San Carlos bound...tomorrow.

Tomorrow's the day!  It's time...  CJ's suitcase showed up (at 0130 hrs.... It's a long story that includes sloppy luggage loading in Victoria, good intentions in Edmonton, mis-direction in Calgary, unwillingness to engage brain cells in Phoenix, good service from well-intentioned baggage clerks in Tucson, another round trip for us to Tucson, and one VERY broken baggage handling system... Oh, and Kathy spending literally hours, over the course of two days, on the phone with three different airlines, explaining to each one what the others were doing...).  Enough said about that!

We are all together, better rested, and ready to roar. Our plan is to leave Esplendor (Rio Rico) tomorrow morning about 0530 hrs.... get to the border nice and early, move along down the road to KM 17 where we will get our Tourist Visas and a TIP for the truck (in case we decide to drive it to Mazatlan later in the season) and head on down the road to Guaymas and San Carlos.  It's a 7 hour drive that will probably take about 9 or 10 hours depending on officialdom, weather, and coffee stops...

Let me tell you about weather for a moment.  One of the reasons we didn' t push ourselves to leave today was the forecasts calling for thunder storms between here and our destination... While our intentions were to sit tight watching TV and resting... we ended up having to drive back up the road to Green Valley, to the vets office, to have some typos in their International Health Certificate issued for Sophie - corrected.  Once done, we headed south again towards Rio Rico expecting a short and uneventful drive.  Didn't happen.  While still on the entrance ramp to the highway we were nose into a ferocious thunder shower complete with wind gusts and driving rain so thick we couldn't see the road ahead of us.  Rule one: if you can't see the road, stop trying to drive on it. Luckily there was enough shoulder for us to pull over and wait, with emerg flashers on and all eyes alert (well, except for Sophie.  She's so deaf now she slept through the whole thing).  A car behind us did the same thing (provided a nice little guard for our rear).  Anyway, about thirty minutes later the thunder, lightening, wind and torrential rainfall had passed us by and we were able to complete our journey under blue and cloudy skies and warm sun.  We're really glad we decided to wait out the thunderstorms as the roads in Mexico don't all provide nice shoulders to pull over on.

For now we are tucked in to our nice little hotel room, catching up on The Good Wife and turning in early in anticipation of tomorrow.  Will write again from Mexico.  We are well, and we hope all of you are enjoying each day.  For now... Adios and talk to you soon....  CJ, K and PS.

All's Well....

Hi everyone...  Just a quick update to let you know we are well.  My flights (all three of them) were fine and right on time. Unfortunately my suitcase didn't accompany me.

Seems the West Jet folks in Victoria thought the case was more interested in seeing Edmonton than Calgary... So suitcase is on an international tour of its own.  At last report, while I soldiered on, somewhat lighter in load, and flew from Victoria to Calgary, from Calgary to LAX, and from Las Angeles to Tucson, said suitcase took a trip from Victoria to Edmonton where it languished until some kind soul took pity on it.  It then flew from Edmonton to Calgary where it was re-routed to Phoenix for transfer from WestJet care to American Airlines.  The only glitch at this point is that all that info came from West Jet.  American Airlines hadn't even realized it had been found as of this morning.  If we're lucky, the young woman from American Airlines we spoke to will be successful in her attempt to draw people's attention to this lonely little case, find it, and ship it to Tucson where (we are told) they will promptly have it driven to our location (Esplendor Resort in Rio Rico). Enough about luggage....

We are here!!  We are together!!  And, we are all three healthy!!  The Esplendor Resort is a fine place to re-group and rest up for our one final push.  We plan to leave at dawn tomorrow, or 0530 which ever comes first, so as to be at the border at 0600...  Early morning is best for us as we then have the whole day, in daylight, to make this drive to San Carlos.

So for now, know we are well and getting back on track. :-).  Our hearts and thoughts go out to friends who have lost dear ones recently... And to one old friend (he'll know who he is) who will face a wee challenge tomorrow.

That's enough for now... Oh yeah, the Princess went down three flights of stairs this morning...on her own!!  Aided by the fact her patch of grass was at the bottom and I wasn't offering to carry her...yeah!!

Adios for now...  CJ

Wonderful news!!!!!!

I can't stop hugging myself, crying, and jumping up and down.. all at the same time. Who knew how deep my fear of the possibilities was?  I admit these past 12 days have felt like I've been living in someone else's life.  I didn't expect to hear of the lab results for another two days (at least) so when I answered the phone this afternoon, and it was my surgeon, well....  I stopped breathing.  Now, since he told me the wonderful news, that he got it all and I'm cancer free, well now I can't keep my eyes from leaking.. and I don't care.  I am so very lucky. And I am so very grateful.

Thank you to all of you who wrote and shared your own stories and who offered me such strong support and understanding.  There's so much more I could say... but I think today... just this short note says it all.

I hope you're all enjoying this wonderful fall weather and are having as good a day as I am... take good care. I fly out of Victoria early Saturday morning and should be partnered up with the Mulhaley Caravan by 2130ish hrs. when I land in Tucson, AZ.

It's time to rest now.  Adios... will be in touch...  CJ

You never know who you're going to run into...

So there she was, boogieing down the highway, heading for today's intended destination... and she sees a gal on the side of the road taking a photo of something or other... and she thinks (man, that looks like Deb from home....) but she carries on... it's so hot hallucinations wouldn't be out of the expected.  A little while later she sees the little white car (the same that the photographer was out of) again.. .and this time it's stopped.. oh, heck, I forget how it goes... too much pain killer (er I mean rum). Anyway, the great news is that in a nation as tall and as wide as the US of A... our Kathy (and the princess of course) have literally bumped (well actually no fenders kissed) into Ron and Deb.. friends from home.  What luck!  At just the right time! I'm expecting Kath could use a little company of the "I already know you and like you" type.... so, what luck they actually ran into each other.

So cancel where she was going, cuz they headed off instead to the small village of Tusayan, at the Grand Canyon and the Mulhaley caravan will be at the Grand Canyon Campers Village for a couple of nights. What a wonderful opportunity to spend some time with friends, at a higher (and cooler) elevation, at the perfect time when warm, friendly company is needed.  Thank you Ron and Deb, for popping up at just the perfect time.  Who knew Route 66 (that's right, that's what they're all following) would yield such a treasure.

It was kind of funny.  A couple nights back, when Kathy explained to me she was following Route 66, named after some TV show from years gone by... well (you know where I'm going with this don't you?) well I had to stop her... because of course I know Route 66 and the two gorgeous fellows and the wonderful (was it red or blue?) convertible sports car they drove.... who wouldn't?  Except perhaps those born a little after us.  Great show and here we are..."x" number of years later... remembering them.. Wondrous world this!

Kathy will have a great couple of days, spending quality time with friends, doing a little early morning cycling and generally gathering herself for the next series of legs.  I, having survived (of course) the second little op, will content myself with re-arranging the furniture in my study (what else can I do... bored stiff as I am and too damn lazy to unpack my workshop)... and waiting for the lab results of this second go-round.  The last boxing match was nothing compared to the results of the one I lost today.  I have definitely lost my movie-star quality smile.

That's it for now.. just a quick update on how we're all doing and where the Mulhaley wagon train is going to lay low for a couple of days.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day... did you all see the eclipse and super moon last night? Hope so.

Adios for now....  fair winds to all...  CJ

It's a tad warm in Arizona...

Not sure how I did this... but I think I managed to insert a photo Kath just sent from inside Rikki.  She's just leaving where she spent the night and has mentioned a couple times how warm it is. This is a photo from the info panel in the trucks dash. It is indeed a 'tad' warm there.  With luck she and the princess won't melt before they get to their next destination... Williams,AZ. This next place is at a higher elevation and supposed to be significantly cooler.  Here's hoping...

Talk to you all later....  over and out.  CJ

Not enough info...

Hi everyone.  Just a quick  note.  Something one of you said in an email has caused me to believe I may have not provided enough information when I mentioned that I had to come home for a few days.  While I don't want to air my problems to the world, neither do I want to leave a gap requiring envisioning, conjecturing and creating in order to finish the sentence.  To be clear, I am now a member of the large group of Basal Cell Carcinoma warriors... nothing worse.  I must admit I would have rather had this on my leg than my face... but... guess I needed a little prettifying. So no lying awake at night or worrying please.  This hiccup will be dealt with and dealt with well... very shortly.  Thanks for your emails and messages... you are the best!  CJ

The caravan 'trucks' on....

Some may wonder what is going on with this merry-go-round of ours... Here's a quick update.

CJ's doing fine...  looks a bit like the loser of a 9 round boxing match (not sure how many rounds a real match is..).  The doc carved out a nice little chunk of my upper lip, right side, and promised to leave the scar running up one of my 'lines' (his word).  I think he was being polite and didn't want to offend me by mentioning that my line was really a wrinkle :-)  Anyway, the op went well (not my favourite way to spend a morning) and I was out by early afternoon, on my way home to nurse my owie with ice (some on my lip, some in my rum :-)  All I had to do was wait to hear from the lab that he got it all, then wait to get the stitches out, and then be on my way.  Unfortunately, I just heard this morning that there's a little bit more to come off... so, back I go next Monday and we dosey-doe one more time.

Kathy on the other hand is doing splendidly.  Courageous as she is, she and the princess have conquered the highways and the bi-ways between where she was and where she is tonight.  I left her in Reno and she's now in Las Vegas (actually on the outskirts of Vegas).  She stopped at a couple of different places, met some neat people.. even scored some Seattle's Finest coffee off a long-haired manager (who lived in a bus) at one of the places.  Her route has been as follows.

• Tuesday, Sept. 22:  US-95 to the Sunrise Valley RV in Mina.  
• Wednesday, Sept. 23: Fort Amargosa RV Park, 27 minutes south of Beatty, in Amargosa Valley
• Thursday, Sept. 24: US 95 to Las Vegas and Duck Creek RV Park (Passport America $16/night)

This last place really values pets as they're charging an extra $3/night for the  princess to visit.  But, they have a pool... which they should have as the temperature was 40 degrees when Kath arrived!!  Thank goodness Lucy is actually from Las Vegas (we were here two years ago picking her up) and has a good air conditioner and insulation.

The plan for now is as follows.  CJ will tough it out at home, attend on Monday for some more facial art work (I should be real pretty by the time this is over...), wait for the 'green light' from the lab and the stitches to be removed.. and then skedaddle as fast as possible back to the southbound caravan.  I expect we will meet up at the Tucson Airport.  We'll be behind schedule but we'll just have to prioritize the work when we get to San Carlos... the good ship Shannon's Spirit will sail.. and she'll sail in early November!

Kathy and Sophie, Lucy and Rikki, will continue on their way in a comfortable fashion (as comfy as you can be in 40 degree weather :-(  They'll stop over in the Lake Havasu area on their way to the next stop. They're heading for the Lost Dutchman State Park which is not too far from Phoenix, and hopefully they'll be able to rest there for a couple of days at least. Timing will kick in once we're sure what day I'm flying.  We can fine tune from there.  The final destination (this trip) for Lucy is Tubac, AZ where she will be prepped for storage and the winter months.

It's best to stop at this point as plans won't finalize until we have some dates to work with... Sooo, know that we are well, if not half a country apart, and moving forward.  Kathy reports that while the Princess is reluctant to walk too far in the heat (and quite clear about her wishes) she is frolicking like a puppy in the cool morning airs.  Even offering ear licks in thanks for time spent in her favourite camp chair (which of course travels with us.. after all, it is her throne!).

Enough already... you'd think I'd had a glass of wine or something... Take good care everyone.. we'll be in touch.

Adios for now.... CJ