1st Century of the decade part 3

2003.....January was a busy month!

• January.....In 2002 for Rich's Christmas present for 2002 I bought tickets to Blue Man Group and made hotel reservations in Chicago for January. After the show we went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. On Sunday morning we went to the museum and they had a special exhibit. They had a WWII submarine at the pier.

As we were telling friends how much fun we had we all decided to go into Chicago as a group. Take the train and not have to worry about driving or parking. We went to Joey's Pizza and ended up at the Chef's table. Then we went bar hopping and settled in at one on Rush St that had Karaoke and a very small dance area. When we came out of the bar there was a limo waiting for someone. Rich asked him how much he would charge to take us to Union Station. He said $10. We know a good deal when we hear it.....so off we go. While we are in the limo, the drivers phone rings and he is telling us shhhhhh!!!! He was making a few bucks on the side. Just try to keep 6 drunks in a limo quiet. His phone was on the 4th ring when we finally got quiet enough so he could answer it.

Look ma, no hands!!! To this day I don't know how he stayed on that rail all the way down and landed on his feet! I guess it's true that God watches out for Children and drunks.

Then during Jan, my brother came for a visit from NV. Now why he would leave 70 degrees for below zero, I have no idea.

• March.....I finally found my bike online at a Harley dealer in Union City TN. It was exactly what I had been looking for, right down to the color. It was also allot cheaper there than it would have been here. I saved thousands by making the trip. It cost me $150 for gas. We left here at 4:30 am and we were back by 10:00 pm.
  


• April.....My kids took us to Benihana's for my birthday and I had my first experience with sushi, not bad, I would do it again.



• May.....We took a ride to Starved Rock and this is where I dropped my digital camera in the lake. I dropped it as Rich was handing it back to me at the edge of the lake so at least I was able to retrieve it without jumping in. The camera was trashed but the memory card was fine after drying out.
  


• June.....My 1st long trip on my new bike. PA for Rich's family reunion and to meet some of my cousins. Talk about coincidence, my father was born about 10 miles from where Rich's dad was born. Because my father died when I was real young, I never knew his family. I found some of my cousins and arranged to meet them. It was interesting to meet people who I had pictures of but never knew. I have a picture of my Parents in the same spot by this covered bridge when my mother was pregnant with me. This is at McConnell's Mill, check out the web site for some beautiful pix. http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mcclell2/homepage/mill.htm Heading up to the top, the road is narrow and twisty. When you go through the tunnel and in the tree covered areas the road is mossy and slick. Talk about testing your riding skills!!! This is a tunnel we are about to go through.



• July.....We spent most of July on the boat this year. Rich taught a few people to ski. We took my youngest son and his girlfriend out and we got caught in a bad storm with tornado warnings. We found a river bar with a pier and docked and waited it out playing pool. Once it blew over we headed back to the boat dock and called it a day.
  


• August.....Our vacation destination this year was Grand Canyon via Old Route 66. Along the way, we ran into some people we knew from Elgin, IL, What a small world it is. Then we met some very nice people in Ashfork, AZ, pictured in front of dinner. We all came in from the rain for shelter at a small motel. When I say rain, I mean it was coming down in buckets. The next morning we rode into Seligman for breakfast and then we rode as far as Kingman together. That is where we headed to Oatman and they headed north towards home. They lived in northern CA and had been on the road for 23 days when we ran into them. The old car below is in Hackberry AZ.

We made pretty good time so we kept going and ended up in Lake Havasu CA.

Then we came back through Kingman AZ where we spent the night. In an AZ town, which I won't mention the name, Rich was nearly arrested at a Harley Dealership. After riding in the rain for 3 days, the wiring harness on my NEW bike came loose. It was just held under my back fender with glue. I don't think they even had a clamp on it. We left it at the dealership and headed up to my brothers, 60 miles north, two up on Rich's bike. When we came back to get my bike the next day, they refused to warranty it. Well....this was not going over too well with Rich.....Make a long story short, the cops made us pay for the work. When I got home, I called customer service in Milwaukee and I had a check in the mail with-in 3 days for the full amount of the repair.

Along the way we found so many interesting places. We stayed in a wig-wam at the Wig-wam motel in Holbrook, AZ. We explored ghost towns.....that is till I went into a building and heard a rattler....it didn't take me long to get out of there and back to the road. We stopped at the Cadillac ranch in Amarillo, The Big Texan Steakhouse and ran into Travis Tritt as he was leaving. We saw the Hoover Damn, rode the strip in Vegas. Saw The Blue Whale in OK, did some two stepping in TX. Stopped at the Meteor Crater in AZ, Window Rock, and we rode through allot of small towns and tried to stay on 66 as much as possible. I have so many really cool pix, it would take me days to post and tell about them all.

The rest of the year seems boring in comparison. We had a wedding, B-day parties, poker runs and toy runs. More of the century to come later.

More winter

At least we had a couple good days. We were riding on Wednesday and by Saturday we had 2" of snow again. I have a week off for spring break and it's probably good that the temps won't be nice for riding since I have a million things to do.

I would like to organize my pix, do some spring cleaning, put in some extra study time and take a course on my own. I won't get credit for it, but I have the software and the text book so I might as well teach myself the course. It is a spin off of a course I had last semester. Not a required course but good to know. I might even squeeze in a lunch with a friend.

I am so motivated to do well. I have all A's so far, I just hope I can keep it up. There are so many people taking accounting classes. There are people with degrees and experience that are out of work and the unemployment rate is so high here. I will need something to help me stand out in the sea of resumes. It seems like the only way to get a job is to know someone.

I have two more semesters and I will graduate. Rich has suggested that after I graduate, we should go down to TX for a couple weeks and try to find work there. He would have a better chance of finding work because he has over 30 years in his industry and is trained in all the new technology. He would probably find work inside of a week. Then there's....what to do with the house....can't get what it's worth right now....and renting it out from a distance would be a pain.....mortgage here and rent there....that would be tough. It's too bad his son can't get a mortgage, selling it to him at today's prices would be OK.

What a beautiful day!

When my other half got home, he put the battery in my bike and it started right up, first try. We went for our first ride of the year. It was soooo nice to finally get out for a ride. It just made me want more, more, more! It's been a long cold winter, but it's almost over. We are suppose to get 65 tomorrow and 61 on Fri then snow on Sat. Unfreaking believable! I just have to keep telling myself "it won't be long."

Snow again!

It's coming down in the huge flakes that pile up fast. My car is running as I type. I'm leaving an extra 15 minutes early today, we'll see if that is enough. I'll probably get stuck behind someone going 25 MPH. You would think people here would be used to it by now.....not that I go 55 on snow packed roads....but 25!?!?! Never fails, if they're out there, I'll get behind them. Well, I've put it off long enough, time to face the cold.

Snow, snow and more snow!

We woke up to more snow today. Will it ever end? It is so pretty on our Pines, and I know some places get allot more than we do, but I've seen enough already!

This is one of two Colorado Blue Spruce trees that we brought back from CO on one of our trips to visit Rich's dad. It was just a nine inch seedling when we dug it out of his back yard. We had the car that trip since he had terminal cancer and he was still at the point he could get around a little. We wanted to get there quick and be able to spend time with him instead of on the road getting there and getting back. As you fellow bikers know, when you are traveling that far by bike, your travel time can be unpredictable at times.

On the way home, we stopped at a motel and right after we had our showers we put the two potted trees in the tub and turned on the shower to water them. We nursed these trees all the way home and kept them in the house till they where strong enough to transplant to the front yard. These trees look so beautiful when they are covered in snow, but...ALRIGHT ALREADY!!!!! I've had enough of winter beauty, I'm ready to ride again. The temps are suppose to be in the low 20's all week. I keep thinking about the day when the housing market comes back enough that we can sell this house and get out of this frozen tundra. Last night I actually started looking at the job listings for TX. Not that it will do me any good right now. Just wishful thinking.

I am trying to think of a positive for this. OK, the only thing I can think of is....if it where summer right now, I would be in the house studying and hearing all the bikes go past. At least I'm not being tortured by the sound of rumbling Harley's passing by while I'm trying to study. I have a full load again this semester. I will only have three classes in the summer since they don't offer allot of summer classes. Then for the fall semester I will only have three classes left and I will have my Certification in Dec. Speaking of study.......

1st decade of the century part 2

2002: This year is a little sketchy. I was between a 35mm camera and my 1st digital camera and somehow lost some pictures in the transition. Since my memory is not as good as it used to be There will be some blank spots.

• January.....Rich's Christmas present for 01 from me was a week end away after the holidays. I made reservations at a Bed & Breakfast in a Milwaukee mansion. I took him to dinner at a Cajun Restaurant, then we went to a comedy club and back to the bed & breakfast, yada, yada, yada. The next morning we went to The Milwaukee Museum.
• February.....Christmas of 2001, I decided that since my kids were soooo hard to buy for I was going to buy them some fun. I got the oldest son and his wife a dinner certificate and tickets to Zanies Comedy Club at Pheasant Run in St Charles. Now for the catch, they had to use them with myself and my other half, which can be a real challenge to get everyone together. We finally made the reservations for Feb. By the time we had dinner and got to the show, it was apparent that the men were going to be the designated drivers for the night, since my daughter-in-law and myself was having way too much fun.....driving was entirely out of the question for either one of us. We started with a couple of drinks with dinner, then there was the 2 drink minimum at the show and of course, we had to stop at the hotel bar after the show.
• March.....We finally get a chance to get out for my youngest sons Christmas gift. Since My youngest sons girlfriend was not old enough to drink, I bought them tickets to Mid Evil Times Dinner Theater. We had a chicken dinner that you had to eat with your hands, (since there was no eating utensils back in that time period). Then one of the nights gave my sons girlfriend his victory sash during the show.
• June.....We decided to combine the family reunion with Niagara Falls this year. We rode up to Niagara Falls 1st, and then the reunion in PA. Seems like nearly every time we go to the family reunion, it rains. This year was no different but it was still beautiful.
We like to find old barns that still have advertising on them.
These are both in PA.

• July.....For the fourth of July, we rode up The Great River Road from Savannah, IL to MN with 2 other couples. I wish I could remember the name of the town we stayed in on the night of the fourth. I want to say it was a name with the word Rivers in it. We found a place at the river to watch the fireworks and they were the best I had ever seen.
• September.....Saturday of Labor day weekend we took the grand kids out for boating and camping. Nothing like camping to get close to the kids. We all had a great time. A friend of ours who has kids the same age as our grand kids came along. After spending all day Sunday on the river it was time to drop off the little ones and have some grown up fun at the neighborhood bar. On Monday we went hot air ballooning. A friend of ours, Finn has flown hot air balloons for years and promised Rich he would teach him to fly some day. The day for his first lesson has come. I fallowed in the chase vehicle with a promise for a ride sometime soon.

• October.....This is a busy month for birthdays. My oldest granddaughter on the 1st, my daughter-in-law on the 20Th and my son on the 25Th. For my granddaughters birthday they had her party at the roller skating rink/go-cart track. Believe it or not.....I didn't break my neck. It was a little shaky at first but it wasn't long and I was getting around pretty good.

Grandpa and Daddy teaching my grandson to do the Hoky Poky.

• Then on the track, I had my granddaughter with me and we lapped Rich and my son. All those spectator races I competed in finally paid off.This is Me and birthday girl on the right, just after passing Rich. We probably just had a faster go-cart but it was fun to gloat.....just a little!

• December.....On the 14Th we welcomed a new granddaughter. Unfortunately, not with out problems. She was breech and not turning so they had to do a C section. She was jaundice, had a hole in her heart and a hole in her lung. She was being feed by a tube going into her stomach. The best I can describe it.....the hole in her lung was inside the wall of the lung and allowed part of her lung to fill with air and caused it to collapse, they put a tube through her ribs on her side to release the air till the hole could close on it's own. She was in the hospital for 9 weeks. End result.....she is now 7 years old and no problems at all, the pediatric cardiologist gave her a clean bill of health at the age of 2.

At this rate I might finish my decade by the end of this decade; but, school comes first!

Rude awakening

Yes, we felt the earthquake! If you saw the map on the news, it showed the epicenter being in Gilberts and showed Sycamore and DeKalb. We are between Gilberts and Sycamore. It was enough to wake us out of a sound sleep. Both of us woke up and sat straight up. I thought another train derailed and was heading for the house. It was hard to go back to sleep after that.

We had nothing falling off the walls but we do have a few new cracks in the walls. Our house is so old there is no record of when it was built. There are pictures at the post office that shows the house being here in the 1910's. I doubt it would withstand a strong earthquake. One more reason to move to TX.....like the snow, cold and unemployment rate isn't enough!