JOURNAL OF MY ADVENTURES IN RETIREMENT

(Plus a few months prior)

3/18/06

Condo sold and escrow closed. Next is to move in with Cliff & Andrea until their house sells.

4/16/06

Maria, Michele and I got together for the final celebration of our birthdays. We have been doing this for, at least, 15 years and this year John Fitzpatrick and Lenora Foche joined us. This was bittersweet for me because it will probably be our last get together.

4/22/06

I retired yesterday and today my friends gave me a wonderful send off. We ate at the Dairy Creek restaurant.

These are the instigators, I mean planners of my retirement party, Cindy, Maggie and Janet. I really enjoyed myself and by the noise level everyone else appeared to be having fun, too.

I’ve been begging Cindy and Pat to either give me one of their quilts or make me one; they are both magnificent quilters. But I must admit surprise when I opened the gift and there was my very own quilt made by these two lovely friends.   This will be a wall hanging which I will design a room around.

4/28/06

Carol, Andrea and I went out for the day. This is unusual because we usually only do a lunch or dinner and only for a few hours. Today however, we started at 8AM and didn’t get home until after 5PM.

We had thought we would be traveling all over the coast and maybe into SLO but we started with Cambria and never left. We ate and walked around the shops on Burton and Main Street and talked and laughed. It was a great day and one that we will duplicate when Carol comes to Kentucky to visit.

5/18/06

It’s been 2 months since my condo sold and I moved in with Andrea & Cliff & Gladys. It has taken us aback that C&A’s house was not selling, well, the house sold 3 weeks ago and the buyer wanted a short escrow so we have spent nearly every spare moment packing. The amount of packing was a surprise since Andrea had packed most of their stuff already; but now it is done and the movers will be here today and tomorrow to load.

Tomorrow I leave for Sacramento to spend a couple of days with Connie and Mike.  But tonight was more for saying goodbye or at least so-long. Carol, Andrea and I went to Cold Stone for ice cream and conversation and. Karen DeHoog came by to bring us travel kits – very nice.

5/19/06

I left Paso Robles around 8AM, just as the movers arrived to finish loading the moving van. I got to Connie and Mike’s about 1PM. I got lost after arriving in Sacramento, which is typical. I don’t think I’ve ever made a straight shot to their home yet.  I can get close because they live across the freeway from ARCO Center, but the neighborhoods around their place has grown and changed dramatically so I had to call for help. Connie directed me and was waiting on her driveway when I arrived.

I spent two days with them talking and eating and talking and watching TV while Connie talked.  It was a good visit.

5/21/06

I left Sacramento at the same time Connie and Mike left for work for the first leg into Oregon. The drive was pretty easy, although I did hit some rain but this did not take away from the beauty of Northern California and Oregon one wit.   (This shot was taken through my windshield while I was driving down a rain drenched highway. Look closely and you will see the raindrops on my windshield.)

I have an elderly cousin, Della, who lives with her daughter and son-in-law in Rogue River, OR. Ironically, Della and her husband had lived in Pismo Beach, just 15 minutes from me, for years and I only saw her twice and for that I apologized.

It was nice meeting her daughter June and hubby Bob for the first time. I hit it off with them both right away. June is very much a DeHoog and we spotted this in each other in a very short time. They generously took me to dinner after we had spent a few hours discussing Genealogy.  They were able to give me a lot of info that I didn’t already have, for which I am grateful.

 

I left their home about 5pm and made my way to my hotel room in Grants Pass, another town in which I’d never been. I didn’t see much of it since my only purpose was to sleep, but the drive was beautiful and I tried my first Dairy Queen Blizzard. It was yummy and the perfect dessert after the nice meal with my Rogue River relatives. (Oh, this was actually my 2^nd dessert as Bob had made chocolate chip cookies which I had to try - also, yummy.)

5/22/06

I left Grants Pass fairly early and made my way to my aunt and uncles farm in Albany; arriving around noon, just in time for my uncle Dick to fix my lunch. We sat around and chatted until my cousin Jody arrived from work.  Jo’s hubby Bob arrived a little later and my aunt Ginny fixed us all a wonderful dinner. After more catching up on everyone’s lives, I followed Jody and Bob to their house at Camp Adair (which is only a couple of miles from the farm and about 10 from Corvallis) where I would be staying for a week.

As usual, Jody and Bob were great hosts and during my weeks stay I was able to visit with most of my Oregon family. 

My stay in Oregon culminated with the first picnic of the summer – Memorial Day. Many of my relatives and most of my aunt and uncles neighbors attended this annual event. We took some really cute pictures and I have more good memories.

This is a picture of me and my cousins; Becky, Jody P. Kenny and Danny. Becky, Kenny and Danny are 3 of 5 siblings. The other two sisters were unable to attend. Until last year I had 13 first cousins and my sister, but the cousins are down to 11 now. Three of the cousins died each month for three consecutive months. It took a toll on everyone and made my visit much more essential.

The picnic was also a celebration of my aunt Ginnie and uncle Dicks 52d wedding anniversary. Their daughter, Jody P., put their wedding picture on the cake (which is what they are looking at in this pic). Along with my uncle Bob, who is 80-something, Ginnie and Dick still care for the farm with a little help from the Oregon clan.

5/29/06

I left Oregon and headed to Salt Lake City. My intent was to drive straight through or if I couldn’t then to stay in Boise, ID, however, Jody P. has a cousin in Mountain Home, ID and she made arrangements for me to stay with her for a night. Remember as you read this, I only stayed one night. I arrived around 5PM and left before Bunny was awake the next morning.

What can be said about Bunny? Well, she’s 88 years old but looks about 70 and she could run rings around me physically.

Bunny has had a fascinating life, which she shared with me. She was born into a family of many children. Her family was poor so they chose her to leave home (I think she said Indiana) and move in with her uncles’ family in Mountain Home, ID.

Bunny is a musician and spent about 40 years as a piano bar entertainer. She has a baby grand in her living room and entertained me with some of the oldies. Much of the 40 years she spent as an entertainer was in the Los Angeles area where she met her husband, Fred who was also a musician (violinist). She spoke of the well known movie stars and musicians she knew. Bunny and Fred were successful in their chosen field, although not well known outside of the industry.

About 15 years ago, Fred was not well and they decided to retire. They were going to stay in LA but one of Bunny’s cousins contacted her and asked her if they would like to move into a house he owned in Mountain Home – actually right across the street from the home in which she grew up. After some discussion they figured, why not and moved to Mountain Home. Freddie didn’t live too much longer as his health deteriorated. Bunny’s cousins were all living out of the area and she had lost track of most of her childhood friends. So, she was alone.

Then sometime in the 1990’s my cousin Jody married her current husband, Bob, who was career Air Force, and they were eventually stationed in Mountain Home. While they were there they spent a lot of time with Bunny so she spoke very fondly of them and I think she misses them a lot.

5/30/06

I left Mountain Home very early today. Bunny had told me that she usually went to bed late so I tried not to wake her.

I arrived in Salt Lake City with no hotel reservation and no real clue about where I would stay in relation to the Genealogy Library. I finally stopped at a mini market and asked directions. When I got to the area of the library I realized I was in a high rent district so I walked into the hotel closest to the library and got a room for two nights.

These pictures are two views from my 9^th floor hotel balcony. The one on the right is a view of the city and the one on the left is a view of the patio which goes into the Mormon conference center.

6/1/06

I spent most of the day in the library doing research. I discovered that I had much of the info they provided. Granted, had I stayed for a week I might have gleaned new info but as fate would have it the hotel I was staying didn’t have any rooms after tonight so…

 6/2/06

Let me begin by saying “Don’t blindly take directions from a hotel parking attendant, no matter how distinguished he looks.”

The trip from Salt Lake City, Utah to Dolores, Colorado is supposed to be about 6 hours and most of that 6 hours is spent in Utah with the final hour in Colorado.

I got on the freeway, which according to the parking attendant was well marked and started the next leg of my journey.  After about 3 hours I realized that something was not right so I stopped at a TA (Travelers Aid) station and asked where I was. Imagine my surprise when I was told I was in Wyoming – I wasn’t supposed to ever be in Wyoming. Well we looked at the maps and I decided to take the next road that was going south and I began driving and driving and driving. After about 6 hours I came to a town called Vernal, UT and got a hotel room. I studied my maps and figured I had another 6-8 hours before arriving in Dolores, CO.

6/3/06

Well, here I go again. Ironically I will have to enter Colorado and then go back into Utah before I can get back into Colorado and arrive at the destination I should have been at yesterday afternoon.

Even with mistakes there are bright spots. I got to see country that I would never have seen had I gone the right way. This leg of my trip to Dolores probably took two hours longer than it was supposed to take because I kept stopping for pictures.

Its remarkable how you can be in desert and then 15 minutes later in mountains covered in pine trees; granted I was driving straight up hill.

Once again I have arrived in a town without hotel reservations. I decided to stop at the Dolores Mountain Inn, a rustic lodge-style motel.

Dolores is a quaint little town at elevation 6936 feet. There are two main avenues, Central Ave, which was the original main street, and Railroad Ave which used to have tracks running its length for the Rio Grande Southern Railroad. Dolores is about 10 miles west of Cortez and 18 miles north of Mancos. Dolores is one of the few frontier towns still in existence.  I’ve checked in for two nights so let’s hope I can get the info I need before the next leg of my trip.

6/4/06

Today, I spent a lot of time just walking around because there was nothing open until Monday.

I found this antique store fascinating because I have a picture of my grandfather in a horse drawn wagon in front of this store. My picture was taken in the very early 1900s when he was a teenager. For the store to still be in Dolores was quite exciting.

6/5/06

I was able to get into the library and other places, like the newspaper, for my research. Imagine my bewilderment when the newspaper editor went running out of the building? I couldn’t see anything from the back room in which I was ensconced and I was giddy by the gleanings of genealogy goodies that followed page after page of the archived newspapers. But even that couldn’t keep me from going to the front door to see why she had run from the building. Was I surprised to see a cattle drive going past the newspaper? Uh, yeah. Well, I went out into the street and began snapping pictures galore. I was quite angry at myself when I realized that my camcorder was in my hotel room. I found out later that cattle have the right of way.

The townspeople of Dolores are so very friendly. I have been given advice about who to ask or where to look for my ancestors by Deanna (Truelsen), the owner of the Ponderosa Restaurant, the Donohues, a retired couple from California, their daughter-in-law, the librarian, the editor of the newspaper, the railroad historical society, Barbara Schultz & Ruby of the Visitors center and sundry others.

6/6/06

Talked to Andrea tonight - it’s been nearly impossible to communicate because I have no signal on my cell phone in Dolores and I didn’t know the land line number. I sent an email but found out tonight that Cliff’s hard drive crashed so they are without computers I managed to finally listen to my voice mail and to respond by driving up to a high point about 18 miles away. I was heading to Mancos anyway as I wanted to get to that cemetery and take pictures.

 

When I got to the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Mancos I found Emmett. Donohue doing my research for me. He is such a helpful old guy. Ethel’s grave marker is missing so he is going the make a cement casting and put in a new one.  Apparently, since this is such a small town they allow people such as Emmett to do burials. He mentioned that he poured the cement used to encase the cremation urns of Fern, Doris and Ethel because they were his neighbors.

Oh, I am so excited! I found the exact spot where great-great grandmother Esther Jane Wheatland is buried.  According to cemetery records, she died in Arola (which doesn’t exist anymore) and her son (don’t know which one) brought her back in a casket to Mancos for burial. This was in 1911 and she was the first Wheatland to be buried in Colorado. Fern, Ethel and Doris urns are buried next to Esther. Had I not spoken with Emmett I wouldn’t have known to go up to Mancos and I wouldn’t have found my great-great grandmother.

6/7/06

Today is getting off a little slow. It’s almost 11:30am and I just got out of the shower. I did learn something, though; do not take a shower this late in the day or you will have a spray that fluctuates between icy cold and scalding. I think I’m on the same water supply as the washing machines because my water would change temp every few minutes like the cycles of the washer. Ah, how I miss my tank less water heater.

Even getting up late didn’t stop today from getting interesting. I decided to check out a possible location of my family’s home and while looking I noticed a cow in the middle of the road about a ½ mile down the road. Other vehicles were trying to get around it and this highway has a 65mph limit on the outskirts of Dolores. I decided to “Herd” the cow out of harms way. My cell phone doesn’t work here so when I spotted the Park Rangers office about 2 miles after the "herding" started, I pulled in quickly and asked for help. The ranger told me she would call the sheriff so I ran out and continued my adventure with the wayward cow. The cow and I probably went over 10 miles before the sheriff arrived and took over. My little detour with the cow, #26 to be specific, put me a little behind in my research. So I took off with absolutely no plan and ended up in Yellow Jacket, about 18 miles northwest of Dolores.

The Post Office is in a building that used to be the Schaaf’s Store which housed the Post Office and General Merchandise. Schaaf is my grandmother’s family. I have a picture of my grandparents, mother, and sundry other relatives in front of this store which was probably taken in the late 1930’s.

Rose, the postmaster, helped me find a resource on the Schaaf family. Esther Wilson was whom I was supposed to talk to but when I got there I discovered that Mrs. Wilson couldn’t help but her daughter, Ruth, who is her daytime caretaker was able to give me some information because she had transcribed her father’s notes on Yellow Jacket.

Yellow Jacket may have thrived at one time but now the Post Office is the only business in the town. There is no merchandise in the store.

6/8/06

I finally left Dolores; my two day stay turning into a five day, and headed to Pueblo, Colorado. Actually, I wanted to check out the cemetery in which my mother’s birth mother is buried and that is located in the Olney Springs Cemetery. Olney Springs, Colorado is on its last leg. There are very few souls living in the town and the cemetery is not cared for very well. I was disappointed to find out that grandma doesn’t have a headstone. I guess my grandfather couldn’t afford one and no one ever thought to put one on later.  This area is so desolate that I need to find myself a town with a hotel.

6/9/06

Well, last night I spent the night in a motel in Rocky Ford, Colorado. The only thing I noticed when I checked in was the desk clerk eerily reminded me of “Psycho”, although the motel itself didn’t resemble the “Bates Motel”. When I awoke this morning, however, I took a closer look and decided it wasn’t even clean enough to take a shower. I just packed and got out of there as quickly as I could.

While in the Army I found myself stationed at Fort Hood, TX for 44 months and for years I have said I wouldn’t go back to Texas. Well, I almost had to go to Amarillo, TX on my journey because MapQuest thinks it’s better to go through Oklahoma City by way of Amarillo on the way to Arkansas. Well, I looked at the map and decided to go the northerly route and avoid Texas altogether. The only problem with this route is that the plains of Oklahoma are borrrrring.

I drove for about 9 hours until I found myself in Enid, Oklahoma and located a new Comfort Inn that is quite nice. I’d like to just stay in my pajamas for a whole day and watch TV and play on my computer but at these rates I need to get to my next destination, Siloam Springs, Arkansas. I guess I’ll just order a pizza!

6/10/06

I’m sitting in a hotel in Siloam Springs, AR (actually, Watts, OK as this is a state line community). I managed to find my great-great grandfather’s headstone; I love it when the cemetery provides the layout of the site and all the names. I then decided to try to find his sisters’ headstone in Gravette, AR. which is only 20 miles north of Siloam Springs but neither cemetery I visited had any identification of sites available. I walked around for a while in the heat but didn’t find Helen. An additional problem is that she is buried in the IOOF cemetery and no one has heard of it. I particularly wanted this headstone as my mother was named after this lady.

6/11/06

I’m tired and I had a choice of turning left out of Arkansas and going to Missouri or turning right and heading for Kentucky. Kentucky won!

Because of Tonya and Alice I had to stop in Memphis, TN. One thing I noticed was the plethora of signs to Graceland, I wonder who lived there?

I got about 75 miles west of Nashville and just pooped out. It was actually a good thing that I didn’t try to drive the additional 4 hours because Tennessee and Kentucky had thunder and lighting and more than a little rain. I would have been caught in it, at night, trying to find home.

Interesting thing about Tennessee; if you drive through the state on Interstate 40 you will discover that it appears to be a huge amusement park.

On the West side of the state you have Memphis – Elvis and BB King and Martin Luther King are all heralded there. Additionally, Danny Thomas has a street named after him because St. Jude’s Hospital is there. The signs advertising Graceland and the Zoo and sundry other attractions assaulted me all the way to the city limits on the east side of Memphis.

Then as you continue driving across the state more attractions are to found including the Casey Jones Museum and home. Tonight, I’m staying in Hurricane Mills, the home of Loretta Lynn’s Dude Ranch. I know Nashville is full of things to see but I won’t know what else lies ahead until tomorrow.

6/12/06

I’m home!  Or at least I’m at Andrea & Cliff’s home. This is the view of the their wishing well from the patio. They have a beautiful piece of property and remember it stays green all year round

Well, I need to close this really long missive. I will send pictures when I find myself a home.

Later, Peggy

7/22/06

I signed the papers for my new home and am working hard to get moved in. It required some work but I know I will be quite comfortable once everything is done. It has some unusual features like the spa in the master bedroom, not the bathroom but in the bedroom. When I remember to take my camera I will shoot some pics.

8/19/06

It’s Saturday morning and I’ve lived in my new home for 10 days. It’s quite a mess because I haven’t completed my unpacking yet. Additionally, the tile hasn’t come in for the tub area and my new curio hasn’t arrived either. The mess seems daunting… I guess I need to stop playing around with the computer and continue the unpacking.

9/14/06

My tile is in, hallelujah! The place isn't competely put together but here's the first group of pics of my home. The first batch is the before. The carpeting was supposed to be beige but there were places that raised doubt to this.

	These three pictures were taken on July 22, 2006. I didn't realize that I hadn't taken the rest of the house so I guess you'll have to see the after pics of the rest of the house.

 Well, the tub is finished and all I'm waiting on is the curio cabinet I ordered. Once the cabinet arrives I will be able to unpack the fragile stuff and I will be completely moved in (well except for organizing my paperwork, which is an unending battle).

For those of you who had been to my condo or had just heard me talk about the fact that I lived for many years with one chair, a bed and a computer desk and chair will note that  I've kind of made up for it in this house. I had to furnish a two bedroom house and, boy, has it been fun. These two views are of the living room. The one on the right is a view of the kitchen entrance. Note all the curves in the walls. Although the room is 25 feet long it's only 17 feet across. This narrow/long configuration made placing the furniture difficult. I had a couple of strong men move the couches at least  times before I was satisfied. The couches now face my old overstuffed chair and the fireplace.

This is, of course, the fireplace. My only disappointment in this is that it is electric. I have always enjoyed stoking a fire; watching the flames rise as it engulfs it's refreshed fuel. Since this is a poor substiture it forced me to buy this multicolored firescreen. Additionally, the mirror above it is always in need of attention and I haven't learned how to do "streak-free", however, I have only been here a little over a month so I imagine I will learn.

Lastly, here is a picture of the kitchen. I haven't done much cooking in here but then I don't do much cooking anywhere. Now that I have this nice big kitchen, perhaps I'll change my mind. 

	I had to buy a mower since my yard is quite large. I was actually thinking about an electric or gas walking mower but was talked into spending a little more for this riding mower and boy am I glad I was. As you can see my yard slopes so the idea of pushing, even a self-propelled, mower around this yard would be daunting for someone in good shape and we all know I'm not in good shape.

This journal has taken on a life of it's own so I'm really going to stop now. Hope all is well in your worlds.

Miss you all

Peggy