Whoa there...I'm still here

It's very interesting! I quit posting to the blog and people think I might be sick...must be one of those old-age things. When I was young, everyone thought if they didn't hear from me that meant the Keys' were off on some adventure and would turn up somewhere, sometime and tell everyone about it. Now, it's a question of "maybe she fell and can't get up." Note I did not include Lefty in any of the expectations of any type of communication...when is the last time he wrote or called? It's just something missing from his DNA. Anyhow, I had decided to slow down and cut my work hours...Ha! You know the saying "Be careful what you wish for?"  Well, cutting my work hours kind of worked in reverse.  I no longer work 8 hours a day...I now work over 8 hours a day. Taking that into consideration along with summer construction/repair going on around our home and community obligations to attend to along with summer social activities (let's not forget them) I have very little time. But, today, I decided to blow off the laundry that is waiting for me, and post away!  

To those of you who have known us forever, you probably remember Randi, our friend from Colorado. Back in the 70's (1972 to be precise) we picked up Randi in Colorado, hitch hiking home from a Dead concert, and she took us to her home for the night. She has remained in our lives since then in some form or another. Randi emailed saying she was going to be in Spokane to visit her new grandson and should we be in the "neighborhood," drop on by. Well, it coincided with Steve's and my four day foray into eastern WA and we were able to hook up with Randi, her ex Ron, and her daughter, Tara, and brand new baby, Danny Danger (I hope that's right.)  Some things never change and one of those is Randi. Take away a couple of health issues and you could look at her and time-travel back to 1972. Hey, Randi!

We've planned our November trip to TS. It's a short one, November 6 - 16, but so very necessary. It will keep us sane until our 2009 winter trip....hopefully!

More shall be revealed....love to all

Juanita

Lefty is coming home tomorrow. He has video of the improvements made to our humble abode. Meanwhile, I found these videos and thought some of you might enjoy them. The first is of Punta Lobos, a wonderful beach that is always pretty much this populated!

This second is of LaPastora, a surfing beach.  Neither of these beaches are good for swimming because of the undertow, but I'm soooo ok with that!

I'm back!

Wow!  I'm amazed at how many of my nearest and dearest as well as some I don't know at all have written to me asking when I would post again. Thanks! As Sally Fields said in that wonderful moment to forget "You really do like me!"  Yuk!  Anyway, as I stated in my last post, we arrived home and I was immediately swept away by the plague...no longer do I just suppose it was the plague...IT WAS THE PLAGUE! Once recovered, my ENT said I had a choice to make. Either I stayed on my steady maintenance of bi-monthly courses of antibiotics and blasts of prednisone, or I undergo sinus surgery. Hmmmm...drugs (and not the recreational drugs might I add) or pain...nice choice, huh? I opted for the latter and went under the knife in early April. I won't go into the gory details, but just let your imagination run with cleaning/clipping/scraping your sinus cavities as well as removing large growths that have been living in my face for who knows how long. For some odd reason I thought I would have the surgery and be back to work in a couple of days. NOT. Anyway, it was the right choice and you can see by the open airways I am exhibiting, it was a success. (The stuff on my neck is from the DEEP breath I've taken, not age) Not only did it open up my nose and take away the constant post-nasal drip, it has almost removed my asthma...I have had to use my Albuterol maybe twice since surgery, and we are in the middle of allergy season. Yay!

Lefty is down in Mexico without his sidekick, Juanita. He was noble enough to offer his time and energy and go down to our lovely little casita to do some maintenance work and close it up for the summer. What a guy, huh? He celebrated a mid-big birthday while down there with friends and played music at the Hotel California. It must be the Catholic upbringing that made him suffer with such dignity. Just a little jab. He had to listen to my whining on a daily basis about the weather. I must admit that he never offered the fact the weather was beautiful down there unless I asked...I on the other hand didn't see the sun until yesterday. 

We have made our flight reservations (got in before they upped the number of miles required for flights) for next year. Yahoo! It's nice to have it done, but it makes it difficult to keep one's feet in today.

Until later...

Home?

We have arrived....sort of! On Thursday night I couldn't seem to get warm no matter how many blankets I piled on, and on Friday morning I realized why...the dreaded crud was hitting. I was the infected person that crawled on the plane, and I hate that! I tried to confine myself and used lots of disinfectant. Interestingly enough, I was just finishing a book about the plague in London during the mid-1660's. I made sure I didn't leave any of my clothing onboard :-) So here I am, it's now Wednesday, and I am shot up full of prednisone to get a handle on my asthma and quite sure I have done damage to my ribs since I find it difficult to breathe and when I feel a cough coming on it's necessary to brace myself, preferably in a doorway with pillows on each side of me....now that's difficult. Do we wish we were still in MX?  YES!

We arrived home to a bunch of work being done. A new water-catchment system is being put in place...it's actually a small pond that our garage roof will drain into and the back of the garage area is being graded and dug up to hold lots of garden and plants. It's all very exciting. The front of our house has a large barren looking area that is being changed also....yahoo!

Lefty is busy preparing for a show he'll be performing at the San Juan Community Theatre with two of his compatriots....in the "BIG" room this time! This conformation of musicians is called Uncle Otto and they play sweet music that tugs at your hearts and memories with wonderful playing and harmonies. I hope everyone that lives here comes.

Meeting the land sharks, or how to face extortion with a smile.

Lefty and I were invited to a function in Cabo San Lucas on Friday. Yahoo!  A chance to meet and greet some of the natives...well actually a lot of ex-pats and tourists, but nevertheless, new faces. So we hit the open road. We found a wonderful hotel with a fantastic courtyard and pool and small rooms surrounding them...and cheap...via friends in TS. Inside the hotel entry was a restaurant...Spencer's...advertising a great breakfast for $2.50.  We go to our function, have a great time, return to our room and settle in for a long winter's nap.  In the morning, off we go to Spencer's for our breakfast deal.  Since the breakfast is so inexpensive and there is no juice or bacon included we order sides of each.  When we got our "la cuenta"  we discovered the side orders came to $14.00, coffee $5.00, bringing our inexpensive breakfast to near $25.  Lefty, being very sensitive about being taken advantage of, swallowed a lot of anger, paid the bill and let me leave a tip...he wasn't up for tipping...I figured "don't shoot the messenger.

OK, so we are going to do a little shopping on our way home and we started our return trip early. We leave the hotel, take a right and then a left and find we are on a one-way street, going the wrong way.  Fortunately there is no one around other than a car a block away who is already doing some "gesturing" and yelling...in Spanish no less!...to let us know we have made a big boo-boo.  We immediately corrected our error and are now facing the correct direction on the correct calle, when from behind we see a white truck coming speeding up behind us and flashing lights. We're pretty sure there is an accident ahead and the truck is headed to it and sowe  pull over...and so did the truck. From the truck comes....Barney Fife! He's all smiles and very polite, asking for Steve's driver's license. He tells us we have made a grave mistake and the fine is going to be $50 AND he wants to keep Steve's license. Somehow Lefty gets his license out of the fellow's grip and tells him he cannot keep his license. Barney wants to take us to the police station...something we do not want to do. At this point Barney's compatriot...you got it...Gomer Pyle, comes to join in on the negotiations. Somewhere along the long the line we managed to convince them we were just ignorant yanquis and could we pay them a fine...and not $50...that they could take back to the police station for us and allow us to go on our way. Apparently that was more then acceptable since they lowered their cost of the fine to $20 and sent us on our way. Later, we were telling our tale to a friend. He pointed out in the states we would have paid a larger fine and would have had to go to court...obviously he doesn't know about being a young woman and crying...that can take care of any ticket for free! :-)

All of you islanders, BooBoo and Julia have arrived! BooBoo is driving a very large Suburban which causes lots of chuckles since she hasn't found a comfort level with this vehicle...backing up, turning...those sorts of things.

Well, we are down to a week left.  I have discovered a formula:

One week to travel

One week to come down from the drive

One week to get things done to achieve your comfort level in your surroundings

One week to slide into really not having to worry about anything

The rest of your time to truly become what you came here for.

So, we didn't have enough time....I'm ready for retirement!

Let me introduce to my fine new friend...

We have a new member in our family....and this has nothing to do with miracle births! Larry/Laura the Lizard has shown up in our sink and I can tell you we are very happy to have him/her as a new addition to our household.  I think L/L may have had some trauma in his/her life because he/she keeps making the same mistake....falling into our sink when we're away and he/she can't get out.  I thought lizards were able to climb into and onto anything, but L/L has a problem with porcelain and needs assistance.  

It has been an absolutely stupendous day (this was written yesterday, 3/6, but I left my camera at someone's house and had to wait until today to post) and we are enjoying it to the hilt!  It's amazing how quick one can adapt to this tropical lifestyle. Steve is doing a good job. At home he says "I can't sit down or I'll fall asleep." Here he just sits down, falls asleep and wakes up with a smile. I recommend this to everyone. The downside is it gets cold at night! Now I realize 58-60 is not exactly freezing....but when it's been 80 during the day....it's all relative, if you know what I mean. 

Day tripping

Yesterday Lefty and I decided to take a little trip to the outskirts of LaPaz...actually, our friend Trudi (the person we bought our house from) gave us directions on getting to a furniture store that held the possibility of our getting a matching loveseat to the sofa we already have (formerly Trudi's sofa...terribly convoluted, eh?) Anyway, I thought you might be interested in seeing our driving form...don't we look relaxed? :-)

You know what they say about the desert? It always gets cold at night. And exactly why don't I remember that? I believe someone told me that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over-and-over and expecting different results...which is why I don't have my warm pjs with me and Lefty resorts to wearing his stocking hat to bed. Next time we bring flannels...just like in the Christmas story, "Mama in her kerchief and I in my cap..."

In addition to the fancy iPhone we have that now works perfectly, thank you very much...and is there a "conspiracy theory" thing that goes along with that but I won't publish it here for fear homeland security will come and get me....we have a Mexican cell phone for calling people locally. It's a cute little thing that keeps giving me messages I can't understand...it all could be tied into the "conspiracy theory" thing, but I won't go there. Anyway, it currently is sending me a message about 19 something or other and since it's in written form, I can sit down with my Spanish dictionary and figure this out. Should I end up in a jail somewhere here, or Guantanamo there, take care of my my loved ones! :-)

Sunday Morning!

I know, it's not a very good photo, but I wanted you to have a bit of a sense of where I am and this is taken with my computer camera...putting your fingers in all the right places while balancing the laptop is not an easy task!  It's breezy this morning, but absolutely lovely.  I was going to blog last night while Lefty was playing musica at La Hotel California, but I got caught up listening to a Mexican fiesta going on at the stadium down the street.  I could hardly believe the lovely voices. I also found it hard to believe how long they sang....it began probably about 7 and lasted until 2 AM, at least...that was the last time I looked at the clock at least.   I chuckled that were Dave still here he would have been over there, probably on stage, and known everyone in the stadium by first names.

Speaking of the east coasters, yesterday morning Tom, Georgia and Dave left.   We are going to miss our amigos...it was great fun seeing them and checking in with one another.  Keep your radios tuned for the upcoming hit "The Ballad of Lefty and Juanita" by the songster El Biggo Wiggo, soon to be heard on all of your favorite stations and if not, I'm sure Pelogroso David will be posting it to YouTube shortly.  Good job to all of us, huh? We made it when many feared we wouldn't

It's true that it takes at least a week to unwind. My last dream that involved anything about work has been at least a week ago...and that involved Terry having me help him find someone to replace me...so there you go.  I'm trying to figure out if that is a "sign" and I should just stay here...you know, one of those "have the kids send me my stuff, I'm not leaving" situations....more shall be revealed. 

Friday I met some people that are friends of a part time islander by the name of Garth...one of those "You're from Friday Harbor?  Well I know a guy..." kind of things.  I love it when that happens.

I must go now....I think I hear the pool calling...or is it the beach?  Eat your hearts out! :-)

The art of siesta

Napping has never been one of my strong points. If I nap too long (or what I thought was too long) I get a little cranky, or if I nap too short I get a little cranky (is there a theme here?) What I have discovered is that what I thought was too long is really not long enough. I propose that we institute the Mexican siesta and all go to our respective homes for the hours of 1400 to 1600 and nap.

The house officially became ours last week and we're thrilled. So thrilled I've sent off the furniture pieces we bought last November with a fellow I met in a gallery. I saw some of his art work, including painted furniture, and asked (I think) if he would consider painting my furniture...you know....faux rustic. Neither of us speaks the other's language proficiently and so as I watched my credenza leaving with the words roja, verde, ochre, rustico slipping from my mouth I was wondering if we understood anything the other had said and if I was ever going to see my credenza again. I think I understood that the piece would be done in four days or one week, but who can tell...possibly he was talking months?! We had a couple of windows put into our bedroom last November and yesterday the guy came with the screens so who knows.

It's been great having Tommy, Georgia and Dave here. The wonderful thing about old friends, the kind you share your history with,  is it takes but a moment to be caught up and comfortable with one another...kind of like comfy shoes...but different.

Take a siesta today!

I was anticipating change, but this..

I knew this would be a life-altering experience, after all, this is the beginning of the next phase of our life, and believe me, a doozy. But this?  Come on...a look rather beatific, don't you think?

Tom (El Biggo Wiggo), Georgia (Panchita) and Dave (Peligroso Dabeed [phoentic]) arrived on Friday night at about 8:30, tossing aside all those "don't ever drive at night" warnings  about Mexican roads.  Of course, it's better they drove at night...were it light they would have been frightened by all the little shrines along the road designating where various souls had perished while driving at night along Mexican roads. Oh well, they never did throw out their hippie manuals, even though they outwardly look very responsible.

It's Thursday...I don't know how many days...

We have arrived....in the physical and mental sense.  We got to Todos Santos yesterday around 3PM.  Although it's cooler than we would like (70) the sun is shining and it is glorious.  I woke in a panic last night and thought "what the hell are we doing?" but immediately fell back to sleep and realized this morning it was probably too much salsa from dinner last night because today....Friday Harbor?  Where's that?  :-)  All is well.  We got the phone to work....security clearance for cell phones wanting international service was needed...Big Brother..., our internet connection set up, and as soon as we get our propane hot water tank going, life will be a breeze!

More later.

Monday...second day in Mexico

We entered the country on Sunday.  There was no immigration staff when we crossed the border in Tijuana and we drove south to Encenada where we planned n getting our visa.  This gave us our first Mexican moment of the trip.  We found the immigration office with no hassle (thank you Billy) and found window #1, the window for those of us who entered the country by land.  There was a big sign telling us that we would be fined 53 pesos for each day, per person, we were in the country without a visa...ok...not a big deal.  We are then told that we have to go to a bank to pay our fine...the fellow across the way that takes the money for the visa could not take our fine money.  We are given a MAP! to go to the bank, go there, pay our fine and come back to the immigration office.  We now have to go to window #5 to pay for our visa and then told to go back to window #1 to actually get the stamp.  Why oh why is it all so .... never mind... it's their country and their rules.

The road is beautiful and narrow and so far, not as scary as we thought it would be.  Althought there is a new twist to things....apparently Lefty is a very good moniker for Steve...he loves to be in the left lane...even if it's a 2-lane road....and driving anywhere from 70-80 MPH.  When I commented about the speed he said he feels he is fulfilling a childhood fantasy of race car driving.  The problem is, CC "the car with no name" Rider is not a race car nor is he a child...or...never mind.  

We spent the night in Catavina, a small town in the middle of huge boulder fields....amazing!

More shall be revealed!

Sunday...first day in Mexico

So, remember I purchased an iPhone with AT&T service that was going to handle all of our communications?  The phone that did everything but cook dinner?  Well, I called AT&T right before leaving and asked for reassurance that everything was set to go...oh yes, it was.  We crossed the border into Tijuana and guess what?  No phone service!  Were not the lines going back into the States miles long, I would have gone back to the nearest AT&T office and committed an act of violence.  I know that my children will solve this if they can....won't you?

There were two incidents of the immigration problem that we were faced with.  The first was a highway sign along the 805S that said to watch for people running across the freeway....all 14 lanes (both directions) and apparently a favorite spot for illegals entering the country.  Our triptek from AAA gave a little notice that said should you be driving this stretch at night you should take special caution for the illegal aliens.  And THEN, we saw the fence!  Actually there are two fences...a Mesican fence that is probably 7' high (hard to discern because of all the bodies crawling over it) and rusted red in color.  About 15' further north and running perpendicular to the Mexican fence is the US fence....it's very chic.  I would like to make a suggestion to any government official that is reading this blog....use the money spent on building the fence to repair I-5...the fence just ain't doing it!

The coastline from Tijuana to Encenada is spectacular!  We weren't prepared for such gorgeous scenery.  Beautiful lush, high dramatic hills dropping down to the beaches....wow!  The road was great.  They actually have two roads...a toll road and a non-toll road.  We took the toll road and felt it was the best $7.75 we spent all day!  We're spending the night in Encenada...kind of like Tijuana only different.  Lefty is entranced with watching Mexican television.  It will be nice to get out of here.

Notes from the road...

• The only political signs I have seen along the road have been "Ron Paul for President."  Wes, I thought of you and wondered if on your great adventure you had placed them?  :-)
• Susea told me to buy a curtain for the passenger side window (I've always wanted to have one of those "Baby's Onboard" things) and I thought maybe she was not aware of all the road-weary miles on me, but now I realize...it's the north/south thing...traveling east/west they aren't such a necessity.  Sorry Susea for ever doubting the wisdom of your words...mia culpa, mia culpa.
• Our grandson, Cassidy, is an avid "Myth Busters" watcher and Adam and Jamie, the show hosts, did a piece on the myth of a truck tire coming apart, flying into a windshield of vehicles coming in contact with the flying debris and the front seat passengers being decapitated.   They discovered this is not a myth.  Makes you do a lot of thinking when you pass those big chunks of tire lying on the side of the road.  Maybe I'll ride in the back and let Lefty do all the driving?!?
  

Cal-i-for-nia, here we are.

Well, we made it half way!  The socks are in the dirty clothes bag along with the long pants. Lefty (alias Steve) did a great job at the helm with me as backup.  I drove faster than I have ever driven ....how does that make all of you feel? Happy I'm down here instead of where you are? The trip has been great.  CC Rider, the-car-with-no-name, has been doing a fabulous job!  She loves cruising between 75 and 80 and is giving us 35 mpg.  We have hit-and-miss luck with hooking up to the internet, hence no blogging.  We are in Santa Monica tonight.  We had dinner tonight with an old Minnesota friend,  Prometheus B. (Jim) Patient and his wife Ann and son Ben, and are staying at the Doubletree....believe me...internet access abounds, even from the jacuzzi. We have a cruising medley that I have put together to start the day....Canned Heat/On the Road Again, Two of Us/Aimee Mann and Michael Penn (thanks Andrea), Flying Burrito Brothers/White Line Fever.  Lefty has request Southbound by John Hiatt be added to this so a little downloading will be required before hitting the very lovely bed....very different from our first night at the Chehalis Best Western but that story is for another time and space.

More tomorrow....

Love to all....Lefty and Juanita (Louisa) 

(Nancy Richardson thought we should use these aliases for our trip and I kind of like them....hmmmm.

Whew!

When is the last time we've been on a respite for a month?  Let's see....1973?....oh, no, that wasn't a respite, that was life!  

Yesterday I fulfilled my deathbed (literally) promise to my mother-in-law, Irene, to vote for Hillary.  Of course, because of our weird primary voting system here in WA it doesn't count for squat, I nevertheless did it and I can now move forward.  This is another one of those "when is the last time" things...when is the last time you've seen such civic response?  I find it so refreshing and hopeful.

The name game has begun

We have a nomination for the Chevy name...we actually have two nominations.  Anonymous (we have an idea who anonymous is) has offered "CC Rider."  Very clever and Steve is excited about calling it CC.  Since the car was previously owned by our friend Agi, who has passed on, Louisa thought we should call the car "Agnes."  Steve has just said we could call it "A Car With No Name"....I rather like it. We could write a song entitled "We Went To The Desert In The Car With No Name." 

Oh My Gawd....I'm truly losing it!

It worked ... pretty much

We managed to get everything into the car (no, Tommy, StevieK has still not come through with a name...I'm sure many of those reading this could come up with at least 2 names he has given you through the years) with nothing residing in the front seat other than Steve and I (of course the suitcase wasn't packed and the coffee pot wasn't really put into place in the back seat.)  I wonder how long that will last?

Speaking of Tommy...he and his lovely, but tall wife, Georgia will be joining us in Mexico for a couple of weeks.  Joining them will be Dave Cushing, (formerly known as cave-dave) drummer extraordinaire as well as #1 fan of Rachel Ray. That sounds like some great, rhythmic meals, don't you think? They have rented a house next door to ours.  

More shall be revealed.....

 

12 days to lift off ... Will it fit? Will it go?

Today we try to pack it all in and see if it fits. The "pile" in the living room is growing by leaps and bounds. Every day a new box arrives with some item that either I, or someone else, feel is necessary for life and each time I look out the window at the Chevy (as yet unnamed), it appears to have lost some girth.

There are certain things I KNOW FOR SURE....first is that my body will no longer "share" the passenger seat with all those last minute things that my legs and feet would wrap around for the long road trips of the past....and second is that none of it is truly necessary and the only things that REALLY have to fit in is us and the clothes needed to make the trip down....perhaps a toothbrush and some deodorant....but that's it....other than my hair products....and oh yes, the guitar and amp...oh, and our new croc flip-flops (fasten your seatbelt Celia)....and my books as well as the Bose? Somehow it will work.

And as I said before....more shall be revealed...

Yes, gone are the days of hitting the road with $50, a cooler full of "refreshments", a case of "road trip tapes" and a change of duds. Now we have a box of maps and guide books from AAA that is sizeable and will probably not make the cut (see paragraph above) in its full form, a bag of all the medications...prilosec (double prescription now, since we BOTH are taking it), a plethora of puffers as well as a backup of antibiotics (should my asthma turn ugly), all that stuff that keeps you regular or from being too regular and, of course, lots of Tylenol to maintain the pain level caused from sitting/standing/lying/whatever for any length of time over 20 minutes.

I'm learning....it's just that the learning curve has changed

Oh, boy...when did this happen? I'm pretty sure this isn't me, but my mother!

And, not only is it difficult to recognize myself, it takes me hours and hours to complete a task "the kids" (and I'm not referring to Chris and Steph) can accomplish in just a few minutes. And then, I want to repeat the task and ...whoosh...it's gone and I need help again. Oh well, this too shall pass...and that in itself is a scary thought. This morning I spent the better part of 3 hours learnin to link...and I'm not going to get more technical than that.

Steve and I have now have assigned a corner of our home to put the stuff that we're taking down to TS (Todos Santos for those out of the loop) and it grows by the hour. I'm pretty sure the Chevy Cavalier (we need to come up with a name for this chariot) will be challenged to pack it all in. There must be some sort of law that addresses volume of one space getting into a smaller space....if anyone knows of one...pass it along.

More shall be revealed....

How nice to hear from so many of our friends...

It seems not everyone knows what we're up to....I was sure I had told everyone, but apparently I just thought I had! Steve and I have purchased a little place in the Baja...Todos Santos to be exact. A friend sent me an email with the following description of Todos Santos :

"Todos Santos is a unique, desert oasis on the Tropic of Cancer, nestled amongst ancient orchards of mango and palm, with spectacular views overlooking its white sand beaches and the Pacific Ocean. The town is located on a mesa to the west of the Sierra de La Laguna mountain range, equidistant between the resort cities of Cabo San Lucas to the south and La Paz to the northeast. Blessed with the most favorable climate in Baja Sur, Todos Santos is a haven for artists, craftsmen, surfers and travelers seeking adventure, natural beauty and a healthy lifestyle. It is here that rich history, centuries’ old traditions and warm hospitality blend with modern conveniences to make this a magical community. We welcome you to experience the fine dining, unique resorts, excellent shopping and renowned galleries of Todos Santos, Baja's one and only 'Pueblo Magíco'."

We are hoping this will be the place we will be in for the proverbial "twilight" years. We're very excited about it. Our plans are to visit there as often as possible for the next couple of years, working up to 6 months there, 6 months here.

We are trying to stay cool, calm and collected while trying to decide what exactly will fit into the Chevy Cavalier (perhaps part of Stephanie's anxiety?) we will drive down the Baja and leave there. After we make room for Steve's amplifier and guitar perhaps a coffee pot will fit in? :-) We brought a lot of stuff down last November and left it there, so packing clothes and that sort of thing will not be necessary...we left it there.

So that's what the big adventure will be....and I look forward to posting our trip down. We'll be the very small car sticking close to the rear end of a very large truck, preferably one that has running lights, etc.

**sigh**

Taking it down

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

SURVIVE: .... 2. To carry on despite hardships or trauma; persevere: families that were surviving in tents after the flood. 3. To remain functional or usable:...

We're going to do it! Maybe I should say...We made it...or how about...We've almost made it. Whatever!

Steve and Louisa leave on their grand adventure in a few weeks and the excitement level is mounting higher as the number of days grows shorter. We're driving and the level of concern in our daughter's voice about our capabilities of remaining safe indicate that age has set upon us and is now obvious to everyone...not just our waking bones.