| Life on the Road with Paul & Kathleen: "Not bad for two dumb kids from Ohio" - Proving once again that it's never too late to have a happy childhood | |
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| Our Lazy Daze at Kirk Creek Camp on CA Hwy 1 40 mi N of Hearst's Castle 11/24/03: Shortly after full-timing began. | Foretravel SHIELDS UP! 12 mi N of Buffalo, TX 5/20/07 |
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11/18/09 - Back Home in El Centro Click to add your comment All the while we were in the Bay Area, the only time we were able to visit with friends was on the 23rd of August at our 50th Wedding Anniversary. Other than those brief moments with friends, we spent the remaining days working on the apartment. There were several friends in particular with whom we hoped to spend some time. However, demands of the apartment ruled out any visiting. One exception to this was a stop at Mary and Jerry Goudreau's place on our way out of town on Monday, November 16. Jerry is putting up a brave battle in his fight with Parkinson's disease. We just "had" to pay them a short visit, and we're glad we took the time to see them both. Keep our dear Jerry (and his wife Mary) in your prayers. The disease has reached the point to where Jerry needs a lot of help. His mind is clear as a bell and his smile is there, too. The two of them impressed us with their strength in facing this formidable foe. We wished we might have been able to see more of them during our time in the Bay Area, but we were glad that we were able to see them for a little while. Jerry and Paul go back to their graduate studies at Berkeley, and we were all in CFM. We forged a strong friendship back then, and it has only grown stronger over the years. Leaving a bit late from Livermore, we made it as far as Harris Ranch where we boon docked for the night. Of course we had dinner at the restaurant that evening and enjoyed a nice breakfast there the following morning. All the workers were busy decorating the place for the holidays. What a festive place that is especially during the holidays! The days are shorter now, so we made it in daylight as far as Palm Springs - farther than we expected to go - and we decided to spend it at a Passport America discount park - only there are restrictions from 11/16 until after the Thanksgiving holidays! Even so, we decided to take a look at the place. It boasts of 7 thermal baths, 4 swimming pools, and a myriad of other amenities. The place is HUGE! The folks at the registration were friendly and helpful. We found our spot for the night, and were somewhat surprised at how small the sites looked. Lots of folks love this place that even has a restaurant, beauty parlor and a host of other services. Our biggest take on the place that advertises free HiFi is that the HiFi doesn't work well in the evening, but was working nicely the following morning. It's a busy and very large place, but we longed for our familiar Sunbeam RV Park. On Wednesday morning we were on the road fairly early. Paul seemed anxious to get "home". On the way into El Centro we did make one stop at Costco for some steelhead salmon. While parked in a large empty parking lot (next to Costco) we un-hooked the Element from the LazyDaze and headed for Sunbeam. Our little Park Model looked in good condition, and we were soon busy unpacking the LazyDaze, picking up mail, being welcomed by neighbors and feeling good about being in the warm sunshine of El Centro! We have so many "things" in the Lazy Daze, and we've decided we'll work on moving and rearranging things come Sunday. On Thursday morning Kathleen was able to join the exercise group (first time since last Spring!) Our dear friend Judie will have her husband, John's memorial on Friday afternoon so Kathleen helped cut up 60 chickens that will be part of the dinner Friday memorial. Two washer loads of laundry AND a nice dip in the pool rounded out our day today - our first full day back here! There are things we want to do in our little yard, rearrange "stuff" in the LazyDaze, complete our "move" in to our Park Model, and enjoy being here. The weather is so glorious - we can't yet quite realize we are really here, and the weather is probably not going to change so much. This afternoon was a perfect day for a swim! A nice hot shower, a good meal and we are about ready to call it a Deo Gratias sort of day! | |
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| "NO DEAL BASICALLY means that if we can't find a solution that wold benefit us both, we agree to disagree agreeably--No Deal. No expectations have been created, no performance contracts established. I don't hire you or we don't take on a particular assignment together because it's obvious that our values or our goals are going in opposite directions. It is so much better to realize this up front instead of downstream when expectations have been created and both parties have been disillusioned. When you have No Deal as an option in your mind, you feel liberated because you have no need to manipulate people, to push your own agenda, to drive for what you want. You can be open. You can really try to understand the deeper issues underlying the positions." (9/9) |
| Paul & Kathleen Smith | 173 Rainbow Dr #7329 | Livingston, TX 77399-1073 | (510) 386-8973 |