June 21, 2017 - Wednesday 

This orchid started blooming in April.  It has 15 blossoms on it. This picture was taken on April 30.  Today it looks the same. Its so beautiful. It was a Mother's Day gift from the Petersons last year.  It's the first time I have ever had one rebloom the next year. I was surprised at the number of blooms.  

Tomorrow I am going to Chattanooga with Jim and Beverly Peterson for a few days vacation.  While there we will get to see Tina participate in a Triathlon.  This is her 3rd year entering this race. This is a picture at her first Triathlon in 2015.  It's one of my favorite pictures. 

                                                                 

My son has been camping at a lake near here and enjoying what he loves to do -  FISH!!                                                         

April 24, 2107
Today is Monday, an overcast, damp day. It has rained a lot in the past week. About 6" in the Nashville area. On a positive note, everything has turned green. The lawn (weeds) are growing rapidly. I mowed a week ago on Saturday and by Wednesday some areas needed to be cut again. I should have mowed Saturday because it's looking pretty shaggy, but it rained all weekend. Hopefully this week will see some sunshine and drying out. Just heard on TV that by Friday there may be some severe weather again in this area (meaning the south). Am planning a trip to Moorehead, KY with Tina, Salem, Paisley, and Sharon Harris for the state power tumbling meet.  Hope the weather is good. Looking forward to it.

The above picture was taken a couple of years ago. The doily was made by my mother, Luella Tracy just before Brooking was born. So that would have been late 1999 or early 2000. There are 2 girls on it representing Krista and Irion Peterson. The heart in the middle is Brooking (gender not known at the time!).

Just posting something to see if I remember how to do it. Will try to post more when I go on my California trip in May.
<3

August 5 Tuesday Chemo Day #2

The time is really flying by. The children in the area are returning to school. Seems very early to me as I didn't start school until after Labor Day. But that was a LONG time ago. Times do change.

Today Lon had the second IV chemotherapy. Prior to the drug they give him IV Benadryl to help prevent side effects plus Zantac oral to help prevent nausea. He slept through most of the treatment and all the way home. Went directly to bed when we got home and is still sleeping. It's been about 4 hours. Hopefully it will wear off soon. They gave him 1/2 of the dose of Benadryl that he had last week with his first treatment. He also slept a long time after that. Guess he is sensitive to Benadryl.

Our hot weather has returned. We have an Air Quality Alert in place until midnight for ground level ozone. It's cloudy and gray but hot. Fortunately, the humidity is not too bad - 35%. Tomorrow the heat AND humidity will return with the threat of thunderstorms. We need rain so it's a trade off.
This picture is from last week at the doctor's treatment room. Same as today.

On Saturday, Aug. 2 we drove to Franklin, KY to have a birthday lunch with Tina and 2 of her kids, Roddick and Paisley. We went to Cracker Barrel. As always, had a great lunch. Roddick and I had trout. It was Sooooo good.  He always orders that! Brandon and Salem were in Columbia selling corn from their field. It is the BEST corn. A bicolor. We have had corn every night since we saw Tina!! Was good to see them because we hadn't seen them since our return from our trip.

We are still missing family and friends in California. We hate to see all the huge fires burning in the beautiful mountains and pray for all who are working the fires and those who are threatened and those who have suffered losses. 



That's all for now folks!!!

July 28 - Monday.

Wow! July is almost gone. Actually it's only been 2 weeks since we arrived home from our wonderful vacation. Lon finally had his doctor's appointment last Monday after it was postponed. He got his bone strengthening shot (Xgeva) but his chemo was not started as we had expected. The doctor wanted to do another set of scans before starting the chemo. So......Lon had the scans done Friday. He goes in tomorrow to get the results of the scans and to start the chemo. We are expecting it to be IV and to get it once a week. Will know definitely tomorrow. Please keep him in your good thoughts for tomorrow. He's not looking forward to it at all.  He's feeling pretty good except he tires easily. Loves his naps!
Last night we had a line of severe thunderstorms go through, dropping a good bunch of rain. We sure needed it. But today is gorgeous. In the low eighties and not humid!! I know California would very much like to have some of that rain. Wish I could send some their way.
No new pictures to take unless it would be of a pile of laundry :-)  More later when I have an update.

July 14, Monday

Yesterday was a very lazy day for us. Lon slept a good part of the day. He needed to get caught up on his naps! I put away stuff, did laundry and took a short nap also. It is really dry around here. The lawn looks like California. But the cornfield next door is doing well. It was maybe 18" tall when we left. Now it's taller than I am. 

All day today we have been under a severe thunderstorm WATCH.  There was a line of storms that went through Middle Tennessee today but most of it missed us. We did get a little rain. In fact, it's raining now when I let Cricket out.  Still warm but they say the temperatures are going to be lower for the next few days. And the cicadas are back - noisy tonight. 
I was looking at our 2 pine trees in the backyard today. They were little living Christmas trees that we used several years back before we planted them. A year apart.  They have really grown.

 

Lon's doctor's office called today and has postponed his appointment until Monday, July 21. The medication wasn't going to be available tomorrow. So.......we could have stayed away for more days!!! Actually, it's good to get caught up on our rest. We had such a good trip and have so much to talk about and remember. Good times!! 

July 12, Day 34, Saturday HOME!

We left the St. Louis, MO. area this am. Actually, we were in Lebanon, IL. We drove through more beautiful country -southern Illinois. We went east to Mt. Vernon and then drove south on Hwy 57 to connect with Interstate 24 north of Paducah.  There is a fabulous quilt store in Paducah - Hancock's of Paducah.  Can't go through Paducah without stopping at this store!!! I got several pieces of fabric, most of which were on sale being end of bolt pieces. there were so many beautiful fabrics! Hard to control myself :-)
We got home about 5:30pm, very tired but very happy and thankful to be home. Cricket was over-joyed!! She looks healthy and happy.  She had good care while we were gone. Took a while to get the car unloaded. It was very warm in the garage and we had a lot of stuff in the car!!
Lon did well on the whole trip. He is tired tonight but is doing OK. He held up well for all the miles we traveled - 6352 miles!! We have a very dirty car with bugs from several states.  It's nice to see the gas prices at $3.39.  California prices were as high as $4.13+. 
We had a wonderful trip. A lot of wonderful memories to carry with us.

Thanks to all who helped make our trip one to remember and to those who helped keep our home going while we were gone including taking good care of Cricket.
Lon has a dr. appt on Tuesday. He will get his bone strengthening shot and prepare to start chemo. Hoping that he will tolerate it well.
I have enjoyed writing about our trip and hope that those of you who have followed us enjoyed reading about the trip. I will try to occasionally post about updates on Lon's health but probably won't be a daily posting at this point. Thanks to all of you for your comments.  Carol and Lon

July 11, Day 33, Friday

Almost home!! We have about 5-6 hours of driving left. We are in Lebanon, Illinois just outside of St. Louis. We are staying in a Best Western Inn. Not a handicap equipped room so not as big as manythat we have been in. The one last night in Junction City was huge.  This morning as we left Junction City we tried to find one cemetery that my great grand parents are buried in. Never could find it. So drove out in the country 5 miles looking for the other one with great grand parents. We found the cemetery and I found my grandfather's brother and his wife my grandmother's sister. Was unable to locate my great grandparents Tracy tho. The markers would be very old and maybe aren't even there. I did find some very old markers but not for Tracy. But it was worth the drive out there. The countryside was so beautiful with green gently rolling hills.  I sprayed my feet good with bug spray before tromping through the grass. Didn't want any chigger bites!!!

 On the way out of Junction City we went by Ft. Riley, an army base.  the eastern part of Kansas is much different than the western part of the state. It was green hills and many trees. Very pretty.

We made it through Kansas City without too much traffic. That place is enormous. It goes on forever! We arrived in Columbia, MO around 4pm so stopped at a Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Had the BEST steak we've had in a long time. Columbia is Nascar driver Carl Edwards' home town. 

Since we had eaten early and weren't too tired we drove through St. Louis and on to Lebanon, Illinois. We should be able to make it home in 5-6 hours tomorrow. Lon will probably sleep for a whole day!!  He is breathing better now at the lower elevations.  Gets winded some with exertion but not nearly as bad as in the high country.

It's been a wonderful trip filled with lots of memory-making events. We've seen a LOT of people, and a LOT of different places. Can't believe a whole month has passed. Will try to post tomorrow after we get home and settled. Take care. Nite.   The moon is gorgeous. Almost full!!

P.S. I forgot to mention that we have gone from 8% humidity in California to 84% here tonight.  Can sure feel the change!!



July 10, Day 32, Thursday

We left Denver about 11am. We have a hard time getting going in the mornings!! Lon was feeling the altitude. We took Interstate 70 east for 506 miles. We saw thousands of acres of corn and wheat, lots of oil pumps?, and many,many wind mills.  Some wheat has just been harvested. It was quite windy but a very clear blue sky. They had bad thunderstorms go through the area last night but was nice today except for the wind and being near 90. Here are the pictures that I tried to post last night. The picture of the pronghorn was in the lobby of the motel in Evanston, WY.

 

The Colorado sign was at a rest stop. A family was taking pictures of each other in front of the sign so I offered to take a picture of all of them together. They were happy with that. 

 

Tonight we are at a Hampton Inn in Junction City, Kansas. This is the town where my father was born in 1889. I'm sure it was a very different town then. But the area is very pretty. Gently rolling hills. Everything seems to be green. I have some family members buried here so hopefully tomorrow we will have time to visit a couple of the cemeteries so I can take pictures of their grave markers.



It's looking like it will be Saturday before we get home. We are still 10 hours driving time away700 miles. Lon is breathing a little better at this lower altitude. We are at 1100 feet now rather than 5000+ feet that we have been for a couple of days.

No pictures from today. Saw several cars from California. A couple of them pulling U-hauls. Moving?

I was talking to my sister the other night about my visit with the CHP in Chester and she said that they are being very aggressive in pulling people over. They aren't unpleasant - just doing their job!  Upsetting some of the locals and not setting well with a lot of the tourists.  Not that it made me feel any better.........but at least they weren't just targeting ME!!

Time to turn out the lights! We lost an hour today. Went back to Central Time.

July 9, Day 31, Wednesday

Today was a long travel day. We left Evanston Wyoming at 11am. It is near the Utah border so we drove across Wyoming to Laramie and then went south to Denver which is where we are tonight. We saw lots and lots of beautiful country. Much of it we saw going to California but it looks so different coming back the other way. Here is a picture of a pronghorn that I took in the motel this am. This is what Lon saw yesterday. Today we saw a couple of different groups of them quite near the highway. We also saw a herd of elk a little distance from the highway but distinguishable.
Well, I guess I can't upload a picture. It won't go.  Will have to add the pictures tomorrow. They have free wifi - they didn't say fast wifi!!!
The trucking industry is alive and well on Interstate 80 across Utah and Wyoming.  There were very few passenger cars most of the way until we hit the Denver area. But there were a ton of trucks!!!
There were storms in the area that we could see but we never ran into them. Hopefully we won't run into any of them tomorrow. Looks like there are storms across Kansas on Hwy 70 where we will be going. UGH!! But the car does need a good washing.  Lots of bugs and dust. 
We are at the Best Western Inn at Denver International Airport. but the airport is a few miles away. They shuttle people to the airport from here. We both are tired tonight. Lon is sleeping already.  I'm going now also. Sorry about now pictures tonight. Take care. <3

July 8, Day 30, Tuesday

Today was a GOOD day!! We left Winnemucca, NV about 10 am and headed east. It was already warm and going to get hot. But the air conditioner in the car works great so no worries. Some pictures of Winnemucca.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A Methodist Church across the street from the Winners Hotel and Casino. We didn't eat breakfast before leaving so by the time we got to Elko we were ready for lunch. Had a nice lunch at the Red Lion Hotel and Casino. We played about 10 minutes after eating and won enough to pay for our lunch and have some left over. It was pretty warm all the way across Nevada and Utah. It was 100 crossing the salt flats. Saw some mirages that made the landscape look surreal! Made mountains look like they were floating. We hit Salt Lake City at the end of rush hour, needing to fill up with gas. Took a chance on an exit and lucked out finding a service station. No signs. And got back on Hwy 80 headed east without problems. Thank you Siri's sister :-)

By the time we reached Wyoming it had cooled to 88. We saw some of the most beautiful country. The area around Park City, Utah was gorgeous.  We could see where there are ski slopes in the winter time. And some enormous homes!  

We are staying in the same motel and same room that we had on our way to California. We are in Evanston, WY at the Best Western. I went to the restaurant and got take out dinners. The elevation is 6700 feet so Lon was conserving his energy. He did pretty well with his breathing. Only got winded a couple of times. This is a picture in the lobby of the motel.

 

Lon kept saying that he wanted to see some wildlife as we were driving. He actually did get to see a live antelope as we entered Wyoming.

So far we have travelled 4600+ miles. Only about 1600 more to go unless we take any side trips!  I'm headed for bed. We are on Mountain Time now so lost an hour. Not sure where we go back to Central Time. More tomorrow if possible. Nite all.