Long and short of it, short on time, life's too short, so am I.

500 coaches t Goshen Fairgrounds RV Rally,
we are here. Jerry hooking us up

Bloggers catch up,,,finally so you say...Yes, we are back  a couple weeks now, from a  grand time at the RV trip to the annual Fleetwood Motor Coach Association's RV Rally in Goshen Indiana where we had a great time gathering with friends as we do annually somewhere in the country. Friends we see only once a year, all Fleetood owners and all retirees.. This year the rally location switched from initial plans in DuQuoin, IL to Goshen where we gathered two years ago and because of the scheduling changes the Rally was combined with the Midwest Great Lakes gathering of the  Family Motor Coach Association of which we are also members.  Yes we enjoyed ourselves and then some, but  we all agreed we prefer to have our annual Fleetwood gatherings restricted to just Fleetwood members.  No more combos, too many people. Perhaps we are snobby, well we have lived long enough and worked long enough to be so....we all agreed we prefer exclusion with ourselves, co Fleetwooders, it's only once a year after all; most of us are retirees or empty nesters and not into kids about, different with Family, we though  are on our adult playtime. 

Walking path at Hickory Hollow RV

On our way there and returning we stopped overnight at a nice RV spot, where we have stopped before,  Hickory Hollow in Utica Illinois off interstate I 80, a lovely peaceful spot with  access for our rig, all hook ups,  as well as wooded areas dandy for walking and hiking.   I felt  quite smug that I had avoided any mosquito bites  with my wooded walks, until the next day when I had those tell tale red welts  on my shoulders, I never  felt nor saw them so I have  decided these are the sneakiest mosquitoes I have ever encountered.  We live in MN where the skeeter is the state bird!  Very visible and we all know their presence while the buggers at Hickory are stealth biters. 

This time we ate at a local Utical IL restaurant, Joy & Ed's, a 53 year old family run place...outstanding food everything is home made.  I enjoyed the very best fried chicken there and that includes the delicacies in the south it was not greasy and simple with merely a  dredging in flour I believe.   I have some other photos and tales of the abandoned area nearby which I investigated this trip, but another time.

Another road path at Hickory Hollow RV

More IN Amish country near Goshen

Most of the rally activities I have covered and shared daily on Facebook so I  will not repeat them here, but the Rally was tops.  While there we went directly to the Lambright Factory, an Amish business which makes the world famous leather wall hugger  recliners which we  wanted to replace the two euro recliners with separate  hassocks currently in our motor home. 

Surprisingly I found a website for Lambrights..our GPS could not find it  but we could easily in the back roads of the countryside....the place is Amish and while we had a nice visit with Verne, the Amish owner and  the next day when we  returned with a check for payment,  because he does not do credit cards, as he said, without apology, he is old school.  Although he was willing to wait for us to return home and mail him a check, it was an easy  drive there and back through the countryside. We write so few checks that we really forgot to take along the check book.   The next day was another sale for them as our friends from AZ, Gene &; Irmie  also drove there for a look and purchased the same for their coach.  Here is a lnk to a website with their  information, http://issuu.com/shopach/docs/lcc-catalog  Ours are the cream colored leather on page 17 of the catalog; I ordered the side computer table for mine but Jerry decided he did not need that.  We shall see, he will likely wish he had later. 

Our friend Irmie, German, who lives in AZ with her
 retired USArmy hubby Gene. She is
 trying out the recliner style which we bought.
 Another customer walking behind.

 Our current ones are definitely for taller people and we have decided they are just not for us shorties, we feel like our heads are pushed forward at an uncomfortable angle when we lounge in them.  We  thought the vendor would be at the Rally but not so, and the others were not what we wanted  so we drove the short distance to the site and our custom built order will be shipped to our home late July, custom dura leather.  Jerry will have to install them himself as well as remove the two existing. 

Me with  Lambrights windchimes

I was fascinated with the huge windchimes, another business Verne had which he has since sold.  The tones from these are almost mystical.  I am considering ordering a smaller set to replace the old chimes we have here at home.  

Geoff & Marci out for breakfast
at Perkins last day of their visit. 

Only  home a couple days with the 6 loads of  laundry caught up when our friends Geoff and Marci arrived.  They live in Oregon now but had been to Mackinac Island, MI for several days and drove over to  visit us.  Their first time here and it was wonderful although very bittersweet because Geoff has a malignant brain tumor, so far the  surgery and chemo have bought him time, but  it's all too short.  Their visit and time...so much can happen in such a short time. Marci and I go way back to 1973 when we both began our careers with Ca state government in the same office.  

Jerry hooking up at Hickory Hollow RV

Jerry had his first cataract surgery Thursday and will have the  2nd eye done July 11, so it's busy here for me as I swing yet again into my Nurse Cratchitt or  Ratchet mode, giving him eye drops 3 each, 5 minutes apart 4 times a day.  Of all things he  simply cannot put drops into his own eye and is the blinkingest with the upper lid; it is a challenging experience to go through and one alien to me as I used to wear contact lenses.  Back then he could not understand how I could poke things into and out of my eyes because he is absolutely averse to anything nearing his eye.  He has already noticed  very improved vision in the right eye post surgery commenting on the brightness of colors and how he has an easier time reading while his cataracts were not that bad and could have waited under normal circumstances, he insisted they be fixed so he would be in best shape driving our big rig.  . 

We have been besieged with rain & wind storms and while I do love a good storm, enough already. We have been blessed not with the big trees down as has happened elsewhere and across the river in La Crosse.   Of course this keeps us green and lush but just now the power blinked and I thought I might have lost some of this post.  Fortunately not, so I best publish and get off here.  Dinner tonite on the stove simmering  is a pot of refrigerator soup--that's what I call the clean up, when it all goes into a soup-- some left over pork roast, a partial burger left over cooked into broth, tomatoes, fresh corn off the cob, shredded cabbage, kale, basil, onions, celery, peppers and whatever other tidbits are in the refrigerator including some cold pasta.  I have been hungry for this and with the darkened skies and wet afternoon it will be a great evening meal.   Not sure who will read this as I have been blog absent for awhile and likely that will continue.  I have ideas but no time to sit and post...sigh, what happened, when I retired I was supposed to have all the time in the world, hah, surely you jest,  time is too short...

 Maybe the Amish are right, keep it simple you can't take it with you.

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.     Henry Van Dyke