Great News

On Thanksgiving day, my daughter's boyfriend asked my permission to marry my daughter. I think very highly of him(not to mention, he is my golfing buddy) so I of course said yes. He was planning on waiting until Christmas to propose but ending up asking her about a week ago. It appears the wedding will be on April 11 at Freestone Park. More details to follow. We left Phoenix on Thursday December 11 and flew to Nashville. When we arrived it was 33 degrees but felt much colder due to the wind chill. That night the temperature dropped to 25 degrees and it snowed. The schools were closed on Friday. Boy what a difference from Phoenix. We fly to Norfolk, VA and will spend the Holidays there. We will be back in Phoenix early January and then back to Virginia . We will leave to vacation in Florida the middle of January and then leave on our cruise out of Ft Lauderdale 24 January and will visit St Maarten, St Kitts, and St Lucia.

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Happy Thanksgiving

We have been in Phoenix for over 3 weeks and have been extremely busy. Mary Ann has worked quite a bit and we have been to Las Cruces, NM, Tucson and San Diego. Our son arrives from Las Cruces today and we are having Thanksgiving Dinner at our daughter's house. Our son will be here until Sunday. Monday afternoon we fly to Nashville as we close on the condo we bought on Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon we fly back to Phoenix. We will then have about 9 days left before we fly to Nashville for about 4 days and then back to Virginia for about 5 weeks before our cruise in January. Mary Ann and I have taken 25 flights in the 7 months I have been retired and 3 of those months we were in Yellowstone working and did not fly at all. It gets real confusing trying to remember where I am. We now have a car in Arizona, a car in Virginia, a home in Virginia, and a home in Tennessee and we don't seem to spend a lot of time in any of those places. A Happy Thanksgiving to all.

If anyone needs help moving, do not call me

We helped Mary Ann' sister move 2 weeks ago in Nashville and spent the last 2 days in Las Cruces, NM helping my son move. If anyone else needs help moving, do not call me. We had a nice family reunion in Virginia. The food was great and I saw some people I had not seen for a while. We arrived in Phoenix on Sunday and spent a few days in Phoenix before we left to come to Las Cruces on Wednesday. I did have a chance to play golf on Tuesday and Mary Ann worked on Tuesday. I think I got the better end of that day. We leave today and drive to Tucson and will spend the night with friends. On Saturday, we drive back to Phoenix. On Sunday, we fly to Nashville as we have purchased a condo in Nashville and need to take care of the contract. It was a for sale by owner and we got a good deal at $125,000. It is in the same neighborhood as Mary Ann's Mom. The people we are buying it from are going to rent for 1-2 years from us. They brought it for $120,000 2 1/2 years ago and have spent at least $40,000 in imrovements. It is like a brand new home. Maybe when we are there on Sunday, we can take some pictures. After we take care of the condo and visit with Mary Ann's Mom, we will fly back to Phoenix on Tuesday and be there until 11 December. We will be staying at the Extended Stay Hotel at Country Club and Baseline. I found a great deal on line at Sublet.com. We are paying $648 for the month. We stay with my daughter when we visit for a day or two, but a month would be too much to ask.

Niagara Falls

After 4 days in Phoenix and then 10 days just relaxing in the condo in Virginia, it was time to hit the road again. We left Norfolk on Sunday to spend 3 days in Niagara Falls. We stayed on the Canadian side in the Embassy Suites and have had a wonderful time. These pictures are the view from our hotel window. Tomorrow we fly to Nashville to help Mary Ann's sister move and then on Saturday we fly back to Virginia. On Sunday we have a family reunion and then fly back to Phoenix on Tuesday

Back to Civilization

We left Yellowstone Sunday morning at 4:15 AM and arrived at the Holiday Inn in St George, Utah at 2:15 PM. They upgraded us to a King Suite with a Jacuzzi Tub. It seemed strange to be able to watch television and have a King Size bed. I think our double bed in yellowstone got smaller the longer we were there. We spent some time in the hot tub and then went next door and had a nice mexican dinner. It was a real treat. We left the next morning and arrived in Gilbert, AZ about 4:15 PM on Monday. Today I played golf at the TPC in Scottsdale with my daughter's boyfriend. I won't say what I shot but it was obvious I had not played in the last three months but had a great time and it is a wonderful course

A week to go

Well we did a very nice hike today with friends. Stella(the one to the left of Mary Ann) hit her 500 miles of hiking since she arrived in April today about 1.7 miles into our hike. Of course this woman goes on a 12 mile hike before she goes to work in the afternoon. This is not a marked trail and you really have to know hwere you are going. We had to detour once as there was a huge Bison in our way. Mary Ann and I leave on Sunday, Oct 5 and will drive as far as St George, Utah. We have reservation at A holiday Inn and are looking forward to a King Size bed, TV and a soak in the Hot Tub. We should arrive in Phoenix Monday Evening and I am looking forward to playing golf on Tuesday. On Thursday I have a dental appointment and we will fly back to Virginia on Friday. It will be weird as we have not been on an airplane since the 1st of July. I am sure that is the longest for both of us not to have flown.

Almost Done

Well, we have 18 days left before we leave. Last weekend we did a total of about 15 miles on 4 different hikes. The weather has been unbelievably warm. We are hoping it stays nice for the next 18 days. When we leave here we are driving to Phoenix. We will spend a few days in Phoenix and then go to Virginia for a few weeks. I think we may spend the month of November inb Phoenix. We are considering going to Hawaii in December and have a cruise planned for January. I am pretty sure we aree coming back here next April and will stay until July. We have made a lot of new friends and there is still a lot of the park we want to see

First Snow

We had a great time on our last weeekend. On Thursday we drove to the northeast part of the park and we did a western cookout. They take you in covered wagons to pleasant valley and you have grilled steaks, cowboy coffee and a singing cowboy. It was quite fun. We spent the night in the northeast part of the park and on Friday we drove to Bozeman, Montana and spent the day in the big city. We went to Costco, Wal Mart and Target and also went to a musuem. We ate dinner in a Mexican restaurant in Bozeman and the drove back to the Old Faithful area. It felt really strange to be in a city with traffic, stop lights and lots of people. On Labor Day we got our first snow in the park. We did not get any snow in the Old Faithful area but we did get sleet and the low was in the 20's. I think it may be a sign of things to come.

It has been awhile since I made an update. We have been busy. We are working about an average of 34 hours a week. Even Mary Ann is working more since they recognized her potential and promoted her to Senior Agent. She gets a little more per hour but it is a lot more responsibility and she is working more hours; We are going on a lot of hikes and are really enjoying the park. This is truly a magical place. The first picture is of a bufffalo that decided to take a nap in the road and we sat for about 30 minutes. The other is a picture of Mary Ann and I on the South Rim Trail at clear lake and the last is a picture of Mary Ann soaking her feet on the Mystic Falls hike. Everything is going great and I will try to do another update soon.

Just Pictures

I woke up early this morning and had a great internet connection so I thought I would include some pictures of our neighborhood. Enjoy!

Just a quick note

Well, I knew it had to happen sooner or later. I answered the phone at the front desk last night by saying "Southwest Airlines, This is Ron". The guest was very quiet and then I said don't mind me, I had a flashback. It is funny. I keep referring to guests as passengers and Mary Ann keeps referring to them as patients. I guess as long as we provide good customer service it is okay. We got our first paychecks yesterday. I don't think we will be buying any yachts or anything but we are having a great time and probably will sign a contract to do this again next year. Doesn"t Mary Ann look cute in her uniform?

We survived the first week at Old Faithful

Well we both survived the first week and we feel more comfortable in our new jobs. I worked 33 hours the first week and Mary Ann worked 27.5 hours. Yesterday was our Saturday so we drove to Norris Geyser Basin and did a hike around the geysers there. Then we drove into the big city of West Yellowstone(927 year round population & 1500 in the summer) which is about 32 miles from Old Faithful(see picture). We picked up a few things we needed at the hardware store, had lunch at McDonald's(can you believe it) and spent several hours at the Bear/Wolf discovery center which proved to be quite entertaining. As we were Yellowstone employees, instead of $9.50 each, it was free. Tomorrow it is back to work. I am scheduled for 37.5 hours this week but hope to work less after I am completely trained. Mary Ann is only scheduled for 22 hours.

Work has begun

Work is going good. Today is our third day and it gets easier and easier every day.Mary Ann is working early today(8-2) and I am working late(3-10:30). Tomorrow we both work early. I am a 7-3 and Mary Ann is a 8-2. You notice I go to work an hour before Mary Ann but get off an hour after so she definitely has the better deal. The Snow Lodge is not as busy as the Old Faithful Inn. What they try to do is give you an early shift on your Friday and a late shift on your Monday. We have about 200 people checking in every day at the Inn and it is very busy with tourists who are not staying there but are visiting Olf Faithful which is right in front of the Inn and also the Inn itself is a very historic and magnificent building. I think we may go to Cody, Wyoming or West Yellowstone, Montana on our weekend. We have not driven our car since we arrived on Monday. The pictures above are of our room in the dorm.

Arrival at Old Faithful

Yesterday was a busy day. We drove the 50 miles from Mammoth Hot Spring to Old Faithful(with a 32 mile detour to the city of West Yellowstone to see what was there). It took us 3 hours to do the 82 miles. We stopped a few times briefly and traffic does not move fast in the park. We checked in with personnel and then were assigned a room in Larkspur Dorm. It is a fairly large room with a double bed, a large closet, bookshelf with desk and 3 drawers for clothes. We also have a sofa, coffee tabele and one sitting chair. The best part is we have a sink in the room and a bathroom with a shower and toilet. We both checked in with our managers and we start work on Wednesday. We will mostly be shadowing someone else for a few days and hopefully it will not be too long before we feel comfortable on the job. The Snow Lodge where Mary Ann will be has shorter shifts and is not as busy as the Old Faiftful Inn where I will be. It figures. We do have excellent cell phone coverage here but the internet is about the same. You can usually check email but anything that requires downloading either takes forever or it will not load. I have had some luck early in the morning. It was nice to get the car unloaded yesterday. There was not an empty space in it. I think we brought everything but the kitchen sink. Mary Ann worked hard yesterday getting everything organized and our room looks very nice. The wildflowers here are beautiful(see picture). I think Mary Ann has taken several hundred pictures of just wildflowers. Thank goodness for digital cameras. We still need to download our pictures to shutterfly.com and hopefully will get it done soon. So long for now. It is time to go eat breakfast in the Employee Dining Room(EDR). Actually the food is fairly decent. Bye for now.

Change of Plans

The Manager of Hotel Front Desks stopped by the training room yesterday and said he needed to talk to Mary Ann and I. He looked really serious and we thought maybe we had done something wrong or somebody had died. As it turned out, he said "I hate to do this but we need to send you to the Old Faifthful area instead of Yellowstone Lake." We said that is okay, we are flexible. So now I am going to the Old Faifthful Inn and Mary Ann is going to the Old Faifthful Snow Lodge. I like to think it is because they needed the help and had discovered how good we are. It appears we may have cell phone coverage there but will have to wait and see and we do not know what kind of room we will have. We finish our training tomorrow and will drive to Old Faifthful on Monday. Thats all for now. I will do an update after we arrive at Old Faifthful.

Training is going great

I woke up early this morning so I was able to get a good internet connection so I thought I would do another entry. The training is going good. It is a lot to learn and there are many codes for the different type of lodging they have here at Yellowstone. They have 100% occupancy every night at all 9 lodging locations. In addition to the lodging we also book activities. The good news is we can take any of the tours for free on a space available basis. I have a feeling we are going to be busy. We still do not know what kind of room we will have when we arrive at Yellowstone Lake on Monday but have heard we will have a private bathroom. Yeah!! Our stay here at Mammoth Hot Springs for our training has been great. We are in a beautiful cabin with 2 double beds and a sink and a front porch with chairs. There is a community bathhouse a few cabins down. We sit out on the porch every night and read a book, do our homework and maybe have a beer or two. There are only four of us in the class and it seems really strange to have Mary Ann as a co-worker. I told Mary Ann I feel like I am in summer camp. Bye for now.

Out of Touch

Just a quick note. We have been without internet and it appears it will be spotty at best. We arrived in Yellowstone on Sunday and spent a night at Yellowstone Lake Lodge(as it happens, that is where Mary Ann will be working). We spent Monday night at Rosevelt Lodge and reported for work in Gardiner, Montana on Tuesday. We had a quick orientation Tuesday afternoon at Mammoth Hot Springs for an hour and will start our training today at 1PM. We finish training on Sunday and will then move to Yellowstone Lake where I will work at Yellowstone Lake Hotel and Mary Ann at Lake Lodge. We have been doing a lot of hiking and are having a great time Our cell phones work 3-5 miles either direction of yellowstone Lake but not there so you can leave us a message and we will drive to get reception every 3 or 4 days and check messages. We have taken a lot of pictures and I want to publish them on Shutterfly.com with a link on the blog but will have to wait until I get a better internet connection. The picture is the front porch of the Lake Lodge where Mary Ann will work. Talk to you soon as long as the internet cooperates.

Rest and Visit in Boise

We have had a wonderful 4 day visit with our friends Chick and Brenda Anderson in Boise. We have mostly sat around and visited. It was kind of exciting as Brenda's daughter presented her with another grandaughter on Tuesday. Brenda was taking care of her daughter's son who I think must be the smartest 3 year old I know. Mary Ann also took care of him and became his new best friend. Mary Ann has always had a way with young kids which is why we get along so well I guess. We leave today for Idaho Falls and instead of taking the fast way on the interstate have opted for the scenic route. We are getting closer and closer to Yellowstone and will report next Tuesday. We have taken a lot of pictures and I will try to get some of them published on the blog once we get settled

What a start

We left Phoenix on Monday and drove as far as Fort Tuthill in Flagstaff. We had an awesome time. We did a 5 mile hike in Oak Creek and then about a 3 mile hike back at Fort Tuthill. Our Yurt was wonderful and we put our bed on the floor so we could stare up thru the skylight at the stars. A truly magical evening. Then we spent 2 days at Zion in southern Utah. It was great staying at the lodge in the park and we had some great hikes. We hiked(well, almost) Angel Landing which is a strenous 5 mile round trip hike. The first 2 miles is fairly strenous and uphill. The next .5 is straight uphill and requires the use of chains to pull yourself up. We made it the first .1 to a lookout and then decided after looking at the trail go straight up that we were older and wiser and stopped there. Good decision. We also hiked the narrows which is hiking thru a canyon where you have to wade through the water. It was fantastic and the views were awesome. The last morning we did a 3 mile hike to the emerald pools. We left Zion and then drove to Bryce canyon. We did a 3 miles hike into the canyon that was great and provide some awesome views. The next day we left Bryce and instead of taking the most diect way we went the scenic route that provide awesome views and scenery although it did take much longer. We arrived in Moab, Utah that afternoon and checked in to our hotel and then immediately drove to Canyonland National Park. It also was pretty cool and there was a storm while we were there which added a little treat. The next day was probably the highlight so far. We went white water rafting on the Colorado River with Class 3 & 4 rapids. It was unbelievable. Tomoorow we are going to do Arches National Park and the southern end of Canyonland National Park. We have not had internet service for a few days so this is the first chance I have to add an entry.

Well, we are packed and ready to start our adventure tomorrow. We have had a great 5 day visit in Phoenix. The first day here, Yellowstone Human Resources called and asked if we would be interested in starting on July 22 instead of July 15 as the July 15 training class was pretty full. We thought that would give us an extra week and we could visit our dear friends in Boise so we said yes. Here is our itinerary for the next 2 weeks:
July 7 - Flagstaff
July 8-9 - Zion National Park
July 10 - Bryce Canyon National Park
July 11-14 - Moab, Utah where we will visit Arches National Park, Canyonland national Park and do a whole day whitewater rafting trip thru westwater canyon(up to Class IV rapids)
July 14-18 - Visit friends in Boise
July 18 - Idaho falls, Idaho
July 19 - Grand Tetons
July 20 - Lake lodge, Yellowstone
July 21 - Rosevelt Lodge, Yellowstone
July 22 - Mammonth Lodge in Yellowstone to start our week training

We are very excited to finally be heading to Yellowstone.


_

Outer Banks

We have spent the last 10 days at my mom's beach house in the outer banks. Our son, his wife, Mary Ann's mom and my mom were all here. After being here for a fews days, Donna Wagner and her girls arrived as they were renting the downstairs for a week. It hads been a fun and relaxing week and help us get in a good mood to start our Yellowstone trek next week. Our son and his wife leave tomorrow and are going to Niagra Falls before returning to Las Cruces on Monday afternoon. My mother-in-law flies back to Nashville tomorrow. Donna and her girls leave this afternoon and fly back to Phoenix. We are going to the condo today in Chesapeake and have a cookout tonight. We have had wonderful walks on the beach and had a nice drive to Hatteras. We have had great weather and it only rained one day but it poured. Donna's girls were excited by the rain and were doing cartwheels in the street in the pouring rain. People from Phoenix act really funny around rain. I leave for Phoenix on Wednesday and Mary Ann will probably leave on Thursday. My mom is having cataract surgery on Wednesday and Mary Ann wants to be there. We start housesittting for Diane Hansen again on Wednesday.

Another Trip

Well we have just finished another trip. We left on Friday, June 6 and flew to El Paso. We had a 3 hour layover in Orlando. If you are going to spend time in an airport, that is the one you want to be. They have comfortable chairs with electrical outlets between each chair and free wireless internet. After arriving in El Paso, we picked up our rental car and drove to Las Cruces, NM where our son and his wife live. We were ther for 3 days and had a wonderful visit. On Monday we arrived in Phoenix and rather than impose on our daughter again and also as a treat, we stayed at San Marcos Resort in Chandler Monday and Tuesday. It is a wonderful place and we enjoyed the food, the pool and their golf course. On Wednesday, we started house sitting for Diane Hansen who was on vacation. We had a great time, enjoyed her 2 dogs and pool and got to visit friends. On Sunday my daughter Kim took me to lunch for fathers day at Sweet Tomatoes.We departed for Virginia on Monday, June 16 with a 3 1/2 hour layover in Nashville. Mary Ann's Mom came to the airport and drove us to lunch. We went to a Chinese restaurant not far from the airport. We arrived back in Virginia that night. We get to stay here for about 2 weeks before we start our final journey ending up in Yellowstone on July 14. We really will not have time to rest as my son, his wife, and my mother-in-law will arrive for a week visit Thursday. Oh, and tonight we are giving my 81 year old mother a surprise birthday party. SHH!

Ron

HELP! SWA, please take him back. I'm losing.........my...............mind. AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH

Just Checking In

Well we had a wonderful trip to Arizona. The weather was bad when we arrived but other than that it was wonderful. Mary Ann actually worked Friday and Saturday. She stayed on the payroll at Nursing Solutions as she has some patients she is very attached to and it enables her to keep in touch. Friday morning I had a great visit at the Reservation Center. We went to our young German friend's (Diane Hansen's foreign exchange student) graduation party Friday night and had a great time and got to meet her parents. On Saturday I played golf with my daughter's boyfriend and the weather cooperated although my score did not and he beat me. On Sunday we got together with friends and then had dinner with my daughter that night. On Monday we drove to Tucson to visit friends and had a wonderful meal on their patio overlooking the golf course and then went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. We returned home Tuesday. Boy this retirement life is rough. Tonight we have the Cancer Relay for Life. My cousin's team has raised $41,052 so far and is the #1 fundraising team this year for the second year in a row. I probably will be returning to Arizona about the 8th or 9th of June as I have a dental appointment there on 10 June

Back In Arizona

We arrived back in Arizona today. The weather is not what we were expecting. It had been over 100 but the high today was in the 70's and it was raining and yucky. I'm hoping that it clears up by Saturday as I am playing golf. We will probably stay until next week sometime and then go back to Virginia for a while.

Condo is looking good

Well, I haven't written anything lately so I thought I would do a quick post. Mary Ann has the condo looking really good. All the appliances were pretty old so we have replaced the washer, dryer, refrigerator, and stove. They are coming to today to replace the dishwasher and install it and we have a microwave sitting on the floor in the dining area we need to install over the stove. Boy, the people at East Coast Appliance love us. We have been working hard to get the condo in shape but finally took time to go out to eat last night. We are still working on our schedule for the next 2 months before we go to Yellowstone but have not finalized it yet. We may go to Arizona next week.

Ron

Arrived and Unpacked

Well we arrived safely in Virginia Monday about 11 AM. Everything was offloaded from the truck by late afternoon but you could hardly walk thru the condo. Tuesday afternoon we went and purchased 2 new T.V.'s and had the cable and internet hooked up in the afternoon so life is good. Mary Ann has worked very hard and the condo is starting to look organized. This retirement is not all its cracked up to be so far. I have worked as hard as ever getting moved and settled in here but I know I will eventually get to rest.

Ron

Still Traveling and a Day of Rest

We drove from Shawnee, OK on Thursday and had an easy day. We stopped in Jackson, TN at 5:30 in the evening. We had a wonderful meal and just enough beer to celebrate my first official day of retirement. The restaurant was called Logan's Roadhouse and was very similar to Texas Roadhouse. Our waiter Ryan was very personable and even though Happy Hour was over he told us his girlfriend was the bartender and as long as we were there it was Happy Hour. Then he brought me a beer and said I was so nice it was free. I then met Jeremy the manager and put in a good word for Ryan who it turned out was an aspiring musician. Boy did I tip Ryan good. We only drove about 2 hours Friday before arriving at Mary Ann Mom's house in Nashville at noon. Today we have had a relaxing day and are going to a movie this afternoon with some of Mary Ann's family before we get on the road tomorrow. Also I found out that Donna found the note I left in the gas cap. I had taped a note with $20 saying to take her and Cindi to lunch. That was fun. I will sign off until later

On the Road

On Tuesday I had a wonderful farewell lunch at Durant's with Steve Flynn, some of the CSL's and all the staff April PED's in Phoenix and Mary Ann had a great get together with friends at the Farm. After our lunches we left town and ended up driving 345 miles and spent the night in Gallup, NM. The owner of the Quality Inn Suites we stayed at was a veteran so because I was military retired they upgraded us to a mini suite which was nice. We left at 8:30 the next morning not sure how far we would drive. We ended up driving 720 miles and are spending the night in Shawnee,OK. which is 30 miles past Oklahoma City.

Retirement Letter

This is a copy of the retirement Letter I sent to the staff at work:

As Mary Ann and I get ready to start our retirement journey, I wanted to take this opportunity to say my goodbyes. I have really enjoyed my time with Southwest and especially the almost 11 years at PRC. It is funny but when I applied at Southwest 12 years ago I wanted to work OPS and only put Reservations down as a second choice because I thought it might be easier to get into Reservations. They called me almost immediately and offered me a job in Res which I of course accepted. It was really different for me to go from a job where women were not allowed because it was considered a combat job to a job that was 90% women. Boy was I in for a cultural shock. Over the last 11 ½ years I have learned, discussed and heard things I thought I would never do. Ladies, it has been an eye opening experience. Anway, Mary Ann and I will miss you guys but with our daughter here in Phoenix, you can bet we will be making return visits. Best of luck to all of you. For the ones who are staying, I hope the future is bright and all goes well. I would like to close by listing some favorite moments from my tenure at PRC. I will leave it up to you to decide who each saying refers to.
1. Where are the sidewalks that roll up at night??
2. You have to do disgusting things to get diamonds
3. Of course I got lost. You drew me a map to get there but not to get back. Say What!
4. The smoke alarm went off. Your dinner is ready
5. Your dog bit a lawyer?
6. The ladies bathroom has had problems with drainage. Finally after about a year, a Plumber is called and they found a badge was the culprit. Did she get her money back for the lost badge??
7. What Sup paged herself??
8. I'll bet you hate the Dentist as you really like to talk to people. Oh, I take a pen and paper so I can write notes
9. Oh, I don't pay any attention to those closed freeway entrance signs. There is nobody working that early in the morning so I just go around them.
10. I can't drink this coffee. Its old. I'm a princess.
I know that I have picked on and harassed you guys over the last 11 years. It was always in good fun and hope you took it as such. Remember, you really pick on people you like. For anyone who wants to keep in touch I have some business cards in my cubby. Our email addresses and cell phone remain the same. Our new address is: 518 Willow Green Ct., Chesapeake, Va 23320. Lots of luck finding us there. Also, we started a blog on our travels. The address is http://www.chastainstravels.blogspot.com/ . You can log on and watch our adventure unfold. Good Bye and Good Luck.

Starting to say Goodbye

Wednesday was really hard. It was my last day to work with Cindi who I consider to be my very best friend at PRC. The hardest part of leaving is having to say goodbye to people you really care about. I can take some solace in the fact I know I will be returning to Phoenix for visits. With only 4 days until moving day, every day I will be saying goodbye to someone. After today I have 1 1/2 days left to work. Mary Ann is starting to realize that some of her patients she has really grown attached to, she will not see for some time and she is very sad. Yesterday I sold my car to Donna and hope she enjoys it as much as I did.

Ron

10 Days to Moving Day

Well, the beginning of our journey is really getting close. Mary Ann and I have both been sick for about a week. We are hoping for a full recovery before we start our journey on April 29. My Mom is visiting and we are going to Reno tomorrow for 2 nights and then back to Phoenix on Tuesday. I work on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Half-a-Day Saturday and then my last day is Monday.After work on Monday, we will pick up the rental truck and load our household goods. I have a luncheon on Tuesday at 11 AM and Mary Ann is going to lunch with friends at 11 AM. We are going to drive the rental truck and our car to the Reservations Center and leave for our luncheons from there. We are leaving our car at the Reservation Center until we come back to go to Yellowstone. When we both return from our luncheons we will get in the rental truck and start our drive to Virginia.
draft

23 Days and counting

Well in 23 days Mary Ann and I start our retirement journey. We load our stuff in a moving truck on 4/29 and leave for Virginia 4/30. Let the journey begin