Last Day on the road

We're in Lordsburg, NM for the night.  NO, don't go dragging out your atlas.  We're only 2 hours from Tucson. We'll have a lot of setting up to do so figured we'd get a fresh start in the morning.  Plus we redeemed some Best Western points and made this a free night.  Used a $50. coupon earlier in the trip that we had earned last fall on the way home.
It's close to 80 degrees here now but we're tucked nicely into our beautiful oversized air conditioned motel room with a king size bed.
We had a nice drive the past two days.  Decided when we left Kearney, NE that we'd follow the GPS in the truck.  SURPRISE!!!!  We ended up in Denver but not where we could see any downtown.  It took us on a bypass that ended up by the airport.  Worked great.  Made it to Raton, NM for the night.  Via my little pink computer traveling down I-25 at 75 + mph I found a new Best Western and made the reservations.  What a nice treat to stay in a new motel.  The room had an outside entrance where we parked and an inside entrance to the rest of the motel.  Had it's own restaurant, bar and lounge.  Dinner was cob salads and $3.00 Margaritas and breakfast was any type of breakfast food for free, fixed to order.
We're glad our trip is almost over.  Now we can wait for all our dear friends to roll in.

Heading West

Well, we've completed the first leg of our journey to Tucson.  We managed to have the back of the truck packed and the bicycles loaded up last night so this morning it was load the back seat and do the "little things" around the house.  Since we got involved in a TV show last night and didn't get to bed till 1 am the 9:15 am start was pretty good.  After an hour ride to 'R Place in Morris we stopped for breakfast.  It was delicious, even the butter on the toast tasted fantastic.  We then started a leisurely drive west on I-80 stopping at a rest stop before we crossed the Mississippi into Iowa and then again at the big truck stop.  I can't remember the name but it has a lot of "stuff" and is really big.  There was a full sized semi with a 53 foot trailer hooked up sitting in front of one row of windows in the truckers section.  They had it painted with a beautiful rolling prairie scenes.  Wish I'd taken pictures.  Any way we arrived in Coralville, IA about 2:45 and waited for housekeeping to finish with our room, Backed up to the sliding door and unloaded what we needed and are settled down for the evening.  Not sure what and where supper will be, the menu for the restaurant here isn't to inviting but we'll enjoy the free hot full breakfast in the morning before we head off toward Kearney, Nebraska.

Counting Down

Another day closer to leaving for AZ.  We decided to take our bicycles with us this year so off we went this morning to the local RV store and purchased a bike rack for the back of the truck.  Then my dear husband insisted on taking me out to lunch.  I figured Portillos or some place like that but he suggested Bakers Square which really sounded good but when we got there we couldn't get into the parking lot so he pulled back over and headed to Golden Corral.  What a real surprise.  We both had salad and a little entry and dessert with a cup of coffee.  Have to save room for supper tonight.  We're meeting our # 2 grandson, Eric, and his soon to be fiance for dinner at Olive Garden at 7 pm.  I'm presuming this will be the last one we'll see before we leave.
This morning I ordered Ron's birthday present.  I had seen it earlier this summer but almost couldn't find it again to order it.  While I was searching the Packer's site I found an article that they may be going to issued shares again.  We'll see.  I don't think Ron is interested in any more shares.  What he will like (I hope) is the brick I ordered to be placed on the wall of the Atrium in Lambeau Field.  It will say "Proud Shareholder
Ronald R Cummings" with the Green Bay Packer G underneath it.  If any one does go on a tour and they find it, please take a picture and send it to us.  I'm planning on getting up there next summer and getting a picture with Ron somewhere close to it if possible.
Time to get ready to meet Eric and Julie.

Followup to a busy few days.

First, the Medicare Part D.  I went to the Medicare site and entered my zip code and the medications that I take that are NOT from Wal-Mart.  The site gave me 10 possibilities with the least expensive first and on down.  With the meds that I take Humana was the best buy for me this year.  Saturday was the first day to register so I did the minor paperwork online.  We'll see what else I'll need to do between now and January 1.  I really believe I'll go thru this every year to make sure I have the least expensive full coverage and would suggest anyone else to go to Medicare.gov and at least check it out.

The deep freeze is another story.  We ended up loosing 3 garbage bags of food.  Ice cream and veggies from our garden are at the top of my list but we did save the meat.  We were using it down since we were planning on leaving soon.  We're not going to get a new deep freeze before we leave.  Just hoping the refrigerator that is older than the deep freeze stays running while we're gone.  Going to ask the people who check out the house to keep a real close eye on it and if it starts to go just empty it out and unplug it.

Medicare Part D

Well, to say yesterday was a day of enlightenment would be an understatement.  Marcia, the president of our local retiree's group called on Tuesday asking me to attend the Executive Committee Meeting of the Will County Board.  They were going to announce the new insurance premiums specifically the ones for over 65 prescription drug plan.  Last year it had gone up $60 more a month and we were expecting twice that much this year.  The County had previously kept us in their active employee pool until last year when they put us out on our own.
I wish I could publish this on every county employee's computer but since I can't I'll just explain as best as I can without being to hostile.  The chairman of the committee acted like an arrogant asshole.  The vice chairman used to be a friend and is still one of my County board members.  The one County board member from my district who answered my email did attend, as she said, but didn't say anything but answer the roll call to accept "yes" when the vote came for the higher premium.  They decided that 1.  They didn't owe us anything despite all the years of service..  2.  They had to take care of the taxpayers. (like none of us pay taxes) 3.  If we don't like it......leave.
So that's what I'm doing this morning.  Comparing Medicare Part D plans thanks to Medicare.org.  It's showing Humana Enhanced as my cheapest choice and all my prescriptions are on their Formulary list.
The time to switch starts tomorrow (Oct 15) so the County picked a good time to shove us out the door.
If anyone has any suggestions, comments or helpful hints, I would appreciate the help.

Friday night

Grandson, Eric, stopped by tonight.  Returned a bowl that had chili in it when it left this house and chocolate chip cookies when it came home.  Kid's been raised right.  He also had to show papa his baby.  The baby Kimber is back all fixed up and looking good with new grips and the finish fixed.  No more rust spots.
I want to say to Julie that we're sorry she missed out on time with him but he didn't know you were coming home early to surprise him and came over here instead.  Thanks for sharing him.  Hope he makes it up to you later.
Hamburger casserole tonight.  Ron's been waiting all week for it.  The corn that Betsy and Alan provided made it so sweet and especially good.
Time for Blue Blood at 9 pm.  I'm glad the network picked it up for another year.  Great police family drama.

Fall Foliage and other beauties of nature. (No doctors or hospitals included)

We've been trying to go to Missouri since Memorial Day but every time we start to plan it rains.  Now I know we won't melt; even though I may have been called "The Wicked Witch of the North"; it's not a pleasant drive in the rain and that rain comes directly from northeast Missouri.  Our destination.
So when last week the weather people declared this week to be sunny and dry, time to try it again.  What a beautiful drive, sun roof open and sun glasses on.  The driver got so involved in the accidents on the other side of I-55 that he missed our turn off in Dwight.  He always takes me by the women's detention center and threatens to drop me off for the week.  Ha Ha.  By the time he realized it we were between Pontiac and Bloomington so the old route was in order.  We opted to stop at the Funk's Grove Rest Stop instead of the Dixie Truck stop for cleanliness reasons but still got off at 136 and headed west.
We can't remember the last time we went this way but it's been awhile cause most of the old buildings are falling or have already fallen down.  A little depressing but that's the way life is.  If you don't use it, you loose it.  The scenery was beautiful in all the shades of Fall.  Should have saved our money from the cruise and came down here.
We made good time and decided to stop in Macomb for lunch.  I let Ron pick the restaurant cause I figured we'd have dinner at The Catfish Place.  He picked McDonald's 
We arrived in Memphis about 3 pm and checked into our favorite motel and then off to Rutledge.  We turned on the GPS just to see what it would do.  We traveled thru a lot of open air but it did recognize a few roads.
Our first stop was at Zimmerman's the local, restaurant, grocery store and dry goods store.  I opted for the dry goods section and browsed the rows of beautiful fabric and quilts but decided to avail myself of the knowledge of the sales lady.  After I explained to her what I was working on she suggested a color and after looking at it decided it was a great idea.  Next I asked her how much do I need.  She said 3/4 yard and I said give me a full yard.  300 miles is a long way to come to get more.
Then we went to the grocery store looking for fresh sorghum but Sandhill hadn't had their squeezing yet.  They did have sassafras but I still have plenty of that.  We ran into my friend Reva (Surprise) and headed down to the cemetery to check out my folks graves.
They haven't had rain and everything is so dry but someone trimmed around the headstones and plants so Ron didn't have to do that.
Next stop, Knox City for dinner.  We met up with Reva's significant other, Martin, and her oldest daughter, Penny, came by so we chatted while we enjoyed a good meal.  Ron especially enjoyed his pork cutlet sandwich.     The Catfish Place is closed on Tuesdays.
Back to the motel and a terrible night of sleep and off down the road to enjoy another beautiful day of gorgeous scenery coming back home the way we originally intended.
We can truthfully say neither one of us is allergic to corn or soy beans.  The farmers were taking advantage of the perfect weather to harvest their crops which were plentiful on both sides of the road as far as you could see.
I used to feel the need for a Missouri fix but not so much anymore.  Not really any family and only my friend, Reva and her family.  But it's always a fun trip.

New Technology

This morning was an interesting time reflecting back on what had changed in the past 10 years.  10 years ago we had a computer but the rest of the world didn't so I would say this morning's  revelation wasn't as much as what we have but how it can now be used.
First, Ron and I both have Kindles thanks to our son and his family.  They were presents for Mother's Day and Father's Day.
Ron and I enjoy reading some of the same authors so it doesn't make since for each of us to buy a book for our Kindle but trading Kindles isn't the answer either.  This morning I finally figured out how to lend him a book from my Kindle to his.  Now, there are publisher's rules that don't allow most of the books I have to be leant out.  But I did send Ron a book and he has it on his Kindle.
In doing this I also discovered that Kindle is now compatible with US libraries so you can borrow library books and read them and at the end of the time, they take them away.  They do warn you 3 days ahead of time that your time is running out.
I was so excited that I found an author that I love to read so I proceeded to try and borrow it only to find out my library card expired the end of September.  The library doesn't send email notices for that.  In the car, down to the library to fill out the paperwork and supply ID to get my library card renewed.  I know, just take the book out while you're there but that wasn't the point.  I was going to check out a library book onto my e-reader.  Back home and realizing that most of the books available for e-readers were already checked out.  I put a hold on a couple of books and then searched till I found a couple books that I thought I might like and were available immediately.  Check them out of the library, accept them into my Amazon account.  Send them from my Amazon account to the Kindle and then hook up with a WiFi network so the books can be uploaded onto my Kindle.  I did it.  I have a tendency to print out instructions; with this time being no exception; I read and reread till I got all that figured out.  Hooked into Ron's WiFi network with his password and all and VOILA two books are on my Kindle.  Only took be two hours to figure it all out and get done but I figured that's not bad for the first time.  I'm sure it will go much smoother from now on.
I'd say quite a use of technology.  Can't wait to experience I Pads and Smart Phones.  I'd say by golden years are going to be spent spending a lot of that gold.  ROTF LMBO