A Whirlwind March

I'd made plans earlier this year to fly up to Sequim, Washington in early March for my mother's 90th birthday.  My two brothers and my sister would be there and we'd have a good reunion -- I think that the last time we'd all been together with Mom was when we celebrated her 80th in Santa Fe at my brother's.
My sister called me in late February to tell me that Mom had had a small seizure and we'd probably need to review her living situation -- she still was living by herself in her house.   We decided to temporarily put her in assisted living, and decide the permanence of the arrangement when we all got up there for her birthday.
To make a long story short, we had a great birthday party for Mom at my sister's place in Seattle.  Since I'm the retired one, and have (theoretically) more time than my sibs, after I flew in on the 8th, I drove over to Sequim (on Washington's Olympic Peninsula) and brought Mom back to Seattle.  One of her high school classmates from Butte (who is a retired Seattle doctor), and her nephew Al (he's the redheaded one) came and joined us all as we celebrated her 9 decades.
 We discussed the situation with her and we all decided that the assisted living arrangement was the best alternative.  I took Mom back to Sequim, and we spent a few days doing her taxes, and moving some of her items to her new place.  The bigger question was what, when, and how to take care of all of the rest of her things and the sale of her house, which was now sitting vacant.
I returned to Yuma, and after some discussions between Mandy and me -- and with my brothers and sister -- we decided that it would be better to address the issues now rather than later this year.  We packed a few things, grabbed the GPS, fueled up the Honda, and temporarily left Yuma's sunshine behind and headed for the Northwest. 
Fortunately we had time to stop for long-overdue visit with our good friends, Randy and Lori (and their daughter Natalie) in Vancouver (WA).  Lori also showed us her newest pets -- miniature horses!







We also made time for quick tax-free visits to REI, Performance Cycle, and the Columbia Outlet Store in the Portland area.

After arriving in Sequim, we spent about a week boxing and packing things at Mom's house, getting her more permanently set up in her assisted living situation, renting a storage for the items that we all wanted to keep, and getting most of the items move to storage.  We also spent time visiting with Mom daily, and taking advantage of the great meals at her facility.



Our hope is that our week of work would allow my sister to get Mom's place on the market this spring, and we'll see what happens in this interesting real estate market.

We didn't have time to take many other pictures, but we did snap a few along the way --


We caught a pretty good view of Mount Shasta as we zoomed by







We've always been pretty impressed by the windmills just west of Palm Springs -- but no wind this trip -- they were all still!





This was our first view (and transit) of the new Tacoma Narrows bridge connecting the Kitsap Peninsula with Tacoma -- it will get heavily used this summer, as there is a planned closing of the Hood Canal floating bridge for about 60 days.





We thought this was pretty interesting -- an old Huey being trailered to its new home.  The guy had Army stickers all over his truck, so I suspect that he's probably a veteran on a labor of love.







Mandy managed to catch this interesting view as we were following him down the I-5 at 75 mph . . . . . .








So, after 3300 miles of dodging California traffic, and enduring Oregon and Washington rain, we're now back in Yuma, enjoying the last of the spring cycling here, and slowly getting ready to leave for points east.  Our current plans are to hit the road around the 20th of April.  We'll make a short drive to the Phoenix area and leave the motorhome there for a day or two while we make a quick run up to Flagstaff for Mandy's yearly visit with her cardiologist.  We'll then head east on I-10 for central Texas and a visit with our sons and their families for a week or two -- and for the upcoming birth of our sixth grandchild.  Our son Brian and his wife Christy are expecting their second child -- a girl (Gillian) just after the first of May.
After the festivities of welcoming another family addition, we'll turn north, bound for South Dakota's Black Hills.  We will be working at Custer State Park, just south of Rapid City, for the summer and enjoying the biking, hiking, and scenery of our adopted state until the end of September.  Barring unforeseen circumstances -- and realizing that plans more than 5-6 months out are cast in jello -- our plan is to wander south after our Black Hills stay, going to Red Bay, Alabama for some additional work at the Tiffin factory, and then leisurely head west, with a stay-over in Texas, on our way back to Yuma for the 09-10 winter season.

Speaking of "winter" in Yuma, here are a few flower pictures that Mandy has been collecting over the past couple of weeks, as things bloom out here this spring.  Hopefully we'll be able to follow the spring season north over the next month, and see all the variations of flowers that are starting to bloom across the west.