Bethany, MO and heading south

Yes, we're headed south finally, but only after going north 180 miles this morning.  Sandy learned last night that a cousin of hers had lost her husband and we felt that we ought to pay our respects to the family.   So we were up early this morning to drive the 180 miles north before 10:30 AM today.

After the funeral, grave side service and luncheon at the church, we were finally able to leave.  However, we continued going north to see Sandy's brother who is in a care center about 30 miles north.   Of course, it was a joy to see him for the short visit. (He suffers from some right side paralysis as a result of a stroke.)   He was obviously very surprised to see us.

Finally we broke away from all of the visiting and headed south.   Our first observation was that we were  getting better gas mileage, since the northwest wind was now a little bit behind us.  It appears that the Honda mileage went from 25 mpg while going north to about 30 mpg while going south.   Of course we're on the interstate and we were holding the speed close to about 65 mph more or less.   We cleared Des Moines at 4 PM and traffic was busy, but not slowing up the traffic.

We have spent the last 5 days with Lavonne helping her some as she recovers from the loss of her husband Dennis after 50 years of marriage.   We spent lost of time looking through computer items, both hardware and paper.  Dennis had everything filed or boxed, so it was easy to look at it and ask the question, "Is this something Lavonne will use?" (Or is it obsolete by newer versions?)  In the basement, I looked for items that were amateur radio related and should be grouped accordingly.  (None of the relatives helping Lavonne are familiar with amateur radio equipment.)  One item that I did not find is an antenna that is about 40 inches long and has a bayonet mount.  I removed the mount from the car, but the actual antenna is missing.  (Lavonne remembers that Denny didn't like it left on the Suburban because the antenna would hit the overhead in the garage or the beams in a parking garage.  He used the antenna only when traveling during the summer or in the south during the winter.)

One of the pains of using the computer in the motel as we travel is that I don't have my nice easy chair to sit in and trying to work on a computer while relaxing on the bed is the pits.  (Sandy has the easy chair.)  I guess I could rent a bigger room, but I'm too cheap to do  that!   Give me a couple of days and we'll be back in the bus!

The old farmer's advice:  Live a good, honorable life.  Then when you get older and think back, you can enjoy it a second time.

Gene