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Thursday, November 10, 2016

Election 2016

On Tuesday morning, I woke up after a good night’s sleep. When I got dressed I donned my favorite white tee shirt, the one from the Little Rock Corn Bread Festival of 2014. White because I read on FB that people were wearing white in honor of Hillary’s election. It also seemed right because I bought it when we visited the first President Clinton Museum. We moved the camper from the parking lot at Margaritaville Casino in Bossier, LA over to Diamond Jacks Casino RV Park so we could have electricity to run our television all night and wi-fi. Bossier is the city across the river from Shreveport. Then, we took a road trip on the Boom and Bust Trail around northwest Louisiana stopping at the State Oil and Gas Museum in Oil City, Louisiana. On the way back, we picked up our favorite pizza from Papa Murphy’s for dinner while we watched the returns. We got back to Diamond Jacks around 4:00 PM and I took a long walk finding the way over to the Boardwalk Outlet Stores by foot. As I walked, I was feeling good about participating in this historic day when we would elect our first woman President. It was a beautiful day.

When I got back it was about 5:30 and Don had turned on the television and set it up so that he could switch from CBS to PBS to Fox. I took out a fresh bottle of 2-Buck-Chuck and poured myself a glass of celebratory wine for the occasion. I turned on my new computer so that I could stay abreast on Facebook. Then we watched as the talking heads chattered about election news. By about 8:00 PM here, election returns were coming in from the East Coast. I baked the pizza in 2 batches. I have to cut the family size pizza in half, tray and all, in order to fit it into my Convection-Microwave oven. At first, the news was focused on Florida. Everyone was waiting for the returns to come in that would reverse the Republican lead. Then they were looking at the other “swing states” and we were watching the same trends. When the returns from the population centers came in…. then we would see the change. 

As I took out the second half of the pizza, I noticed that the CBS news team were looking alarmed as one by one the swing states swung wrong. I’ve watched this news team all year. I’d never seen them look like this. I began to be concerned. After dinner I began to pace and at one point I found myself flapping my hands. I remembered that this is a symptom of agitation and extreme anxiety. I cleared the table and washed the dishes and sat down with my laptop and began to play solitaire. I played and lost over and over again until I realized the returns weren’t going to change. At 10:14 PM I posted, “How can this be happening?” on Facebook. At that point I couldn’t tolerate the television. I went into my bedroom closed the door and pulled the covers over my head. I tried to read. I tried to breathe to calm myself. I had only had 2 glasses of wine and I knew that more wine would not be helpful. Don continued to say that there was still hope. When he turned off the television and came to bed at 10:30, I knew that even he had given up. That began one of the longest nights of my life as I grappled with this new reality that I could not tolerate. I compared it to the time my mother died but even that was more acceptable. She had been sick for a long time. I compared it to 9/11 but that made more sense than this. Ever since he descended on the escalator to announce his candidacy, I was positive that the citizens of our country would not elect this misogynistic, xenophobic, racist, homophobic, narcissistic sociopath to the presidency. It was completely and totally not acceptable. It didn’t make any sense to me. I took some of the sleep aid we have and tried to sleep. I got up. I tried to read. I played more solitaire and solved a Sudoku and a crossword puzzle and took some more sleep aid. I did a 15 minute mindfulness practice and tried to focus on breathing. At 1:17 PM I asked on FB if anyone else was able to sleep. It helped that many of my friends were also still awake. I knew that I was not alone. At about 3:30 AM I finally was able to sleep for a couple of hours until I woke up and realized that not only was the nightmare real but that Don had my favorite pillow. I gave up and got up. I couldn’t stand to look at the news. I looked at Facebook but even though I could tell that many others felt like I did, I still could not stand to spend much time reading about it.

For all the next day I stayed away from the news and from Facebook. We spent a couple of hours walking around the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum and in the afternoon walked over to the outlet stores to buy Don some shoes. I saw a little of the news and it seemed like both the President and Hillary were treating this man like he was the President-Elect and it helped to normalize this very abnormal event. Many of my wonderful friends posted uplifting and positive messages. I read those and avoided the extreme ones. I talked to Brother Bob and like the good political person he is, he talked about the things the Democrats can learn from this fiasco. I saw a clip of Hillary’s speech and I realized that she probably handled the loss better than I did. I realized that this man it totally unpredictable and that we really don’t know if he is as bad as I think. I don’t have much faith that he will be any good but maybe he won’t be so horrible. What choice do any of us have but to continue to live our lives from goodness and love while actively standing up for everything that is good about our country. Someone suggested that the Cub’s World Series win took up all the good juju for the year. I’m sorry Cubs fans but I would trade that World Series trophy for a different election outcome any day.


The good thing is that this horrible election is over. I only hope that we don’t have another one like it in my lifetime. I continue to be judicious about what news I can tolerate and maybe will take a break from news for a while. This is how grief is. 

Thursday, November 3, 2016

How About Them Cubs!


In Illinois when the conversation begins to lag or worse yet becomes tense and unbearable, what you say is, “How bout dem Cubs?” It gives you something else to talk about such as their need for a new catcher, pitcher or outfielder to allow them to win the championship. Thank God for “dem Cubs”. We’ve never needed a conversation diversion worse than we do now. Thank you Cubbies. I began this blog post a couple of weeks ago and finished it up this miraculous morning after the Cubs won the World Series.

Someday when I have adjusted to all my new technology and have my pictures back in my control I will again post pictures. Until then you will just have to make do with my words.

I’m awake in the wee hours and not for the first time at 3:00 AM because I don’t have sense enough to disconnect from the news cycle or Face book so I live with chronic anxiety of impending disaster come election day.  I thought maybe writing about it might help to settle me down. Maybe I should write about something different since just about anything I might say has probably already been said and you can read about it on-line.

We’ve been traveling since September 1 or so and put on about 1000 miles but we’re only about 500 miles from where we started. By the time we get to Kansas City, we’ll be closer yet. Right now we back in Springfield at the Illinois State Fairgrounds Campground. We’ll be visiting friends here and checking out old haunts.

Here’s where we’ve been since I last wrote about a month ago.

9/20- 23 Tiki RV Park and Campground, St. Ignace, MI

9/24 Friske Orchard, Ellsworth, MI

9/25Turtle Creek Casino, Traverse City, MI

9/26-9/30 Timber Ridge RV Resort, Traverse City, MI

10/1 Cabella’s, Grand Rapids, MI

10/2-5 Conestoga Grand River Campground, Coopersville, MI

10/6-7 Blue Chip Casino, Michigan City, IN

10/8 Hollywood Casino, Joliet, IL

10/9-11 Burnridge Forest Preserve Paul Wolf Campground, Elgin, IL

10/12- 18 Illinois State Fairgrounds Campground, Springfield, IL

I continue to struggle with my technology. My phone doesn’t connect to wi-fi still and my computer will not update. Now I have a message that the “NET framework needs to be repaired” and I should not restart my computer until that process is completed. That is going on in the background while I write. Kelly called me and shamed me about my obsolete technology when I complained about my problems last time and I will be shopping soon. Now I have a message that this copy of Windows is not genuine. When I have access to decent wi-fil I will call Microsoft again. Good thing I’m retired and I have time for this stuff.

But I’m not writing so that you can know all about my technical problems. For the second time since we started doing this I gave the wrong zip code to My South Dakota Address so now my mail is lost out there somewhere. Eventually it will be found and I can get it but the problem is that it has our ballots and is somewhat time-sensitive. I will feel awful if the D gets South Dakota by 2 votes and we don’t get our ballots in time to vote. I’ve made several mistakes lately like this but I’m still able to joke about cognitive decline.

It’s been good to spend some time in Springfield. We’ve enjoyed a lot of good meals with old friends and still have a few to go. Today the temperature will be a record 90 degrees and we will need our air conditioner again.  

Since I wrote the above information on October 18, we have been at the following places.

10/19-29 at the Klinkenborg’s Blackberry Iris Farm in Excelsior Springs, MO.

10/30-31 at Camp Mi Casa on the Route, Carthage, MO (This is a great stopping place near I49. New well place connections, long pull throughs and excellent Wi-Fi.)

11/1-3 Springhill Park COE Campground, Barling, AR

My technology problems did not get better and it has been about a month since I last wrote the above post. I finally capitulated and bought a new computer. Now I’m working with Windows 10 and Office 2016. As you can see, there is no change in my writing. I’m still operating with Brain 1949. The good news is that we got our ballots in Springfield and were able to vote plenty early so our ballots made it to South Dakota. Not that it made a whole lot of difference in South Dakota but it seemed important to me to vote in this election. The bad news is that this election is not over yet and every day seems to increase my anxiety.

Meanwhile, we are slowly working our way south and are being exposed to local election issues. In Missouri, the Democrats have gone after the Senate seat so we were repeatedly reminded of how bad Senator Blunt is. In Kansas, their Republican Governor is ruining the schools and trying to replace the supreme court with his cronies because the existing court found his policies unconstitutional. Here in Arkansas where we are now they will be voting to legalize marijuana or not. Also, the Chicago Cubs are playing in the 7th Game of World Series tonight and it will be 85 degrees here in Arkansas. Now that is a miracle. It is a most unusual year that is for sure.

In Springfield, we enjoyed a couple of good meals and wine with good friend Dwight and his son Adam, we ate out with friends Jon and Kathy and I enjoyed lunch with old friends from Catholic Charities, Pat, Sari and Mary (sorry we missed Danielle and Cindy) and then with Kathy Edwards. A couple of meals and some hours at dear friend Mary Krusz’s house. I enjoyed those meals immensely. We also took a couple of walks around Lincoln Memorial Garden and stopped by to see old neighbors on Vigal Road. We sat on Jerry and Donna’s porch and looked at our old house. It hasn’t changed on the outside and the mums that I had planted continue to grow and bloom in October. Nostalgia for that good life we had there.

After we left Springfield a few pounds heavier because we had to eat out so much in order to enjoy time with our friends there, we stopped in Hannibal, Missouri for a couple of nights to see our old friends Dennis and Vivian Lagergren. When we met Dennis and Vivian back in the 70s they were this nice young couple with 2 school age children. Now their family is so large that Thanksgiving dinner fills their basement. Their 7 grandchildren are now pretty much all married and have filled up the house with babies again… 3 new ones to be born this month and next month. I love the fact that Vivian enjoys her adult grandchildren even more than she did when they were babies. Even though I have seen them only briefly over the years I kind of get to know them as she talks about them. We enjoyed some good meals and a spirited card game with them.

This is our normal route through the Midwest. We stopped for a week at Kay and Max Klinkenborg’s in Excelsior Springs Missouri. They let us leave the camper plugged in for the weekend while we went over to Ottawa, KS to see Don’s sister Eileen and her husband Deed. Deed fed us some of his world famous pulled pork and we enjoyed visiting and catching up in addition to watching some Cubs baseball. We went out for dinner at a German restaurant in Paola, KS and ate some amazing desserts. Go there if you are ever in the KC area. On Monday, we went back to the Klink’s and got to work painting their house. We took 4 days to paint the exterior of their house and it looked like new. Unfortunately, the last 2 cans of paint Max got from Home Depot were mixed up wrong so he had a little bit of repainting to complete after we left. Needless to say, Kay fed us copious amounts of good nutritious food. She knows how to keep a work crew motivated and we went out to eat a couple of times at local restaurants. Besides the good food and being useful for a change, we enjoyed many hours of laughter and conversation with these good friends.

And then on a blessed Friday night, Kelly Ruff flew into Kansas City and we picked her up at the airport and got to spend about 40 hours with her before she went back to Philadelphia on Sunday. We took her over to see Niece Melissa’s son Mason’s flag football game before we went to the KC Royal World Series of Barbeque out at the raceway. You would think that one would be able to eat some world class barbeque at an event like this but that is not the case. The judges get to eat it as do friends of the contestants but normal people like us… no. It was kind of a bust but Melissa came with her two children. We enjoyed a beautiful summery October afternoon while Kendall age 12 and Mason 8 taught Don how to play Water Bottle Flip. Later we joined Melissa’s sister Amanda and their dad, Deed at a Mi Ranchito in Lenexa, KS for dinner. We then went back to the camper with Kelly and enjoyed a conversation and  a couple of drinks long into the night while talking about important ideas and things getting all that we could out of this rare visit before letting her go back to Philadelphia on Sunday morning. While Don took her back to the airport, I got the camper ready to head south. Even though it still seems like summer, we know it won’t last much longer.

We stopped in Carthage, MO for Halloween and to watch game 5. We toured Joplin, MO and saw a lot of new houses without many trees around them. We took a walk through their recently opened Mercy Memorial Park. It is at the site of the hospital that was destroyed by that awful tornado 5 years ago. All of the museums and Civil War sites around there were closed because it was Monday so we bought some hamburger and enjoyed a nice warm evening outside.

Yesterday we drove here and have a couple of days to check this place out before we head to Louisiana where we will spend a week or so. I realized that I didn’t write much about our trip through Michigan or time in the Chicago area.

As I read through what I’ve written I realized that I never reported on our trip through Michigan. My last blog post was on September 19 when we were in Marquette Michigan on the south shore of Lake Superior. We left there and went to St. Ignace Michigan and stayed across the road from Lake Huron just north of the Mackinaw Bridge. While there, we took our bikes on the ferry to Mackinaw Island where we rode around the island and enjoyed a beautiful September day. As Don says when he talks about this place is that it lives up to everything that is advertised about it. We drove north one day to go to the Tahquamenom Falls State Park. We rented a row boat to go across to an island by the water falls and walked around this very unusual falls with red water not from iron but from the tannins from the Cedar, Spruce and Hemlock trees that grow there. This was also a place to get our laundry done and make granola since we had full hookups.

Then we crossed the bridge and stayed for a night at a Harvest Host venue, Friske’s Apple Orchard on our way to Traverse City. Here we had a beautiful fall day and we picked some fresh Honey Crisp from the trees so we ate apples for a couple of weeks.

Once we reached Traverse City, the weather changed. We had become accustomed to warm sunny days and expected that to be with us always. Instead we had cool rainy days through the rest of our trip through Michigan except for the day we climbed the dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I will post some pictures from the highlights of our trip through Michigan. Besides the Dunes the highlights include Slabtown Burger in Traverse City, picking raspberries on a rainy day at The Extraordinary Berry near Benton Harbor, MI , the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, ArtPrize “The radically open international art competition”, and The Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI.

At the Ford Museum
Art Prize Exhibit