Our Baby Arrived

Lora Elizabeth entered the world about 6:19pm last evening and she is simply adorable!  I had the privilege of  hanging out with Laci and John throughout the day and Laci was a trooper—she did a great job!!  Lora Elizabeth weighed 7 pounds and 5 ounces and has baby blue eyes—both parents are blue eyed.  This morning Michael and I went up to the hospital and I got to hold her for about a hour—I was in heaven!  I think I can get used to this being a great-grandmother except I am going to be a Mimi!

Here are some photos of the sweet girl:

Happy family

 

Grandpa Lonn

We made the decision to head across the border into Canada this afternoon.  So, blogs and other social media postings will be sporadic until we actually get to Alaska where we will once again have internet and phone. 

We Are On Our Way

I always say, “I think we are loaded” and then I continue to load for hours on the last day—granted when you are traveling in a truck camper that loading takes on a new dimension!  I was saying to myself, “If I want to take another pair of shoes, something else has to come out of the rig.  Do I really need to take stuff to make soup, there are grocery stores in both Canada and Alaska.”  Well, finally just before noon yesterday we headed down the driveway.  Our Alaska adventure has begun. 

Destination last night was Neihart, MT, home to our friends Royal and Nancy.  They own a convenience store which just happens to have RV hookups out back.  We spent the evening visiting with them and the many folks of that community who use the store as a gathering place—it was a beautiful summer evening in Montana watching the moon rise.

Today we had a long, long travel day for us—54 miles !!  All the way to Great Falls where the next exciting event is happening—Laci, our granddaughter and her husband John will hopefully welcome their daughter into the world Thursday. 

Geri was a jewel today whipping up a delicious evening meal for John, Laci, Michael and me—especially after that long travel day we had!

We had some excitement while eating dinner—there is evidently a resident turkey in this Great Falls RV park.  He strolls around picking bugs from the front grills of arriving rigs!!  He meandered through our campsite then made himself way, way too much at home on Laci and John’s car--I mean he really made himself at home by doing his nasty business right on top of the car!

It’s hot in Great Falls, 97 degrees this afternoon—sure am glad that truck camper has air conditioning!! 

Departure Date Is Nearing

We’ve been scurrying around like little beavers all day long!  Michael had a honey do list a mile long and he finished all that list before his Dad showed up for lunch—steaks on the grill, oven fries, green peas and homemade ice cream.  Nat is always sad to see us go but this time I hope to brighten his days while we are away—I’ve found a new app for the iPad called PhotoCard.  Set up an account, buy some credits, take a photo with the iPad and this app converts that photo to a postcard.  You can address the card and write a message.  Each card you send costs a certain amount of credits and someone out there in cyberspace mails the card for you—I’ll let you know how it works. 

This afternoon we drove to town and ran a bunch of last minute errands one 0f which was to drop off this quilt to its owner—the vice president of our local bank.  This is just the coolest quilt—three dimensional—gorgeous!!!

I thought about keeping it but decided that might not be in the best interest of our financial well being?????

When we got back from town we ran up to Nancy and Geoff’s—Nancy is baby sitting my geraniums while we are gone—we enjoyed a glass of wine with them before heading home to finish up some last minute stuff. 

It was an almost fall like day—cool, cloudy, some rain. 

Down To Just Two

Our folly, the older Foretravel motorhome went down the driveway with its happy new owners this afternoon and we breathed a huge sigh of relief.  We didn’t lose any money on the deal so life is good!  Now we are back to having just two RVs—the truck camper and our beloved Country Coach motorhome. 

Geri and Larry left this morning taking a meandering route towards Great Falls where we will meet up again.  They’ve never been to that part of Montana and wanted to do some sightseeing leaving us to finish up some last minute chores—Larry and Geri are easy guests!!

Michael has been busy outfitting the truck camper with items such as an inverter, we are both struggling with the limited storage space but are coping.  We are almost ready I think! 

I will leave you with some more photos from our Blue Lake trip.

We were WAY up there behind that peak marked by the red arrow—hard to believe we gained that much in elevation!

Wow, Wow and More Wow

All day yesterday the only word we all seemed to know was “wow!!”  We left home late Wednesday evening with both rigs, ATVs in tow headed “up the Boulder” to give the truck campers a trial run.  We also wanted to show Geri and Larry some gorgeous Montana country.

Our campsites were on the Boulder River--

After the leveling process—geez, that’s a big deal when you are in a pickup camper—the truck has to be level and there is no button to push like the one in our Country Coach motorhome we had happy hour and dinner by the river.  The mosquitoes once again were vicious—my legs look as if I have chicken pox—guess we were practicing for Alaska!!

After a good nights’ sleep we were up and out on the ATVs bright and early heading for Blue Lake—23 miles of rock climbing, bouncing and jouncing before the lake comes into view.  Every one of those 23 miles is some of the most scenic we’ve ever seen—and right in our own backyard!

Larry and Geri have been all over this country but they too were in awe of our backyard—we had lunch by the lake and started the descent—another 23 miles of bouncing and jouncing over rocks and through puddles and streams. 

At times we rode in full sun, at times we donned rain gear but it never did really rain very much.  We all wore jackets most of the day—as you can see there is still snow around the lake at that elevation. 

It was a spectacular day—one for the memory book!  Back at camp we enjoyed another wonderful happy hour and dinner; we even had some unexpected guests—our friends Doug and Jane drove by in their Ranger—I waved my arms and they stopped to visit for a while.  This morning we headed for home as we had some business to transact only to find out it had been postponed until Saturday—dang it, we could have stayed another day!!! 

Our great-grandchild is being a little stubborn—due July 28, she has yet to grace us with her presence.  Mom is more than ready for her appearance as are the rest of us!!  Larry and Geri are leaving in the morning, making a start to Great Falls with some sight seeing on the way.  We will meet up with them in Great Falls later in the week. 

We Are Not Very Nice To Our Guests

Rollie fixes the septic system when he visits, Larry and Geri get roped into helping fix up and clean the new truck camper—we aren’t treating our guests very well are we???

But we have taken time out for fun—Sunday afternoon we took an ATV ride to Moccasin Lake and today we took a ride up Elk Creek.  Geri and I made a run to Livingston yesterday—my drivers license expires in September—I won’t be here so it was essential I get the license renewed.  The drivers license dude only comes to Big Timber on two Wednesdays’ per month and I missed both of those, so it was off to Livingston where there was not another soul in the office but me—sweet!!!

Geri and I gave that truck camper a very good cleaning today—and now I am off to load some stuff—we have another adventure coming up while awaiting the arrival of our great-grandchild. 

Geri in the phone booth up in our hay pasture—Emmi thought she was some big, bad monster!!

We Have Visitors and A Birthday Party

First they were coming then they weren’t, now they are coming and we are thrilled.  Larry and Geri had some family obligations which they thought might hinder their going to Alaska with us—those obligations solved themselves and we are now good to go!!  Larry and Geri arrived Friday afternoon with their rig:The cargo trailer sitting back beside our motorhome contains their ATVs—we thought we would show them some country before we take off for Alaska.

We’ve had some questions—“when are you leaving” being the most frequent.  Our granddaughter Laci and her husband John are expecting their first child—our first great-grandchild—and we are not leaving until the baby is born—the official due date is tomorrow, July 28. 

Our friends Angela and Ralph once said, “you people change your RVs more often than you change your underwear!”  Now can you imagine someone thinking that???? Sometimes you develop an attitude of—”oh, my, we are going to Alaska, we need a truck camper NOW!”  so, we bought one and it was a dud!!!  It leaked—we fixed it, the refrigerator was too small, we didn’t fix that, the bathroom was so small if the cowboy or I gained a single ounce, we would not fit, and most importantly at least in my menopausal book—it didn’t have air conditioning.  So, we listed the rig on Craigslist about two weeks ago—today it rolled down the driveway with a happy new owner. 

Yesterday the cowboy and Larry went to Billings to purchase a Lance truck camper—a 1999 which needed a little work (would we have it any other way???).  Larry said Michael made the salesman cry—the cowboy made a really, really good deal!!!!  It has more space particularly in the bathroom plus it has air conditioning.  It is filthy but I’m a good cleaner! 

Last night we celebrated my dear friend Jill’s momentous birthday with a spectacular dinner party—we had so much fun—dinner was fabulous:

A tri-tip roast grilled with chimichurri sauce, rosemary potatoes (as our friend Bradley calls them, “potatoes a la weed”) and salad with homemade dressing.  Dessert was a three layer chocolate cake with dark chocolate/coffee ice cream!!!

Today I quilted, Geri cooked walleye from Minnesota for lunch and this afternoon we took an ATV ride—more on that adventure later!