but I did know that I-40 remained closed from Albuquerque east, including the road to Cedar Crest.

By this time we were getting a little low on some supplies. Considered calling National Guard and asking them to drop a bale of TP. However, our neighbors across the street were going for groceries and they offered to pick some up for us. Thanks, Anna.

Same AAA story on Wed. morning, so I decided to call a local, non-AAA-affiliated tow service. Finally, a good decision. "Sure, we'll be out in an hour," they said. They were and expertly pulled the Explorer out of its predicament. We went to town on a few errands and somewhere along the line, in a parking lot, thought, Let's try the 4wd. It worked! Apparently requires a lot of warming up, because on subsequent tries cold, or slightly warm, it still won't work.

And that's how 2006 ended and 2007 began. Next up: a family trip to NC for Mike's and Jason's birthdays.

New Year's Resolutions: Get 4wd and snow blower fixed before the next storm of the century.

Cheers,

Rob and Susie