Have I lost track of the days yet? When I write the date
in the subject line, I wonder what I put last time!
I'm still working on that website idea (Mom would say ideal,
& that may be more correct for me). But for those of you that are new
to the email list, if you want past updates, send me an email, & I'll try to
get them to you. There's quite a few of them now. And while some of
them are lengthy, they don't sound quite like this one.
Tomorrow, I will head south. Tom made it home safely
today, & prepared the motorhome for travel. But now we realize there
are a few questions we never thought to ask Dad, & we'll never get to ask
why the heater fan comes on as soon as you connect the batteries, or where the
water valves are. Yes, one day we'll figure it out, but it would have been
so much simpler & more meaningful to have it explained in great detail from
a man who would tell stories rather than just say something.
Mom & Dad bought that motorhome brand new in the summer
of 1988. They've kept a journal of their trips in it, & looking
at it, Tom & I read their last trip was to Sturgis
2006. If I go back & read one of the earliest entries, it will be
about their very first trip. They had Shaun with them, an 18-month old
ball of energy (hmm...wonder what happened to all that energy...) & they
surprised me at the lake. They didn't show up in their blue 14'
Tioga. They came in this massive 30' SunStream. And they were proud
of it!
Dad (for some reason I never could
understand) had chosen as our family camping spot, a cliff. Yes, a
cliff. We liked to go to Glendo, & it's a tradition Tom & his
family have continued. We have been talking quite a bit about Tom's family
trips to the lake, & how much more special they were when Mom, Dad & TJ
came along with their boat. But Tom is more sensible, & parks on a
beach, not a cliff!
Mom & Dad showed up to park on
this cliff. We had already set up our little camper, & I'd been
lounging. When that SunStream pulled up & stopped right beside us, we
were supposed to chase them off. That's why Dad kept saying before we
left home to 'save me a spot. Don't let anybody park in my
spot!' Well, technically, nobody did. Dad didn't park. He
eagerly left the engine running so he could position it where he wanted
it, put the motorhome in park, climbed out of the seat, & opened the
side door to see the expression on my face. You know how much fun it is to
explore new places. We forgot everything as we roamed around inside that
huge coach. We played with all the gadgets & turned on all the
lights. Apparently it wasn't as exciting for Shaun. He climbed into
the driver seat & put that coach in drive. You never saw so many
adults scrambling over top of each other in a narrow space trying to get to
the driver seat before we plunged over that cliff! Well ... they got to
write about it, so you can figure the rest of the story.
We will try to add documentation to
their journal, but it doesn't have the same feel coming from us. The
reason for the use of the motorhome weighs heavily on our minds. It's not
our using it that bothers us ... it's them not using
it that is hard to think about.
Nurse Valerie. When Tom called to talk to the nurse
tonight, she told him her name, he told her mine. And Nurse Valerie
figured out why Mom had grabbed at her name tag & was pointing to it.
She had a decent day today.
Initially she would not accept pain medicine, and had to be talked into
it. This actually sounds like Mom.
Mom did get sick & then pulled out
her feeding tube last night. Even though she never officially passed the
water portion of her swallow test, they've had to put her on a food diet
which is similar to a honey substance -- as long as it's thick.
Valerie has had more trouble understanding what Mom says, as she is not speaking
as clear.
I would like to leave you with the picture my Aunt Hester sent
in the mail. I'm not sure how she came to have it, but I'm glad she
did. If you remember, Dad had spent several years as a tour guide with the
Cheyenne Street Railway, driving the trolley & sharing the history of
Cheyenne. This is just an extension of his personality.
At one time, Harley-Davidson Motor
Company had a Rolling Museum, that came through Cheyenne & stopped at
Maverick's Motorcycles, out on South Greeley Highway. Dad grabbed Dewey,
& took him to the show. They were walking through, & Dad was
telling Dewey all the history. Later, when Dewey was telling me about it,
he told me how everybody else in the museum had gathered around Dad to
hear.
Dad loved to talk & share
history. And I guess he just wasn't content to sit idle, & watch
history pass him by. Not long ago, I began getting phone calls that he
needed some of the fancy western clothing Mom had made him, shipped to
Texas. Dad had found a new history class. He & Mom both got into
the act this time, as volunteer tour guides at Fort Croghan in Burnet,
Texas. This photo shows them, not in fancy western garb, but period
clothing from the mid-1800's. Do they look like they had fun doing this? ~
Val & Tom
Linda Tinksley, Dad, Mom, Carol
Gobel