Sept. 14, 2011 More Trip

We visited with Butch & Ben a little bit more on Tues & went out to lunch with them.  You can walk anywhere for lunch and have all kinds of choices three times over.  They walk or take the free rail service everywhere.  Butch goes to his doctor's appts & VA hospital by rail.  The weather continues to be in the 80's with no rain.  We stopped to see Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, ID.  They are comparable to Niagra except it is all natural and used for irragation.  No commerce.  They are about 52 ft higher than Niagra.  Jim took a video of them and some pictures.  We are going to Jackson Hole and the Tetons tomorrow.  The weather is still supposed to be nice just not as hot.

Bonnie

Sept. 12, 2011 Art (Uncle Butch)

We are here in Portland and spent the afternoon with Ben & Art.  The city is very interesting & you can go just about anywhere using the free rail system.  We took the rail to a very nice resturant & Ben treated us to a very nice dinner.  He is doing very well at his job with Morley Stanley and is trying to take the next 2 months off to help Art with his treatments.  Art had a doctor's appointment this morning to go over his MRI results.  His kemo treatments shrunk his cancer in his lung but did not get rid of it completely.  It is very agressive.  They are going to start radiation treatments on his brain & chest Wed.  The cancer has spread to his brain & other parts of his body.  According to Ben the treatments will only help prolong his life but it won't cure him.  With good care (eating well, taking his meds & excercise) he adds time to his life.  Ben & Art are going to go see Marjorie & the baby later this week.  Eventually Art will probably go to a Hospice house or the Vet hospital.  It dosen't look very promising but you just never know.

We are hoping to do a little siteseeing tomorrow and going to the Pacific Ocean.  From there we will be heading back home.

Bonnie 

Sept. 10, 2011 Day 6

Our goal today was to see Glacier Park & golf nine holes.  Well, we met half of our goal.  Because of road construction delays we were late arriving at the park.  It takes about 2 hours to travel the 50 miles on the route we choose, but because of road work through the park we had to add another 40 minutes.  The scenery was spectacular and worth the time & trouble.  We didn't see any wildlife though.  We are spending the night in Kalispell, MT and heading to Idaho tomorrow.  We are going to try our luck at golf again.  We should be seeing Butch on Monday.

We called Mother (Grandma or June depending on who is reading this) and heard about her night with the cat.  We know she returned that one and is now going to get another one on Monday.

That's all for now,

Bonnie

Sept. 9, 2011 Up Date

We started out from Duluth & took rte 61 a long lake Superior.  It was very scenic but we didn't get to see the light house. We stopped at a casino & I lost.  The land was very flat with soybeans & corn fields, marshes & dust!  We ended up at Grand Forks, ND. 

The next day Jim wanted to see the International Peace Gardens on the U S and Canadian border in northern ND.  Low and be hold, there was another casino on the way.  It was just 6 miles off rte 2 at Devils Lake.  We made good time getting to Devils Lake but the last 6 miles the road was under construction.  They were trying to repair a levy which had been damaged with all the flooding they had.  There was all types of earth moving equipment and trucks and the road was down to one lane in places and full of ruts.  It took us 45 minutes to get to the casino.  Jim wasn't too happy but I did win and I'm still ahead.   When we finally got to the gardens it looked like we would have to pass though customs when we left the gardens because it was also a port of entry.  Jim said we wouldn't have to because we weren't coming from Canada, we were only going to see the gardens.  Well, he was wrong!  We did have to and Jim doesn't have the enhanced driver's license and we didn't have our birth certificates with us.  I was safe but Jim wasn't.  Luckily they were very nice about it and let us through with out too much hassell.  We were planning on staying at Williston,ND but that didn't happen.  Unbeknown to us it has turned into a boom town with oil fields all over the place.  They have had 10,000 new arrivals in the past year.  New hotels are being built but the ones that were there were completely full.  We drove to Montana but there isn't many towns on rte 2.  We were desperate and settled for a room in a little town.  Wendy, you would never have stayed there!   Jim took some pictures but he hasn't downloaded them on the computer yet. 

On our fifth day we visited Richard and gave him his pizzas & fish that had stayed frozen up until the last day.  It has been in the mid 80's every day.  He was very glad to get them and we all had some of the pizza.  Richard was in good spirits but he is going down hill and getting very weak.  There are days he wishes it was his last.  He is in a lot of pain.  We are now in Livingston, MT and we will be heading to Glacier Nat'l Park tomorrow.

Will write again,

Bonnie 

Go West Sept. 2011

The Good & The Bad

Well, here's the good news & the bad news.  The good news is on our first day we went to 3 casinos & I came out ahead by $95 & we did nine holes of golf.  The bad news is we didn't get to our hotel until 8:30 PM, I stayed up until after midnight gambling & then I couldn't get to sleep because the good news is Jim is getting over his cold.  The bad news is now I have it and my nose won't stop running!  The good news is that Richard's pizzas & fish are still frozen.  The bad news is that all the dry ice evaporated by Tues morning.  The good news is with the help of ON STAR and our car phone we managed to locate some.  The bad news is that it took the better part of our late morning & early afternoon to get it in Duluth, MN.  The good news is we are in for the night in Duluth so I can take care of my cold.  The bad news is we only made about 200 miles and I lost about $30 at the casino.  So, all in all we aren't having too bad a time.  The weather has been pleasant.

We'll keep in touch.

Bonnie