29 May ‘06
Our last day in the Bellevue campground turned out to be quite a day. Louise and I had just gotten off the freeway in our “toad” (tow car), and we saw a motor home turning onto the road to the same campground. The first thing that we both noticed and yelled out was that it was from “The Netherlands” !!!! Now you know me, it didn’t take but 10 minutes and I was at their door step to welcome them to the states. For some reason there was something very familiar about the motor home and the gentleman driving. After a few friendly words and a little comparing of notes, John went into his motor home, grabbed his wallet, and came back out with our “personal card” that I had given him last year in Carcasonne, France. For some reason, he had put that into his wallet and brought it all the way to the same campground that we were now staying in a year later…pretty nifty!!! Johan ol Mol and Maria it is great to see you again !!! Unfortunately, we had to leave the next morning, but we hope to see you some place in Montana in the next week or two. Happy And Safe Travels to the 2 of you as you tour the states !!!

April / May ’06,
We have now made 2 trips across the Cascade Mountains to Coeur d’Alene Idaho and back to the Seattle area. After our first trip to CDA we decided to sell our second home there, so getting it ready for the market, signing the agreement with the realtor, and waiting for the offers to come in made for a couple of quick weeks. The market is still very good in Coeur d’Alene, so it wasn’t but a day and we had 2 offers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until we had our 4th offer in by the 2nd week that we finally got it signed around. Then it was back to Seattle and get ready for Louise’s mothers 90th birthday. Besides all that, we had our 2nd bout with water coming into our motor home during a heavy rain storm. That meant that we had to put one more thing in to the final week of May….Lois’s birthday and the shop to handle the leak. We had a wonderful time at Lois’s birthday party. I would guess there were 50-60 people there to celebrate with her…”Happy Birthday” again Lois !!!!

March ’06,
Well I hate to admit it, but we’ve been back awhile… Fact is, I am writing this much after the March date above, so I’ve got some catching up to do. Sometime in late February Louise and I started looking in earnest for our “New Home” (our RV). While we were in Europe we had pretty much decided that we would get back and purchase a “5th wheel trailer (caravan), but I should have known better. By the middle of March we had found ourselves “committed” to a Motor Home instead of the 5th wheel. It has all the things that we “thought” we needed and a few more, but the deal that really made it work was getting behind the wheel of this “bus” vs. the pickup pulling the 5th wheel trailer…it just fit (now that’s me talking…). As always, any time you purchase anything new and you ask for a couple of “small” changes, it delays delivery, and this was no exception. Once we received our keys and had the walk through, we headed off for our first night in our new home. You would have thought we would have put a lot of thought into were we would be going for such a momentous occasion, but not us…we ended up staying in the parking lot of a grade school. The Lord was with us, because the police didn’t come and knock on our door in the middle of the night and ask us to pack up and get out. The dealer from which we had made our purchase had given us a gift of a weeks stay at a campground in Fall City (just outside of Bellevue Washington), so that is where we spent the next 4 nights. This was set up so that we should have the opportunity to try out everything and make sure that it worked before we got too far away. From there we went over the mountains to Yakima to see Leslee and the kids, help them move, and get a little more aquatinted with the handling of the coach on the road. Well, there were a few little glitches that the dealer had to take care of, so all this last 2 weeks was good to stay close.

14 April ’05, Wednesday. Congratulations Amy, your wonderful voice is winning it’s way to the top...
The last 5 weeks have just flown by and it has been really good to see all the family and friends again. I also want to say that I am so sorry that we didn’t see everyone and I hope they understand. As always, Louise and I extend an invitation to all of you to come join us…we will have a great time… Mikleane, I hope you and Ric were able to find your van OK….Thanks for everything !!! Leslee, Joelle, thanks for allowing us to barge in at your homes as well… We had a great time and of course really enjoyed the time with the kids !!! Again, the time home just went too quick, but we also were ready to head back to finish our journey. Amy, we are so proud of you…it takes a lot of talent to do the job you did in that talent search contest…congrat’s girl !!!
As we waited for our plane at Sea-Tac, we met a couple from Coeur d’ Alene, that were heading to Italy for their 26th wedding anniversary. At the airport in London, we met Varun, who has a company called The Luxury Travel Show. His company sounds wonderful for those that like to travel and travel in style…check it our on the internet.. www.theluxurytravelshow.com There is lot’s to see and learn. I also met Craig and his wife from San Diego. Craig is a staff writer for The San Diego Union-Tribune. Everyone with their own great stories… When we went to Delft to rent our second car, one of the men there was doing the paper work setting up our rental agreement and there was another that got on-line and printed out a train schedule with all the stops and where we had to change trains…what a group !!! It has been constant since we arrived in Europe, people bending over backwards to help us, guide us, pay a few coins at the grocery store for us, take a meal that was being prepared for a uncle and giving it to Louise, inviting 4 straingers to a 3 day Turkish Wedding by the groom 2 hours prior to the big event (I don’t think “Mother” was all that impressed..), and many many more…it’s good to get back !!!

14 March ’05, Monday.
Again, I’ve got a little catching up to accomplish. Our stay in Delft was with out a doubt, “interesting”. The campground was wonderful, even if it snowed deep enough for me to build a snowman, and got cold enough to freeze the waterline inside and put ice on the inside of the rear window with the heat on… The days flew by quickly as we were busy trying to get ready for the trip back to Seattle. We found for “Bumble Bee” at Shurgard in Delft, so it looked like we were finally ready. When we woke Friday morning, we woke to the coldest morning of our entire trip, -20C. Well, “Bumble Bee” just didn’t take to this COOOLLLDDD all that well. When I went to start her, she wont even give me a sigh…I don’t know if it was the batteries that just couldn’t take the cold or, maybe the starter just froze up, but she just would not start. :”NOT NOW…WE’VE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE !!!”… Fortunately, one of the men at the campground had a towrope, so with a short pull we were underway to Shurgard. Once we had “Bumble Bee” placed in the storage area, we hired a cab (the cold broke a train track, so we couldn’t take a train) to take us to the airport. When we arrived at the airport, we found that there hadn’t been any planes flying out for 2 days, and our flight was a “possible” departure in the morning. Well, what do you do? We went to the Tourist Information booth and they found us a room for the night at the Airport Radisson. With snow still falling and looking like it would just keep on, we went to bed praying the morning would be clear and sunny. Unfortunately, the fog had come in, in a big way, and things looked a little bleak. The only thing left, was to go out to the airport and wait, so wait we did. After a schedule change every half hour or so, and a gate change with it, we found ourselves seated in our assigned seats and heading down the runway about 3 hours late…we’ll take it!!! We’re on our way “home”. Jet lag is for others…well maybe not, because after 3 days, I was still getting up at 3am and heading off to bed by 8pm dog tired. Our days back have been full with some of the little things that you have to get done, but on the other hand, there has been free time to visit with family and friends. It is good to be back, and the weather here has been fantastic. On the other hand, we are anxious to get back to “Bumble Bee” and get back on the road. We picked up our tickets for the return trip and will fly out on the 13th of April for Amsterdam.

It’s hard to believe, but we’re at the last few days before departing to Amsterdam and starting our two year “Journey” through Europe and parts of North Africa.
The house being sold, all the furniture, mini van, clothing, and all other personal items given away or sold has set us free to be on our way with out any anchors.
Since we got back from Cabo it has really been a whirlwind of “must accomplish” chores in getting ready. Quite honestly, we have probably missed a few must do’s but we will have to put all that behind us after Sunday. We have had some wonderful send off’s from a lot of wonderful friends and family members and we wish we could take every one of them to Europe with us. Louise and I really enjoyed a night of wine and great food with our friends from our last neighborhood (congratulations to Eric, Kelly, & Hayden for the new addition to their family.... “Isabel” !!!!). We can't wait to meet her in person. Sue and Dean hosted a wonderful “Going Away Party” attended by a lot of family members who all wished us a safe and fun trip. It was great to see every one, and we will miss them all. This week we traveled to Yakima, onto Coeur d’Alene and back to Woodinville to spend a few days with the families of our daughters. It is wonderful to be looking forward to this trip but on the other hand, it is difficult to think just how long we will be away from everyone. We hope you will all kddp in touch when you can.

We are getting ready to head out on the 7th for Cabo San Lucas!