Yesterday we had a party to celebrate Terry’s dad’s 80^th birthday. My father-in-law, Pete Weber, is one of the kindest, nicest, and most loving men I have ever known. Pete is a retired Air Force NCO, and even though he won a battle with cancer a few years ago, nothing slows him down.

He still walks several miles a day, he can do 25 pushups before I could even get down on the floor, and he can outwork most men 30 years younger. In fact, a while back Pete didn’t have enough to do, so he got himself a job as a WalMart greeter, working the graveyard shift four nights a week.

But that wasn’t enough of a challenge, so he volunteered to spend two of his nights retrieving shopping carts from the furthest edges of the parking lot! Here’s a picture of the happy birthday boy

Terry’s sisters Dani and Lisa, Lisa’s husband Jim, Dani’s beautiful daughters Lauren and Andrea, and their guys, joined us. Terry’s twin sons, Casey and Cody, and their ladies came down from their homes in Colorado, and her son Shawn and his girlfriend arrived from New Mexico, to help Pete celebrate his special day. Here is a picture of Terry and her dad. Can you tell how much she loves him?

That many people demand a lot of food, so Terry, Lisa, Dani, and their mom, Bess, prepared a feast that included Miss Terry’s delicious barbecued smoked ribs, beef sandwiches, all kinds of side dishes, and a huge chocolate cake that would destroy anybody’s diet. We all ate until we couldn’t eat another bite, and then we ate some more!

It was a great day, and everybody had a good time. We stayed until after 9 p.m., and by then everybody’s eyelids were beginning to droop, especially the Colorado contingent, who had to get up at 3 a.m. yesterday morning to be at the airport in Denver in time for their flight. I know Pete really appreciated having so many of his family with him for his birthday.

Friday I put a picture of the grapefruit tree at our RV site in the blog, and longtime reader Dave Burman thought I might want to see what life was like in his little corner of the world. Dave and his wife Mary are stuck in Frederick, Maryland, waiting for retirement so they can hit the road next year. Dave said he promised Mary that this will never happen again, and that he will drive their Winnebago Journey to Mexico if necessary, but they will be warm next winter!

I don’t blame you, Dave. We were stuck in Traverse City, Michigan during the wintertime years ago, while Miss Terry was battling cancer, and I don’t think I have completely thawed out yet! Our daughter Tiffany and her family live in Show Low, Arizona, only about a three hour drive from here, and I’d love to be up there spoiling my two granddaughters. But, until it warms up and the snow melts in the high country, that just isn’t going to happen.

Today we’re going back to Terry’s parents’ house to enjoy some more family time, and I bet there are plenty of leftovers we’ll have to wade through. It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it!

Thought For The Day – Birthdays are good for you; the more you have the longer you live.

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It’s a good thing that we don’t spend more time with Terry’s cousin Carolyn and her husband Mel because it’s really hard on my waistline. Yesterday, Carolyn made Mel a chocolate cake, and I just could not in good conscience let him do to his skinny little body what I’ve done to mine, so I helped him eat a goodly portion of it. Hey, with me the damage has already been done, and besides, what are friends for, right? Don’t worry about it Mel, let her keep right on baking. I’ve got your back.

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that we saw a very nice 38 foot 2001 Winnebago Ultimate Advantage diesel pusher at a local dealer over the weekend, and yesterday we went back and took it for a test drive.

Wow! We were impressed! Heck, let’s be honest, we fell in love! We’ve looked at a lot of very nice RVs over the years, and several that we could be comfortable in, but this one really stood out. It just screamed “Buy me!” My Dad used to say, “When something is right, you just feel it,” and this feels right to us.

It handles like a dream, has a ton of upgrades, rides great, and would work just fine for our needs. I had never driven a rig with the 330 horsepower Cat engine in it before, and I was really amazed at how well it got up to speed coming onto the freeway. Miss Terry also took a turn behind the wheel, and was very pleased with the way it drove.

They made us a very good offer, and we are going to look long and hard at putting a deal together. Several things would all have to click at once, including the sale of our bus to a person who has expressed a strong interest in it. So we’re not there yet, but if the stars all align just right, we just may be able to pull it off. Wish us luck.

Some of you may remember my April 23^rd blog, in which I wrote about an RVer who had a headlight out on his pickup truck while we were in Albuquerque for the Affinity rally. He stopped at an auto parts store to buy a replacement light, and on the way back to the fairgrounds a policeman pulled him over and, after asking him several times if he knew he had a headlight out, which he acknowledged, and showed the officer the replacement light. The officer then gave him a summons, and told him that if he had said he did not know the light was out, he’d have only received a warning instead of a ticket. As I wrote in the blog about the incident, I really didn’t feel that was right.

The other day I got an e-mail from the gentleman who received the ticket, telling me that he was so upset he hung around and went to court to fight it, and won. He said the judge told the officer that he was sure the local police had better things to do that bait honest citizens into admitting guilt to a minor infraction, and then giving them a ticket for it.

I’m usually a very strong supporter of law enforcement. I come from a family full of cops. But this time around I have to agree with the judge. I think justice was served.

Thought For The Day – Middle age is not user friendly.

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