Entertainment's Edge

Hello Friends and Family,
 
We've had fun this past week showing hospitality to Jimi's friend, Matt. The guys (Daniel included) have done quite a few fun things.
They tubed down the river in Lyons one day, took the sail boat out on the lake another day, challenged each other at pool, and spent a day caving (exploring underground caves, which are cool, wet, and pitch black). I wished I could have gone, but I had to work. We invited Mike and Miia over to also visit with Matt and enjoy chicken and burgers on the grill. Saturday morning Jimi, Matt, and I took Miller (Jimi’s dog), Razor and Molly (who used to be my dogs) on a hike up Mt Sanitas. Part of the way up Miller was not doing well, so Jimi decided to take him back down and wait for us at the bottom. Miller is getting old and not able to do things as he used to. Razor, Molly, Matt and I made it to the top and back down again in about 2 ½ hours. Jimi and Miller were at the bottom waiting for us. That evening we all went to the Colorado National Speedway; however, we typically refer to the event as the red neck races.
 
I showed my house to two interested parties this past week. One couple came back a second time to inspect it further.  They asked for the paperwork on assuming the loan and stated they would call the mortgage company and get back to me. It looks promising and I am trying not to get my hopes up.
I spent a great deal of my time in Mead over the weekend. My tenant was out of town and I volunteered to dog sit. It was nice to be out there again, but I missed being at home with Jimi.
That's all for now...more to come this week.
Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Yard Sale, Jazz, and Mountain Hiking

Hello Friends & Family,
We spent the beginning of last week getting back in the groove. Jimi  finished up some freelance work. I  caught up on laundry, cleaned the house, and did payroll for Cencorp.
We have been without internet for more than a week and realized just how dependent on it we are. Even if we didn’t need it the whole idea that we didn’t have it was complete torture. It seems that everything we do revolves around the internet from the weather report, tv guide and movie database, emails, online publications, and more. As of today, we have internet again; we are quite thankful and life is wonderful. :-)
One evening last week we took Miller for his usual walk and got caught in some grape size hale. We were under cover; it was really cool to watch the hale coming down around us. Every once in a while one of the guys would go out to collect some samples.  It didn’t last long and then we were back on the trail.
Friday we took our little sail boat out on the lake for the first time this season. The wind was up and down; however, we got some good practice in with jibbing and tacking. That evening we took the LTD out and had a really nice dinner at our favorite sushi and Thai place called Zo’s. About bedtime Jimi’s longtime friend, Matt, arrived from Detroit to stay for a two week visit.
On Saturday we had a yard sale, which had been planned for a few months. We were lucky enough to dodge the rain. The weather was cool as the sun stayed behind the clouds. The turnout was not as good as we had hoped but between the two of us, we earned over $150 and got rid of quite a bit of stuff; therefore not complaining. That evening we took Matt to our favorite Jazz place in Denver called El Chapultepec. It was a laid back evening to a tiring yard sale day. Sitting just listening to the jazz music was really nice.
We tried to hike up to Lake Isabel on Sunday, but had to turn around about a quarter of the way up because the snow had not melted enough. It was packed down, slippery, and our footing was unpredictable.  Jennifer and Matt were having a hard time staying up right – Ha-ha (Lol).

It was back to work for me on Monday, while rest of the gang went river rafting in Lyons. Tonight we are sitting around the fire pit enjoying each other’s company while I write this email.
I have to work all week, but the gang has big plans to keep their days adventurous. All is well and life is good.
Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Glad it's over

Friends and Family,

As last week, this week also went by quickly.

My mother, father, and Brittany (great niece) came to visit for the week. Of course I worked all week at Crocs, while rest of the crew worked tirelessly to finish the roof on the house. Thursday, late afternoon about 5pm Jimi nailed the last shingle on. It was a rewarding accomplishment after building a make-shift conveyor system to carry heavy supplies up, countless trips to the hardware stores and city dumps, and dodging the tornado warnings, rains, and thunder storms. Now, it is finished!

Mom, dad and Brittany stayed the weekend. We hung out around the fire pit in the back yard, went to Lucille's for breakfast on Saturday morning, hiked Mt. Sanitas Saturday afternoon, watched a few movies, spent money at the Crocs sale, and Sunday we spent the day at the Denver Zoo. Whoa - we are a tired bunch.

They left for home this morning, as I was heading off to work. We really enjoyed their visit and help with the roof.

Several things are crossed off my and Jimi's lists now: He has finished school, we have completed our West coast research trip, and the roof is done. Jimi has a little time to relax and recoop before his motorcycle trip: "the great adventure", and after that he will get serious about looking for a job.

I have attached some pictures for you. That's all for now.

Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Roofing is fun?

Hello All,
 
I don’t have much to write this week. Our week had little variety.
 
Jimi and Daniel worked on the roof everyday; typically beginning around 8am and quitting between 7pm and 9pm. By Sunday they were exhausted, especially considering that Saturday was hot and sunny whereas the days prior had been cooler and rainy; therefore, they decided to take Sunday off. They spent the day resting up to get ready to begin all over again on Monday. At this time the roof is 2/3rds of the way finished, and both guys have worked very hard.
 
I tried to do the lemonade cleansing (detox) again, but it didn’t go well. Either I wasn’t into it mentally or something wasn’t right because unlike last year when I did it for 10 days feeling alive and energized, this time I felt tired and rundown. I aborted the plan after three days.
 
Thursday evening Jennifer and I went to the salon for pedicures and manicures. It was the first time that I remember having a pedicure. It was fun and quite relaxing.
 
I worked four -ten hour days last week and had Friday off of work, which I spent in my office at home catching up on things.
 
Friday night all four of us went to the Red Zone for supper and a cocktail. Saturday night we went to the drive in theatre and watched the new movies “Terminator” and “Star Trek”. Star Trek was really good and we recommend you see it.

The guys will finish up the roof this week and we have a few extracurricular activities planned. Hope all is well with you.
 
Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

West Coast Road Trip 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

We are home and our trip was great! Read below for our daily diary of events.

Saturday, May 23, 2009- We left home around 7:30am driving North through Colorado into Wyoming, West through Utah and into Nevada. On the way, we stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Jimi lit the truck up going as fast as it would go on the salt flats, which was 80 mph; the salt was extremely wet. The underside of the truck, the tires, and the bottoms of our shoes had a minimum of 2 inches of thick white salt caked on like frosting. We goofed around there for a while, as Jimi drove the truck from the hood of the vehicle and we took pictures. During a very boring stretch of highway we played a made up game of “spot that trucker pee”. I had no clue there were so many jars of trucker pee thrown out on the side of the highways. It’s gross, but entertained us. That night we renegade camped near Battle Mountain, NV. We cooked supper on the grill and called it a night. We traveled 800 miles and 13 hours.

Sunday May 24, 2009- We got an early start this morning: it was about 6:30am. We made our way in to San Francisco. Driving in busy traffic with Jimi is not anywhere near one of my favorite things to do. In fact, it is something I would do just about anything to avoid. And while at the time I may think it would never end and I would not survive, I did. We stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge, but the weather was super cold and the wind was blowing so hard I could barely stand. We took a quick look and got out of there as fast as we could. We found Highway 1 and began our search for Marinas; unfortunately, we really did not find any. We stopped at a little restaurant for my birthday dinner and then began searching for a camp spot. We thought we would never find one, but after an hour or so of searching, we found one. We set up camp and watched the sun go down on the beach.  We drove 700 miles and 13 hours.

Monday May 25, 2009- After showers and packing up, we were back on the road in search of marinas. We stopped at a coffee shop for a Latte and walked a few beaches. We stumbled upon a famous drive through tree, and of course, I insisted we go. Jimi drove through it first while I took pictures and then visa versa. At this point we were on at least our fifth tourist attraction and zero marinas and beginning to wonder what this trip was turning in to.  About 3:30 pm we pulled into Eureka, CA and found two marinas; however, they were closed for Memorial Day. We had to stay overnight, so we could go back in the morning for information. We went to the grocery store and then relaxed to TV in a Motel 6. We drove 200 miles and 7.5 hours.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009- We packed our things and arrived at the first marina as soon as they opened. Since this was the first marinas we had visited we asked a lot of questions and received much needed answers. We walked around a bit and then scooted over to the second marina in Eureka repeating the process. The people at both marinas were very willing to answer our questions and share information with us. We were a little surprised, yet very happy about it. That afternoon we came upon the Redwood National Park and stopped for off road hiking, and pictures. The trees were amazing, as we felt like ants among the trees. There seemed to be no bottom to the floor with layers of tree branches, ferns, pine needles, and natural untouched plant life.  We were then able to visit a marina in Crescent City, CA and hurried up to Brookings, CA before their marina office closed. Again, the people were very friendly. That night we camped in a state park right on the beach.  We finished this evening out with Jimi taking pictures on the beach of the sunset. We sat in silence around a fire and then went to sleep. We drove 150 miles and 9.5 hours.

Wednesday May 27, 2009- We spent a good portion of the morning on the beach taking pictures. We found this really cool rock covered with oyster shells, sea urchins, and snails. Our next stop was the marina in Gold Beach. While there, we met a guy whose sail boat became beached during a storm. We talked to him for a few minutes while he was working his way to dig it out with a shovel. A flat bed trailer was on its way to load the boat and haul it back to the dock.  After our brief visit, we headed to Bandon, OR. We spoke with the Harbor Master there and she gave us a complete list of Northern harbors to visit. This information was very helpful. She also directed us to a young couple from Portland, OR who set sail for Costa Rica about a month ago. They were staying in her harbor, so we tracked them down and after inviting us aboard their boat, we spent hours talking. The information we learned from this new to sailing couple was invaluable. We could not have asked for better luck.  Amazingly we were able to hit three more marinas, before the day’s end: Coos Bay, Charleston, and Winchester Bay. Behold before my eyes after five days, we finally spotted a Wal-Mart. I’ll tell you, I was getting worried – Lol. We stopped to replenish our grocery supply, found an old logging road to renegade camp at, hiked the very scary forest, watched a movie on the laptop and got some shut eye.  We drove 120 miles and 10.5 hours.

Thursday May 28, 2009- We left our camping spot about 6:45 am. We sat in a really neat coffee shop on Florence for an hour waiting for the marina to open and then went to Newport’s marina in Oregon.  After receiving all the information we needed in both those locations, we headed for Portland. Looks like Newport would be the last Marina we would need to visit. In Portland, we went to a sailboat sales shop and toured five or six used sail boats. We talked to the sales lady extensively and the experience created more research work for Jimi once we get home.  That evening we saw several of the water falls on the Columbia River Gorge. We camped at a state park there and Jimi went back after the sun went down for pictures.  We drove 260 miles and 13 hours.

Friday, May 29, 2009- Jimi tried to get more pictures of the waterfalls before the sun showed its face, but we missed it. We packed up, found some coffee and hit the road again. Except this time we had nowhere to go other than heading towards home and we were too early to pick Daniel up on the way. So, we tried to make our way to Mt Hood, but ended up getting on the wrong road and did some four wheeling instead. Play time ended and we headed towards Boise, ID about 1 pm. We arrived in Meridian about 8 pm where we got a hotel and then walked across the street to a bar & grill for a few cocktails.  We drove 360 miles and 10 hours.

Saturday May 30, 2009- We arrived at Daniel’s house just after 7am. Daniel showed us his surroundings, which included a fort he and his buddy are working on. We hit the road at 7:30 and arrived in Longmont at 8pm, only stopping for fuel and once to eat. We drove 820 miles and 12.5 hours.

This trip was an eye opener. We learned that there are not many marinas in the Southern part of the Pacific coast North of San Francisco as we thought. Looks like we may have no choice but to live our first year further North.  We were able to talk to a lot of people and they were all extremely willing. With the information we gathered first hand, we have a lot more research to do in regards to locations, boats, clothing, and gear. So, our preparation continues….

Love Everyone,

Lorie & Jimi