Faith, family, football we're back!
Aug 22 left in the RV for Utah to attend Willie’s memorial service.
Had all the good intentions to get an early start on the RV trip to Utah. Our brother-in-law Willie passed away last week after a very courageous 2 yr battle with Leukemia.
On a visit with Willie a few years ago he shared the song “Family” by Joe Walsh. As he explained the song to me I could see the tears well up in his eyes as he shared how meaningful the song was to him.
When we got the news that Willie had passed away his daughter asked if I could play the song “Family” at the memorial. I said, sure, technically I can figure it out but emotionally it will be a challenge. I spent the next couple days working on the song. Each time I practiced I kept seeing the tears in Willies eyes as he shared with me how special his family was to him. Needless to say I cried a few times while I practiced.
I wasn’t the best travel companion during the first day’s drive. I felt tense and edgy. Joy had a lot of grace for me as we drove through Washington into Idaho. We stayed the night at an RV park in Mountain Home, Id. After we got the RV set up and had something to eat I told Joy I was sorry for not being good company as we started out. The next morning was much better. We had breakfast and got on the road.
We pulled in to Twin Falls for gas. On the way out I took the admiral and got a picture of him by the canyon and the bridge by Twin Falls. There were several people there. They told me I just missed seeing a couple of “Base Jumpers” go off the bridge down to the Snake River.
At the service, the pictures and comments were such a great tribute to a remarkable man. The whole family will dearly miss Willie as we continue to support and hold up his wife, two sons, and pregnant daughter and their families.
Aug 28 drove up to Eden, UT to visit Jeff and Debbie.
Jeff and Debbie were in our wedding party almost 40 years ago. Debbie and Joy were roommates back in the day. Jeff and I played music together. Their home in Eden is a beautiful log cabin with a short walk to a ski area. The cabin is so charming. Their back yard has daily deer visits. Debbie has a cool picture of a moose pressing his nose up against their bedroom window. Our dogs, Phebe and Willow, had to be close by our side so they didn’t chase or scare the wildlife. Jeff has a cool music room where we enjoyed playing guitar and singing.
Aug 29 meet up with Mike Iverson in Ogden.
Knowing we were going to be in Utah I called Mike Iverson to see if he and his band were playing during the time we would be there. Mike and I were part of a trio that met at Weber State College just after I got out of the Air Force in 1979. We were not able to see Mike’s band but we did get to meet up with him and his wife, Shauna who plays upright bass. Sunday afternoon we had the best time just sitting in their living room catching up, talking about our families and of course playing music.
View: https://youtu.be/107bGX1nFNU "Glendale Train"
Aug 29 visited Terry VanVleet.
After visiting Mike and Shauna we went to visit Joy’s brother, Terry. Terry had a stroke and is living at an assisted living home in Ogden. When we knocked on Terry’s door there was no answer. We knocked a couple more times but still no answer. I told a nurse that we knocked but Terry did not answer the door. The nurse knocked and then opened Terry’s door. No wonder he didn’t answer the door…he was watching golf, his favorite past time. He smiled when he saw his sister. It was neat to watch them together. Terry is nonverbal but communicates very well with his smile, a nod or a shake of his head and his sparkling eyes.
Aug 31. Leaving Utah we drove to toward Wy
We went to visit Joy’s board member friend Melinda and Jason. We have known them a few years through Pure Desire Ministries. Melinda and Jason were very successful in the CA real estate development industry. We knew they had a vision and a burden to start a ministry for young women; which is what brought them to WY. Joy and I had the privilege to hear more of their story and to drive around the 600 acres they purchased for the women’s ministry. Wow, what a story of prayer and answered prayers. I hope we have the honor to visit the ministry when it is established and to share “The Coyote” song with everyone.
While in Wyoming we drove through Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. The air quality was pretty poor because of smoke blown in from wild fires. We could barely see the outline of the majestic mountains from all the smoke. We were still excited to see some wildlife like elk, deer and moose.
September 3. Drove through western Montana and into Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
We spent an extra night in Missoula so that we could go to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and experience the best grilled cheese sandwich ever. A guy we know has a sandwich shop called “Meltz Extreme Grilled Cheese”. Address: 1735 W Kathleen Ave, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83815
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| Enticement for you foodies |
Holy smokes! Was I blown away by the excellent sandwich I had. It was so big I could only eat half. Joy had a Ruben sandwich that she said was the best she ever had, and that’s her favorite sandwich. We highly recommend that you try it!
We had planned to head over to North Spokane after lunch to visit an old neighbor who is building a home on ten acres. The cool part about being retired is that we can extend our travel plans if want to. During lunch Joy received a phone call from her nephew Steven who lives by WSU. He is a professor there and teaches all things related to soil. He has traveled around he world sharing his knowledge with farmers to help enrich their land production. Steven told us he and his brother, Joy's other nephew, David, were heading to Priest River which is just north of where we were having lunch.
The cool part about the phone call is Steven was calling to inquire about relatives in Priest River and had no idea we were in Idaho. The even cooler part of the phone call is that Joy was just telling me the day before that she wanted to visit her two nephews while we were on our trip.
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I called my old neighbor and told him about our change of plans and that we’d see him on our way back from Priest River. The only problem was it was Labor Day weekend and there were no available RV sites in Priest River. Okay change of plans, again. I called my old neighbor back and told him we couldn’t find an available RV site in Priest River. He invited all of us to camp out on his property.
After a couple of phone calls we were all at our friend’s property that evening, set up and enjoying the great company. Now I don’t know if this part of the story can get any cooler but Joy’s nephew David used to be a general contractor and has a wealth of home building knowledge. It was exciting to see him jump in a ditch with our friend and offer assistance in laying some pipe. Steven also shared how to manage some weeds in the field as well as what type of grass would grow best there.
The next day David and his wife Tracy; Steven and his daughter Kaitlyn; and Joy and I carpooled up to Priest River to look around. Joy shared a few stories about some relatives who used to live there when she was a little girl. We visited an antique shop, a farmers market and local craft sale. At the craft sale we purchased a beautifully handmade pine bench as a thank you gift for our friends letting us stay at their property. |
| Dirty visit with the Nephews Kaitlyn Steve Joy David Tracy Bob and Admiral |
