Back to reality

Dave and Midge left this morning...7:45. I think I spurred them to earlier morning starts in the last week. We did so well Memorial Day. Up at 5:30 (Central) and on the road before seven. The traffic was really light all day. We pulled into Hafer's at about 12:30 (eastern) and picked up Rose and got to Holland just before 2:00. Wow, what a trip.

Here are some stats: 1600 miles round trip. Five nights in motels (SF Sheraton was by far the best, and not the most expensive.) I would much rather pump gas in the Honda than the motor home...yea, so much lighter on the wallet. A side note...something that we discovered when were coming through Nebraska and Iowa in April; mid grade gasoline is cheaper than regular unleaded. I couldn't figure it out until Friday....ethanol. They blend ethanol into the 89 octane and sell it 10 cents cheaper than the 87 octane! The corn farmers are lobbying hard and winning, I guess.

Just want to go on record that Dave and Midge are a sweet couple and so much fun to travel with. When we got to Holland I took them out to see the MH since we talked about it on the way. They were ready to start out again, I think. I barbecued steaks while Midge cleaned potatoes for baking and zapped some frozen veggies...boy, did we feast. After that we went to JP's for coffee and they had never experienced Cold Stone...so we did that. I took them on some tulip lanes and enjoyed the stems and then forded the lack of street on 40th to show them Songbird...that was brave. We ran into one of our old neighbors at JP's and he encouraged me to try it.... "Do it today, or else you will get stuck tomorrow," he complained. That is a mess around there...but we made it.

Aleene, that river birch in the front is HUGE and they took out the two flowering shrubs in front of them....time away makes for an interesting return.

Anyhow, I checked in with everyone and all seems to be well in Newberg. What a time of our lives. I now go to work for a week and then fly to Portland through South Bend, Chicago, LA...on the 9th and back the morning of the 14th on the RED EYE. Hafers will keep Rose again which fits well with the trip to South Bend and back. Aleene comes in late on the 14th in GRR.

I will post again, but wow am I behind...gotta go.