Going into Friday

We haven't posted in a couple of days due to keeping busy getting things organized and stocked up around the house.

Dean's van repairs were completed, and the van picked up on Thursday. It was pretty pricey, but as he puts it, "It's better than a $500 a month car payment!" We spent Wednesday doing some shopping and running errands. They're necessary evils, to be sure.

Thursday I had my appointment to finish the hiring process at UMC. I am now 'cleared' for employment, having received my name badge and parking permit! I finally was able to get a tour of the NICU. It's huge! Everyone I met was very nice and welcoming, however. I will find out my schedule on Monday. I do know that I will be doing my orientation on day shift (7am-7:30pm) for 4-6 weeks. That means going to work in the dark, and coming home in the dark. But, I'll have four days off per week. I can do that! I was relieved to see that much of the equipment that they use is the same that I have experience with. That takes away some of the anxiety! I was really impressed by how calm and relaxed everyone was. That comes with experience. I'm glad to see that I will have great resources and support available while I learn so many new things!

Friday I will get to attend my first TAAA (Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association) meeting! Dean has a life time membership after serving several years as president, but I have never attended one of the meetings. While the local astronomy club in Geneva has about 15 people showing up to their meetings, the TAAA has 300+ members - ususally 100+ or so showing up for the meetings! We'll see lots of familiar faces, of course, and are having dinner with friends John and Liz before the meeting.

Since I don't have any "new" pictures to post today, I'm posting pictures that I have taken on previous visits to Tucson. The mountains rarely change, so the pictures are still worth seeing! The last picture is actually a picture of Kitt Peak, the site of the National Obeservatory. Dean worked there when he first came to Tucson, in 1979. If you click and enlarge the picture, you can see the dome of the 4 meter telescope on the far right (40 miles away!), above the top of the cactus.

An exciting day for all!

What a day this has been! America is witnessing, probably, the most historically important election in it's history! No matter your party affiliation, you have to admit that today is a very important one. I would imagine that we'll hear (when all is tallied up) that there was a bigger turnout of voters than we have seen over the past several elections. There is a new wind blowing over the country tonight!

Today I went for my appointment at UMC. I had to fill out the usual paperwork in Nursing Administration, and then had my appointment at Employee Health where they did a basic health checkup. I will return to Employee Health on Thursday to have my TB test read (standard stuff) and get clearance from them. After that it will be on to Security to get my picture taken and my new name badge. All is in place for me to start work on Monday, November 10th (this coming Monday!) with taking a required computer class. They sent home a booklet of reading to do - with a test after the readings. Interestingly, they will pay me 2 1/2 hours of pay to read the booklet and take the test! I'm including a picture from the web, to show my new place of employment.

Dean also had his meeting at the Mirror Lab today. He will return to work, part time, on Monday as well! Here is a picture (again from the web) of the Mirror Lab. You will notice the man standing in the right margin. That's Dean! This picture must have been taken when he was working there, before! I can't help but think that they are very lucky to have his knowledge and expertise returning.

Tonight we 'celebrated' our new employment statuses by inviting our friend, Erica, to join us for pizza and brewski's at Zachary's. Zachary's has my favorite pizza, and it's always fun to go there. It was great to see Erica again! We had a lot of catching up to do since seeing her last in June, before we drove the van back to Illinois. Speaking of the van...we should be able to pick it up tomorrow afternoon sometime.

You know it's a bad day when your wheel falls off...

We've made it to Tucson, but not without some "end of the trip excitement". It was good to see the Arizona border today! After nearly a week on the road, we were past ready to be at home. One of the noted mountains ranges in southeast Arizona are the Chiricahuas (pronounced Cheer-a-cow-was). They are a beautiful mountain range and contain a notable 'figure' of sorts. If you look at the horizontal profile of the top of the range you 'see' the profile of the great Native American, Cochise. In fact, Cochise was very active in this area of the country and his profile is a reminder of that. It was a welcome sight to see the welcome to Arizona sign, with Cochise's head right below it! You may need to 'click' on the picture to enlarge it, but the profile is very prominently there!

After 2000 miles of traveling on some pretty desolate roadways, we encountered 'car trouble' just 60 miles from home! A day or so ago Dean noted that the grease cup for his right front wheel had fallen off. Surely it would need to be replaced, but not an urgent situation. Today, just east of Benson, AZ we both noticed a high pitched noise coming from the right front wheel area. We pulled into a rest stop to check things out, and the wheel bearings on that wheel were really hot - smokin' hot, to be exact. Dean also noted that the right front brake wasn't working well when slowing down at the rest stop. We let the wheel cool off while Dean consulted with a semi truck driver, for his opinion of the situation. The truck driver told us that there is a truck stop, about 10 miles or so, past where we were - in Benson. He thought that we should make it there okay. We decided to take some of the strain off of the van by taking the Jeep off of the tow dolly, and I would follow behind him for the ride to Benson to have this problem fixed. We headed out from the rest stop, going slowly, with our flashers on, up the hill (we were in the mountains, of course). After about 30 yards Dean was slowing down more, and pulled off the road. I followed suit, parked the Jeep, and got out to see what the problem was. This is what I saw -











Yes, you're seeing that right! Dean said that he felt the van sort of 'lurch' and then it was evident that something was seriously wrong. The wheel was coming off the car!!! Yikes! We are so thankful that it didn't happen while we were driving 60 mph! Also, it was fortunate that it happened just 60 miles from home, rather than out on one of those desolate roads in Texas! Dean promptly called his mechanic in Tucson - who in turn called a mechanic in Benson. The tow truck was on it's way. We rearranged things between the van and the Jeep - putting things in the Jeep that we would need (including the cats), and things we could do without for a few days in the van. By the time we finished that task the tow truck had arrived. Fortunately we did have the Jeep in tow! We headed home, a little more cramped, but glad to be back on the road. The mechanic in Benson said to call in the morning to hear what the report is, and we are hoping he can fix it enough to get it back to Tucson and then let Dean's mechanic fix everything. We'll see what the plan will be in the morning.

We are home, though! It's currently 67 degrees with a mostly clear sky. Annie and Atticus are sequestered in our bedroom and bathroom. They aren't quite ready to 'meet' the rest of their siblings yet. We've been cleaning, unpacking, and now doing some laundry. I have my new hire meeting at University Medical Center (UMC) tomorrow at 1pm. Dean also has a meeting at the Mirror Lab around that time. I'm sure we'll have more to tell about tomorrow, but for now - the travel portion of this blog is complete!

Night number 3 in Texas...

Yep, you read that right - third night in Texas! Tonight, though, we're in El Paso and could see Mexico from the highway! During yesterday's drive we were amazed at the number of windmills we saw. Mind you, they are 400 feet tall! I wouldn't want to live near one, but I think we will see more and more in the future as the US moves towards it's goal of independent energy sources. We arrived in Alpine yesterday afternoon and spent one night there with friend, Eleanor. What a pretty area! There are mountains all around the area. It's very peaceful and quiet - though Sul Ross University is there. Eleanor has lots of bird feeders out, but some very different birds than we see in St. Charles! About 15 minutes after we arrived at her home the wild turkeys arrived! Much to our amazement, they even ate from the same type of finch feeder that we have! It was quite a sight to see such large birds on a perch! Today neighbor Barb joined Eleanor, and us, at Indian Lodge (at Ft. Davis State Park) for brunch in their Black Bear Restaurant. The lodge was built in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps - a method of work created by Franklin Roosevelt during the great depression. My father was in the CCC when he was a young man/late teen. Interestingly, a gentleman and his wife were waiting to go into the restaurant with us (they don't open until 12:00 for brunch) and he told me that his brother had been in the CCC and had helped to build Indian Lodge, where we were! Brunch was tasty, and enjoyed by all, to say the least. After brunch we went up to McDonald Observatory to tour around a bit. McDonald Observatory is a classic observatory run by the University of Texas - Austin. It is home to an 82" telescope built in the '30's; 107" built in the '70's; and a new technology 10 meter built in the '90's. We were able to go in to see the new HET (Hobby-Ebberly telescope - 10 meter) through a visitors gallery. They have beautiful grounds there, including an outdoor amphitheater for public observing. After that we were back to Eleanor's to pack up and hit the road. Each stopping place has found us hunting down Annie from where ever she is hiding, to load into her cat carrier. Today was no exception - finding her in the under carriage of a swivel/rocking easy chair! The only time we're sure of getting everyone loaded is when we are in a motel room with fewer places to hide. We considered staying a second night in Alpine, however it's good to get a couple of hundred miles further down the road. Tomorrow should bring us home to Tucson by mid afternoon. At that point, we should have logged somewhere in the vicinity of 2000 miles. It will be good to be home!

Greetings from Abilene, Texas!

Perhaps to the disappointment of the Ramada Limited (see the comments section of the previous post), we decided to push through to Abilene, instead of stopping in Wichita Falls, tonight. It will cut off a couple of hours of drive time tomorrow, on our way to Alpine, Texas. We will visit with our friend, Eleanor, in Alpine. Another brave soul who welcomes us with our cats!

Last evening, at Aunt Erna's, cousin Dan came by for dinner (and stayed until midnight!). I didn't have a chance to include his picture in last night's entry, but we promised him that we would include it today! Pictured with Dan is our own, Sugar Pants! He spent about 8 hours napping on the back of that chair, and wasn't about to let Dan take it away from him. He was nearly a "head warmer" for Dan! Also, the picture of me with "the flapper" (again, see yesterday's entry) is cousin Rose. She was modeling her Halloween costume for us. She has to dress up for Halloween, for her job, and we had to get a picture of her! Cousin Dan is a mainstay around his mom's house too, and always entertaining to talk to.

Today's drive was fairly uneventful, punctuated with a few very memorable moments. We had seen gas prices as low as $1.98/gal (mind you, we paid $2.79/gal in Illinois when we were leaving). Today we saw it $1.93/gal! Dean and I are hoping that by the time we get to Arizona they will pay us to put gas in the van! Compare this to last July, when we drove the van to Illinois and paid an average of $3.75/gal; and through the summer paying over $4.40/gal locally around St. Charles. Wowser, that's all I can say! That is the first of the 'things of note' today. The second item of note was not as pleasant. While gasing up at one of the oasis' on the turnpike in Oklahoma we witnessed an awful car accident. Dean saw it happen completely, I caught only the last flip of the car. It seems that the driver had gone partially off the road, tried to over correct the error, and rolled his/her car at least twice. I had never seen anything like that happen, and it was awful to witness. Fortunately it did happen next to the oasis, where there were a lot of people around. I was impressed at the number of people who not only stopped, but the number of men from the oasis who ran across the highway to the scene of the accident to help. I had just noticed, not 5 minutes before, a highway sign saying to "Call *55 for roadside emergencies". I grabbed my cell phone from the car and called immediately. I'm sure others called as well, and the police were there within a few minutes - emergency services there before we were ready to leave the oasis. I think seeing that accident happen made Dean and I, both, a little more cautious the rest of the day/evening while driving. The last of the memorable moments was seeing the beautiful sliver of a crescent moon with Venus hanging above it, as it was setting this evening. It was a very nearly perfectly clear sky, so even the tiniest sliver of moon was visible! Venus and Jupiter are so bright right now that I've been tempted to think they're airplanes instead of celestial bodies! Take a look and see how bright they are!

So, we're in Motel 6 - Abilene for the night! We kitty-proofed the room before opening the cages (to prevent Marley for finding a nearly impossible hiding place again), only to have him climb between the base of the bed (which is completely enclosed) and the box spring. We lifted the bed, got him out and locked him in the bathroom until we had it right. So, the kitties are relaxing and beginning to doze. We're fed (ordered pizza, delivered to the motel) and ready to get showers before heading off to sleep too. I may freeze Dean out tonight, though. It has gotten warmer as our trip has progressed. We wore fleecy jackets and sweat shirts when leaving St. Charles, now we are wearing t-shirts and shorts! I was so warm all day that I have had the air conditioning cranked up to "artic" since we checked into our room. It feels so good!

Oh my gosh! How could I forget???!!! Dean finally heard from the head of the mirror lab at U of A today! He had sent an email to him a couple of weeks ago, but had not heard back from him. His plan has been that he would return to work at the Steward Mirror Lab upon our return to Tucson. The University has had a hiring freeze on, however, and it was looking as though he may not be able to go back to work there. He had good news from the boss today, though, and they are hoping to have him back on the payroll. Yea!!!

En route to Tucson!

Dean and I left for Tucson on Tuesday, October 28th at 3:15pm. We are towing my Jeep, as planned. We were a little concerned that we had everything properly hitched, so we stopped by the Jeep dealership to have them check it out before we were truly "on the road". That put us officially on the road about 4:30pm. The driving is a little slower than when not towing. The dolly that the Jeep is on states "Do not exceed 45 mph". We are going faster than that, but staying below the normal speedlimit. The van is holding up well, though the hills are a little rough on it. We're keeping a close watch on it's status as it is our workhorse for this trip. So, off we headed! We stopped our first night west of St. Louis. We wanted to get as many miles behind us as we could the first day. We stopped around midnight, staying at a Motel 6. Motel 6 is the only motel chain that seriously welcomes pets. When traveling, like we do with our cats, it's not easy to call people and say, "Hey, can we come stay? We'll be there at midnight...and oh, by the way...we have four cats that aren't particularly happy to be traveling with us! See ya soon!" So, it's nice that Motel 6 not only 'leaves the light on' for us, but also for our kitties. Speaking of the kitties, they are doing fairly well with the trip so far! Annie has had to be pried out of her cage to explore the van while we were traveling. Marley found an area under the sink in the motel where the wall was open (for the pipes to go through) and he quickly climbed into there (requiring Dean to 'go fishin' for him to get him out). Atticus and Sugarpants are born travelers! They love it! After our over night somewhere in the western reaches past St. Louis, we hit the road around 11am, with the next stop planned to be at my Aunt Erna's house in Galena, Kansas. Aunt Erna doesn't care if we bring an elephant with us - as long as we come to visit - so she welcomes, and gets a kick out of, the cats. Cousin Rose is living with Aunt Erna, lately, to give her a hand with the house, etc. Rose raises Shitzu's, so there are little 'dust mop' dogs running around outside, and she is also rescuing a baby cat - who is currently living in the bathroom. It's like being in a domestic animal zoo! But, here we are at present, enjoying the quiet life of Galena, Kansas; enjoying visiting with Aunt Erna! We came through here in July, on our way to St. Charles from Tucson. It's always a treat to visit with Aunt Erna! We we stay here tonight, yet, and then leave tomorrow morning. Next stop is Wichita Falls, Texas - 358 miles from here. We plan to spend the night there tomorrow night. Hopefully we can update from there too!

Head 'Em Up, Move 'Em Out!

Fall has hit really hard lately. I don't think we've had a hard freeze yet, but it has gotten close. Interestingly, when I've told Melinda the current Tucson temps (highs around 90!) she said she would sort of like to see it snow before we head off. Weather lately has cycled frequently from perfectly blue skies to heavy low overcast. And wouldn't you know, about 3pm this afternoon, we had a blizzard for about 8 minutes! You could barely see across the river! They were huge flakes, aggregates about an inch diameter, perfect for trying to catch on your tongue, as Melinda demonstrates...

Spending any time outside, you hear a lot of honking, and when you look up, more often than not, you see our compatriots heading south.


Time to join them - we hit the road tomorrow!