Fun with Howard and Ann--and it does snow in Arizona!

From Catalina State Park to Mescal and real Tucson Studios where they filmed Tombstone and lots of other Westerns, to Tombstone gunfighters and Roosevelt Reservoir in the Tonto Wilderness, and lastly Pichacho State Recreation area on the Colorado River north of Yuma,---our travels with Howard and Ann were fun and first time experiences for both Ron and I. We are back in Tucson ready to head to Guaymas Mexico the 12th of March!!!

Long overdue post Seattle to Tucson

We left Bellingham and Seattle December 20th. First pic is of Joan and Steve Ellesworth standing in the kitchen of the little cabin we called home for two months. It is located on their Lake Samish farm. Next is some scenery on our way thru Oregon after visiting the Dan and Shon Schmidt's as well as Jessica and Josh and Nicole in Portland. We managed to hook up with Tamar and Paul of Xanadu in Grant's Pass (the night got down to 17 degrees, the coldest we have been on the entire trip) while we were passing through and they were house hunting. Their Xanadu is up for sale in San Francisco area. After the rendezvous with them, we headed to the coast where we were surprised to see how quickly Crescent City recovered from the Tsunami wreckage and rebuilt the docks.

Next we traveled through Eureka and had lunch at the Cookhouse in Samoa(an authentic logging camp spread--all you can eat family style--) and then toured the lost or forgotten coast south of there ---it was an extraordinary drive!! Afterwards we traveled through giant redwoods on our way back to the highway. From there we were able to endure the 3 hours of after work traffic in the San Francisco area to finally return to Tom and Ann's in Watsonville east of Santa Cruz. (more sailing friends)We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with them and their family and managed to take a paddle in our new Innova canoe/kayak while Tom and Ann paddled their canoe.

Leaving there, we visited Hubba and Helen in Manhattan Beach for a few days, took in the new movie the Artist, did some sightseeing and then were on our way to spend New Year's with Wayne and Tanya --Wayne is Diane's nephew. Then onwards to Joshua Tree where we hiked , and biked on our little folding bikes/toys. Another beautiful desert place loved by climbers. We met some great folks!! After a few days we headed to Lake Meade via Route 66 and visited nephew Jon Binder. Then onward to Arizona to visit Claire in Phoenix and Mimi and Gary in Tucson. Now we are touring southern Arizona while waiting for our VA appointments as followup to Ron's surgery......it is pleasantly warm here 60's and low 70's gets down to 36 at night, but we are enjoying it. More pics soon ---of our trip around southern Arizona ....

Discharged!

After 12 days and 4.5 hours in UWMed Center Hospital, Ron got his walking papers. Surgery was sucessful however his ear began to leak fluid so to alleviate pressure in his head and allow healing of the brain membrane, he had to be attached via a long thin tube to a reservoir. You can see the attachment place on his lumbar area and his "pole buddy" which he was constantly attached to for over 6 days (reservoir was hung from th3e pole)
Obviously he was excited to be a "free man". Exit only, no more enters.....

Ron Gets Brain Surgery

Ok so there is or was something inside after all!
Ron had a benign tumor removed from his inner ear and here are the pictures to prove it. sorry they didn't let us see the blob........
We are having some complications....CSF in his ear and an infection as well. We are hoping the lumbar drip and antibiotics work. Seven days so far...........WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!

Ron scheduled for surgery

Dear friends,
As you may or may not know I have a benign tumor that has hampered my balance and hearing. It is called an acoustic neuroma. I have been going through all the tests and hoops with the VA this summer in order to get a referral to the UW surgical team. That has now been accomplished and........
It looks like I will be having surgery to remove my tumor on Oct 26th. As soon as we got to see the UW surgeons things have been moving rapidly. It was diagnosed as a small tumor and we felt it was not wise or prudent to do the radiation therapy. The doctors were confident now would be the best time to do surgery for the least amount of collateral damage, we opted for surgery.
Ron's excuse for any senior moment since this diagnosis has been,"it must be the tumor," after the operation it will be of course, "It's the operation's fault"

We will continue updates as time progresses,
yours Diane and Ron

The van is almost complete

Creating a camping van out of a box van is quite a challenge. We have been working on our van on and off for a month now. The following pictures are of what we have done so far. They were taken at Lake SamishFarm and Joan and Steve are in some of the pictures.

Creating a camping van

We wanted a camping van so we bought a Chevy Express and tried to camp out of it. It was too small. So we looked for a Sprinter van and found one in Seattle. Now we have two vans---know anyone who needs a very nice cargo van? 19+mpg!!
Anyway we have been staying at the Daniel Schmidt's residence using their combined workshop (Shon Schmidt lives next door and has the workshop) To change a box to a camper. We have made great progress starting with insulation......we will have more pics up when the last install takes place, meanwhile see the beginning stages......Empty van, beginning of the insulation in lower panels, almost all is covered, ceiling, walls and at last the linoleum. Next entry, how we filled it up!!