Another MI Run

I finally got word that the 99 Windstar I bought from mom had the new rear axle installed. It had been resting at the dealer since October. A one-way airline ticket was purchased to go collect the van and drive it back to AZ. During the time gap of purchasing the airline ticket and actually travelling, I received another recall notice. This one involves some of the undercarriage support brackets. Sheesh. I called the Ford dealer in MI. The Windstar had passed this exam. This means that the additional bracing can be installed under this recall - when spare parts are in - again. I called a dealer here and no problem with doing the install here - when they get parts. It was deemed safe to drive so off I went.

While speaking of taking time off from work, it turned into one of those "while your up" conversations. A side trip to Belding, MI and Dayton, OH were scheduled for some equipment inspections. This turned out well as I now could turn some of the costs in a reimbursable expenses.

Thursday night (3/3) was move all the furniture that did not sell in the estate sale from the upstairs/downstairs to the main floor. Salvation Army does not do stairs. Friday was picking up the vehicle and moving furniture day. Some shirt-tail relatives and neighbors showed up that were now interested in some of the furniture. All I could say was to make an offer before the SA gets here as they have already been scheduled. You would hear some of the typical questions, "Can I make a call and let you know later if they are interested." My answer, to the dismay of some, was an emphatic NO. I goes out now or it goes to the SA. I have limited time to be here and will not make another airline flight for some piece of furniture or your convenience. I made a couple of Goodwill runs after getting the remaining large stuff out.

I finally got over to see mom Friday evening. This is difficult as she is unsure if I am her son or brother. The stroke related dementia continues to progress. The stroke had physical impacts and also hammered speech centers. You will need to get into charades and twenty questions to figure out what the topic is. Don't say yes to anything unless you are quite clear on what the topic is. My moron cousin was nodding and saying yes when she was asking to come live with him and for he along with his wife to take care of her. This is a 24/7 event and is why we had to go to the eldercare. I had to interrupt , take him off to the side, let him know what he was agreeing to, and tell him that the answer is "no" or "I don't understand" until you do understand. It then falls to me to explain to mom that he was not agreeing to her moving in. Thanks a bunch for that added task.

She says that I am too old to be her son and calls me by her brother's name. But, she is very aware of the fact that I am the one who put her in assisted living and the attempts at manipulation start immediately. This will last about an hour before you can get around to visiting. It starts over at each visit even if you were there 4 hours ago as she no longer has a good concept of time.

Saturday and Sunday were composed of visiting with mom and making runs to Goodwill. I also cleared out the storage area I had rented of the things that I was going to transport to AZ. On Monday, I traveled to Belding, MI which made a nice test run of the van prior to heading across country. Tuesday morning found me loaded up and in Dayton, OH and then heading west to St. Louis. I wanted to get halfway on Tuesday but due to some heavy rain and then some fog, I ended up spending the night in Joplin. I only made 800 miles that day. Wednesday was my 1200 mile day. I crawled into Tucson after midnight. The trip was uneventful in general. I am getting too old or maybe less willing for the 2,000 mile 2 day trips. For some reason, I really did not feel like getting up and going to work the next morning! I would rather drag through a day at the office than burn another vacation day. I need those vacations days for fun things like hunting.

I could be done with the last major task if that house would sell. It is not a great time to be trying to sell a house.

Summertime in Michigan

I needed to go back to MI to take of a few items for my parents. We (daughters and I) drove out. My wife was discussing my sanity as I announced that it was a two day trip as it was only 2000 miles. Our route went through NM, TX, AR, TN, KY, OH, to MI. It is not actually the fastest route but I refuse to go through Illinois and give them any money. The current laws surrounding concealed carry (none) or any transport in general (difficult) convince me to go elsewhere. Besides, the other states are lush and green this time of year. It makes for a very pretty ride.

There was a fine hail storm in New Mexico that made things look like it had snowed.

I would say the the cell phone picture does not do justice to the conditions.

First stop Salisaw, Oklahoma. We got to the Days Inn about 1 AM local time. We were not staying at the Hilton so that we could keep the traveling costs down. We were losing time traveling East.

The rest of the trip there was fairly uneventful. My daughters asked what you call someone from each different state. I gave them the first answer that came to mind.

NM - Lobos

TX - Texans and BSers. I always figured that all Texans would be able to ski if BS was white.

AR - Razorbacks

TN - Vols

KY - Wildcat or Hillbilly

OH - Buckeyes

MI - Wolverines or Morons if they still live anywhere near Detroit. My nephew was a parole officer in the Detroit area. He referred to it as the Peoples Republic of Wayne. This reference is do to Detroit being in Wayne County and looking like a third world country.

My daughter then asked what you were called if you were from AZ. I told her, "Racist". We had a little laugh about that.

I had the opportunity to teach my daughters about some of the distinguishing features of Michigan such as:

The state bird.

State flower

State statue.

One interesting sideline was on the way back. My older daughter was driving and we stopped at a rest area in Arkansas. A gentleman pulled into the parking space next to us and motioned for me to roll down the window. The conversation went like this:

Are you fer or agin it?

I am for it.

We are too.
It is the same as the federal laws. We are tired of the invasion.

That's what we figured. We are all fer it down here too, bunch of stupid politics.

Yep.

Nice talkin to you.

You too.

I imagine that he noticed the AZ plates on the vehicle and just had to ask. Note that he didn't ask about the legislative number but we both knew what he was asking.

Flagstaff Snow

Flagstaff has had some record snow this year. I went there to visit my daughter at NAU last weekend. It started to snow shortly after my arrival. My wife sent a text message informing me that there was a winter storm advisory out predicting 8-12" of snow by 5 PM the following day. I asked my daughter where her bicycle was. She pointed here:

I suggested that she get some spray oil and get the chain and gear clusters as soon as she could. This might actually be a while before digging out is possible. That evening it looked more like this:

The RAV4 kept getting covered. I now remember why a clean push broom was my friend in MI.

This looked much better in person but what do you expect from a cell phone picture.

The next morning there was even less of the bikes showing.

I decided that we would go to breakfast in the morning as there is no sense in hitting the highway prior to the plows getting out. The road was a bit slick coming down out of Flagstaff but not too bad as the plows had been out scraping away. The only time there was any real "pucker" factor is when descending through the cloud cover the visibility is quite low, especially when it is still snowing. I am always concerned when you must go about 35 mph to be able to see ahead of you as some of the people (think idiots) sharing the road seem to think that it is still a good idea to be going fast. They can't see but that is OK by them.

Reminds me of a hymn from Firesign Theater's "Powerhouse Church of the Presumptuous Assumption of the Blinding Light".

Oh blinding light

Oh light that blinds

Look out for me

For I cannot see!

We visited a job site West of Denver in April. This was a welcome view coming back into town. A little sunshine!

Most of trip was a white out at about 11,000 feet elevation.

The Big Ditch

We took a liitle jaunt around. The Grand Canyon is still there!

Chile

I resently flew to Santiago, Chile for business. The job site was in Quillota and I stayed in great hotel in Limache called Las Tortolas. It is springtime there and beautiful.

The people at the hotel were very acommodating. The restaurant there is excellent with wonderful local wines. The vino tinto is world class.

The first picture shows the grounds in back of the hotel with the first door on the right (#3) being the entrance to my room.


I can not say enough nice things about everyone I met. My Spanish is almost non-existent and everyone was quite tolerant of my stumbling efforts. I think that I must do better with the language for my next trip.