#138 Lancaster, CA 8-21 and morning of 8-22-09

The day before the wedding. We start working on the set-up by 8:00 am. Laurie’s friend, Eileen comes over to help, The maid of honor, Ashley shows up, Laurie arrives after 1 pm and Rachel takes the day off work to be there. The transformation begins!

The arbors are up, but not decorated yet.

I take time out to bake a pie using peaches just picked by Collin off Laurie’s tree. mmmm good!

We checked the lights, had a drink and a piece of pie before going to bed after a long day of decorating and setting up. All the lights work, Yeah! Looking good.

Tomorrow is the wedding. Good thing it is an evening wedding. We still have a lot to do!

Ashley, the maid of honor, and Collin decorating one of the arbors. We had three arbors.

Graham and Brie blowing up the balloons.

Last minute flower plantings. All of us pitch in! Allie’s Mom, Laurie, Mary Beth and me!

Allie’s Grandpa Curtis, and Frank take a break.

The chairs arrive, the right color this time. The first chairs were green instead of white!

The chairs are set up and the Pastor is here for the rehearsal. The decorations are in place and all the tablecloths have been ironed and put on the tables.

Signing and witnessing the marriage certificate.

The flowers that Nicole and Laurie made the bouquets and center pieces from. They turned out beautiful.

Part of the food and the drinks Laurie put out for the dinner.

The caterer arrives with the cake and the rest of the food.

The caterers and Laurie set up the cake and cupcake table!

Frank gets Gidget ready for the wedding—she is invited!

Meanwhile, off in the bedroom, the girls are getting ready!

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The guys had to use Doug’s RV for their dressing room. The groom, Allie and the Father of the Bride, Doug—fortifying himself before the ceremony.

Missy, the cat checks out the alter and walkway. She is ready for the wedding to begin!

Next post—The Wedding of Allie Iverson and Rachel McBeath, our first Grandchild to get married!

#137 Elkhart, IN 8-16 thru 8-17 Elkhart RV Campground

We arrived at the campground early enough to set up and do our laundry. It was dry and dusty, but we knew we were headed to LAX in just 3 days and wanted to get packed and have clean clothes.

On Sunday night we went to bed listening to rain drops on the roof. By the next morning when we walked out the door, we were sitting in a pond of water. We WADED to our car and headed over to the RV repair shop where we had an appointment to have the coach worked on while we were in CA.

The guy who we wanted to work on the coach was no longer with this place, which disappointed us. When we were outside our coach at the RV park, we met another RVer who told us that this shop did not have a good reputation. He recommended another shop—which was closer, so we went over there and talked to the owner and changed our plans.

Off we went to the new shop, parked our rig outside his front bay, hooked up to his 30 amp power and spent the night. The next morning we were off to South Bend to fly into LAX, leaving our home in the safe hands of Gerald at Charger RV repair.

We only had a few problems we needed to get fixed, but one turned out to be major. A leak in the condenser unit on the refrigerator. This shop was amazing, they took all the food out of the refer and put it in their refer in the shop so none of it would go bad while they worked on the condenser. We had to have a new one installed and the refrigerator had to be pulled out, fixed and reinstalled. The refrigerator man said, “ I don’t want to see a floor plan like this for a long time!”

When we left for the airport, I mixed up the time the flight was leaving with the time we had to check in, so we were an hour early. Gidget flew with us in her carry bag. Because we used our points and only had six weeks notice, we ended up on a flight that had two stops before LAX. And two plane changes. Gave us time to stretch our legs, but Gidget didn’t have anywhere to go, but she was a trooper and as long as she could stick her head out and see she was content.

From South Bend, IN to Chicago was a little plane and it was fine. In Chicago we got on a bigger plane that had to stop in Pittsburg. So we had to go East to get out West! In Pittsburg the plane we were going to leave on developed a problem with a florescent light ballast. The flight attendants smelled something funny, so they called the engineers, and electricians and whoever else they needed and we waited in the waiting room for two hours until they checked the wiring and electrical stuff and decided it was just the ballast in the light that was causing the odor.

We let Gidget out of her case while we were waiting. She ate her dinner and did all her tricks for the kids that were waiting. I think she enjoyed the attention—for a while—and then she just walked back into her carry case. We finally boarded the plane, two hours late! So that made us two hours late getting into LAX. Now remember in Indiana we are on Eastern time and flying to LAX which is on Pacific time. So when we arrived in LAX at 10:30 pm it was actually 1:30 am Eastern time. We are just a little tired!

The first thing off the plane we found Gidget a “Pet Comfort Station” right outside baggage pick—up. She was a happy dog now!

We got our bags, waited for a shuttle to get our rental car and finally headed up to Laurie’s home around midnight Pacific time. Both of us were hungry, not quite sure which freeway to take out of the Rental car lot and Laurie calls us on the phone! She is in a conference in LA and we are headed to her home. She tells us where the closest In N Out Burger is, and we have our midnight, actually 1 am meal on our way to Lancaster.

We arrive at Laurie’s about 2 am and Collin is up and greets us. I think we finally get to bed about 2:30 am.

Sorry no pictures on this part of the adventure!

We wake up on Thursday morning—sometime, I don’t even look at a clock—times are very confusing. Laurie has a list of things to do to prepare for the wedding, and she is still in the conference until Friday morning. Frank and I get to work. Ah, the sun is shinning and it is warm—I’m doing the outside work!!! I pull weeds, Frank mows the grass. Collin has to work, Graham is still in his neck brace from the accident he was in two months ago—so it is up to us.today. Laurie is pretty well organized and we find all the tools we need and go to work.

The patio and part of the back yard before we started!

Graham in his neck brace. Collin with Missy the cat.

See the next post for continuing coverage of the before the wedding preparations!

#136 Lake Erie, Ashtabula, OH 8-14-09

On our way west we stopped at the Elks Lodge in Ashtabula, OH. It is located on the shores of Lake Erie.

As you can see it is a beautiful setting, and a nice lodge.

With a number so low, it has to be an old lodge.

The patio area, where you can bring your dinner and drinks, over looks a small beach area and the lake. You can walk about a mile along the beach.

The water wasn’t that cold. I had to get my feet wet in water that will eventually go over Niagara Falls.

The sun is setting over the lake, and for a change it isn’t raining and warm enough to wear shorts.

We parked in the parking lot next to some other RVer’s. There was even an electric outlet to hook up to. Pretty nice accommodations for one night!

#135 Fireworks over the Niagara River 8-12-09

We picked up Don and Sue at their motel, and we all had dinner together at the Indian Casino Buffet. We ran into another family who had been on the tour that day with us. We all had a great dinner, at a reasonable price in a nice restaurant. Then the four of us drove out to a park that Linda had told us about, walked out onto the viewing platform, which we almost had to ourselves, and waited for the fireworks to begin. They do it every Wednesday night during the summer. Great!

Above—we are waiting for the fireworks to start. That is Canada across the Niagara River. There is a Sheraton Hotel, and a Ferris Wheel beside it. The lights from the bridge are reflected in the water. A beautiful sight.

What can I tell you. I love fireworks and their beautiful displays! And watching them from the banks of the Niagara River, looking into Canada—a truly great experience.

#134 Niagara Falls, Cave of the Winds 8-12-09

Here we go into the start of our Cave of the Winds tour. First we have to pick up our rain gear. We get shoes and another rain poncho.

Check out the new shoes. Have to roll up those pant legs, so they don’t get soaked. Frank you are so cool!

First you go down—in the elevators.

Then you climb up all those stairs to reach the Hurricane Deck.

First a stop for picture taking. Aren’t our ponchos stylish?

Here I am, standing in Niagara Falls with the water rushing over my feet and spraying my back. What an unbelievable feeling to know that the water I’m standing in is coming from the Great Lakes. Which hold 20% of the worlds fresh water.

The climb up to the Hurricane Deck, top right hand corner. So much water and wind up there we couldn’t take pictures! The amazing thing about all these stairs is that they are taken down at the end of the season and rebuilt every year. I bet that is one cold job!

We are leaving now. One last look back. Can you believe we were standing in the water that comes over the falls, and we felt the force of the wind that it creates. WOW!!!

At the top of the elevators we all met again and a few of us had to have a snack of ice cream. Linda told us what kind to get and she was right. Mmmm good! Water always make me hungry.

We are on the top, looking down over the American Falls with the Rainbow bridge in the background. It is one of the bridges that goes into Canada

Another view of the top of the Falls.

The top of the falls with the first Hydro Plant, which is on the Canadian side. The park and flowers are on the American side and are very nice.

A closer look at the old Hydro Plant with the Sky Tower in the background.

I’m going to try and put a video in for you to see and possible hear the beauty of the falls. If you click the play button on the video and turn up your volume you possibly can see and hear just a little of what we experienced.