Good Friends and Good Food

We are leaving Brighton, CO in the morning. The last several days have been busy, wrapping up sales calls, a follow-up visit to the eye surgeon, visiting friends and using our Christmas present.

On Memorial Day we went and saw our friends, Bill and Lesle, and had supper with them. We’ve seen them each time we come to work in the Denver area and this year we visited them in their new house, instead of in their rig. They have come off the road, to care for family members, and it was so good to see them and catch up on how they’ve been doing. Their 5th wheel and truck are for sale and such a great set-up for anyone who wants to travel and have a reliable rig to do it in. We’re hoping they are able to sell it soon ! We got a picture of Bill and Lesle’s kitty, Pigeon, but forgot to get a picture of them to put on our blog. Sorry guys !

On Tuesday afternoon we had to go for our first follow-up appointment since our eye surgery. The “flap” is healing perfectly and I could read the bottom line on the eye chart. Woohoo ! Linda B told Dr. Cutarelli how life changing this has been for her. To be able to see things now, without glasses, is like a rebirth. She gave him a big ole hug and he is such a sweet guy…not in a hurry at all to rush on to his next patient. He took all the time we wanted to talk and ask questions, just as he did prior to our surgery. He said he was tempted to knock on the door of the rig, when he left work Friday night and saw us parked in the parking lot. We told him he should have….we would have loved to have him stop by and see our rig. We told him what a gorgeous view of the city skyline we had and how much we appreciated him letting us stay there for two nights. He’s such a down to earth guy…we just love him ! We will have our final check-up with him on June 22 to make sure everything is as it should be with our eyes. We’ll be in Breckenridge at that time so a little bit of a jaunt, to return to Denver, but something that needs to happen.

We left Dr. Cutarelli and went to The Melting Pot for supper. We’ve been carrying around a gift card, since Christmas that Linda’s daughter and SIL got us but we don’t encounter cities where they have locations very often so we seized the opportunity to do it while we’re in the Denver area. Oh my, what a decadent night we had ! They were having a special that benefitted the area food bank that consisted of a bottle of wine, along with four courses of food. For the appetizer course we got to have a garlic herb cheddar cheese with veggies, bread and apples to dip in it. This particular location created the garlic herb blend and it will soon be rolled out to all their locations. Let me tell you it’s a winner ! They concocted an awesome cheese blend for whatever you throw into it.

Next was a Caesar salad, followed by a lobster tail, an assortment of meats, salmon and shrimp. I don’t remember the broth that was in the pot. Chad, our server, asked us to trust him on the selection of it so we did. It was very aromatic and tasted great with our meat choices. We also had veggies and potatoes to cook in the broth. We couldn’t eat everything but cooked it up to put in a “to go” box. We had to save room for dessert ! There’s a whole list of chocolate choices on the dessert menu but we picked dark chocolate with Bailey’s liqueur added to it. Yum ! Along with that came a plate with cheesecake, choc and plain marshmallows, bananas, strawberries, brownie bites and rice krispie treats (or as our waiter called them…Alabama caviar). Here’s the picture of the pot when it arrived, before we got started. There was not a drop remaining in that pot when we finished with it. Oh boy, were we stuffed to the gills after eating all of that food. Such a cool place and a neat experience. If you ever get near a Melting Pot, you should try it. They’re not cheap but a fun way to kill a couple hours or celebrate a special occasion. Chad, our server is leaving in another 14 months (he’s been a server there for five years) and is going to Maui to open a wine bar. He was a lot of fun to have as our server.

Leaving in the morning around ten, to head into the mountains. Anxious to see what it looks like around Breckenridge. Everyone has told us that we’re going to love it. I’m sure they are right.

Eye Recovery

Today was our first day of work since getting our eye surgery last Friday. Little rough to do any computer work for too long (things get pretty blurry). I finally pulled out a giant magnifying glass I had when I first got bifocals so I could see map details and “little stuff”. Thank goodness when I’m working in Publisher I can make an ad 150 or 200% in size so I can see it…LOL This too shall pass once our eyes heal, swelling and redness subsides and we get the clear contacts out tomorrow. I think it will take a while for our brains to figure out that each eye, while having its’ own job to do (reading or distance), must work with and not against the other eye to create a unified vision. Sort of like all the instruments in the symphony blending together to make a harmonious piece of music. A few of our band members are out of key at the moment but in time will be great.

These are the eye covers that we have to tape over our eyes while we sleep. Since the covers still slip and slide a little bit, we have been wearing our sunglasses over them too. The shields keep us from rubbing our eyes, by accident, in the middle of the night. I like to sleep on my stomach and these are really putting a crimp on that. We usually got loaded up on the artificial tears before putting them on and we’re good till morning. Come six or seven a.m., the scratchiness starts and we’re ready for more of the steroid and antibiotics. Tomorrow afternoon we go back for our follow-up appointment to see how our eyes are doing. At that point the contacts should come out. Will post more once we get back from the doctor and get a report on how things are going.

Denver Botanic Garden

Woke up around seven so we could get the rig put together and get on the road, headed back to the campground, while the traffic was light. My eyes were much clearer and less watery to be able to make the hour long drive so I felt confident that I could do it. It wasn’t until I got about ten minutes from the campground that they started to get scratchy and needed some tears but I hung in there till we got back and were set up. We got set up and settled in for the remainder of our time here.

Today we met our friend Ross at the Denver Botanic Gardens, about forty minutes from the campground. What an awesome place ! I hadn’t missed my flower beds, since being on the road for five years, until I went there today. Gorgeous beds of flowers….perennials, roses (I’ve never had a green thumb with roses), Asian gardens, wildflowers, sculptures, grasses and an indoor conservatory. We went on an hour long tour, with a guide, and then we had lunch at one of their cafes. After lunch, Ross needed to leave to go home to pack. He’s moving to a new place and the movers are coming in a couple days. I wanted to go back and check out some of the areas we had spotted but didn’t explore totally.

There is an exhibit currently there that is called Kizuna, which means “the bonds between people”. They are bamboo sculptures that are located throughout the gardens. Beautiful pieces ! Some of the pieces are floating in a pool but are tethered on a three foot line so they can move but not disturb the plants in the water. These pieces were really neat. Our tour guide said that the warm spell this year made the spring flowers so much bigger than they have ever been. We picked a great time to come to the gardens because there were amazing displays of flowers in bloom. Ross has lived in Denver for eight years but hasn’t ever been here. He certainly won’t be a stranger again….a place worth going back often as they change the displays throughout the year. If you like flowers and plants, it’s twenty some acres of pure bliss. A must see….

They also have a children’s garden area, which is built on the roof of the parking garage. Children can explore textures, colors and shapes with hands on exhibits. A very neat place for young kids. We had a great time today but after three hours there my eyes were really tired and ready for a rest. We came back home and took a nap.Will definitely put it on our “to do” list when we come back next year.

 

 

 

The Linda’s get Lasik…

Yesterday we left the park about 1:00 for the hour’s drive into Denver to get parked and settled before our 2:30 appt. with Dr. Cutarelli. Traffic was very heavy going into the city but we arrived and parked in the huge parking lot next to the Dr’s office. It’s a very pretty spot to be parked. It overlooks a beautiful grassy area with a basketball court and there’s a beautiful view of the Denver skyline.

 

 

We arrived for our appointment and got checked in, signed some papers and waited to be prepped for the surgery. Here is the last time that we had glasses on before our surgery. In case you’re wondering why we picked Dr. Cutarelli, he has over 60,000 Lasik surgeries to his credit. He did his residency at John’s Hopkins. He also worked on the clinical trials with the FDA on many of the machines that are used in Lasik surgery and was the first to perform Lasik surgery in Denver. He, and his whole staff, are top notch and super nice to deal with. Since he owns the practice, he sets and controls his pricing. When he asked us what we had expected to pay and we told him (which was less than his current special), he said he could do that.

When they were ready for us, they took us into the exam room and they checked Linda B’s prescription again. We stressed to them to make sure they get the right prescription with the correct Linda as our eyes (contrary to our show and clothes size) are entirely different. They took me first to get me prepped. I had to put a surgical hat on and the little booties over my shoes. They gave me a valium and put drops in my eyes to start numbing up my eyeballs. After Linda’s exam, she too came in and got prepped. They took me in to check my prescription and brought me back to the room again. Then it was time….

They took me in and you lay down on a table and they pull a machine down in front of your eyes. They taped something over my left eye and inserted something over my eyeball to keep the eye open. The inserting the the “eyeball vise” isn’t my favorite part of the surgery. My left eye was really ouchy when they did it so they took it out and put more drops in and used a different device to hold it open (kind of felt like maybe they used a piece of barbed wire….LOL). After this step, I can only guess what takes place. Everything goes dark so I think they pull the machine down and put it on top of the eyeball. At this point, I was stiff as a board, toes pointed to the ceiling and jaw clenched. He kept telling me to relax but that was a tall order. When they finish with this machine, they escort you over to another machine where they do something that involves a psychedelic light show in your eye and then you’re done. It only took about 15 minutes. My eyes were tearing up so badly I couldn’t hardly see to get back to the waiting room so luckily they held on to me. Then Linda went in. She came back under her own guidance so I think it went much easier for her. When she asked me how it was, before she went in, I didn’t want to tell her the truth cause she’d freak out. I said something like, “Just do what they tell you and you’ll be fine.”

They gave us our post-op information and we left but not before dropping our glasses in the donation bin.Freedoooooommm ! Before we left, they taped the eye shields over our eyes and gave us sunglasses to put on. We wear the eye shields when we sleep so we don’t rub our eyes or bump them. The sunglasses block out 100% of the UV rays and are awesome. Ultra stylish!

During the first 24 hours, we put steroid drops in every two hours and antibiotic drops in every four hours. We just finished that regiment. We now do both of these every four hours and the tears as often as we need them. I can tell that my left eye is my reading eye and my right is my distance eye. Linda is the opposite of me. We are both thrilled with the outcome so far and the best is yet to come. We had an awesome stay here last night. It is so beautiful at night with all of the buildings lit up. We feel like we have the city all to ourselves and that we’re on vacation. We’re going to stay until Sunday morning and then head back to the campground. We couldn’t believe how quiet it was last night. No trains, no traffic like we hear at the campground. So peaceful !

 

 

 

                                                                                       Here’s Dr. Cutarelli…

Tomorrow’s The Big Day….

Had a busy day with work today. One of our advertisers came and washed our rig and sealed the roof. He did such a great job. He worked on our rig while his two helpers worked on a big American Eagle coach a couple of spots down our row. We will squeeze in some more sales calls tomorrow morning and then around lunch time, we need to get ready to take the rig in for our surgery appointment. We have a list of “Do Not Do” items that have to be heeded before surgery. Can’t wear anything fuzzy (might put fuzz in the air that would affect laser). No lotion, no scents (as far as we can tell that would include deodorant and shampoo)Hopefully it will be a cool day tomorrow and we won’t break a sweat…LOL Our prep list also said that it will be chilly in the surgical area and to dress warmly. That I can do….The hard thing will be not rubbing my eyes for two weeks. Thank goodness they give us something to put over our eyes when we sleep and shower. Plus we have heavy duty sunglasses to wear for a few days (probably will resemble a welder’s helmet or those solar eclipse glasses we had last weekend). We’re excited…it will probably be a good thing that we have surgery late in afternoon as we’re supposed to keep our eyes closed for the first four hours after surgery. Sounds like…Nap time !

Linda and I are the proud owners of a used Wii game set that we won on E-bay. I just love getting a good bargain. We got the console, two controllers and two numchucks (not sure about the spelling of this device but my auto correct thought it should be upchuck but I’m pretty sure that isn’t what I want) and two games for $81. It’s so easy to set up and doesn’t take up much room at all.  Linda and I bowled a bunch of games, did some sword fighting, golfing and table tennis. I can really feel it in my arm and back muscles…decent work out. It’s also a great way to burn off some stress after a crazy day. My goal is to come home each night and play at least two games of something.

Guess that is all that is going on. I will try to report back later this weekend on how we’re doing. The doctor said that as soon as he’s done that we’ll be able to see the clock across the room. That isn’t such a big deal for me but that will be huge for Linda. Once she takes her glasses off, she can’t see them so she has to put them in the same place so she’ll find them. To see the clock will be very thrilling for her. Hope everyone has a great Memorial weekend….it’s the official kick-off to summer. Get out and enjoy the outdoors !

On a clear day, you can see forever…(well, let’s hope so)

Today we went to get our exams, to see if we are candidates for Lasik eye surgery. The two hours we spent there consisted of eye tests, measurements of the thickness of our corneas, imaging of our eye, checking the blood supply and various things inside our eye. Oh and they dilated our pupils. For the last eight hours, Linda and I have felt like vampires, hiding from the daylight. I feel like I’ve pulled an all nighter, in college, cramming for a test..having downed ten cans of red bull. Wow, it’s been intense. It’s all worth it though…we are candidates and we’ll have it done Friday afternoon and rest over the holiday weekend.

I’ve been leery of this type of surgery for a few years but after I saw my former boss, who had it done, it calmed my fears about blinding outcomes from scar tissue, etc. I researched optometrists, who specialize in Lasik, and found that Dr. Cutarelli, a renowned Lasik surgeon has an office in Denver. Called and got appointments for when we’d be here and there you have it. You’re caught up.

As Linda and I have heard from people who have had this surgery, you typically need reading glasses after the surgery but Dr. Cutarelli explained to us that there is Mono Vision Lasik surgery where one eye is corrected for reading and one is corrected for distance. The two eyes, in conjunction with the brain, interpret and adapt to this so you see everything perfectly. In his practice he has the most up to date equipment out there. He uses a Wavelight laser which actually improves night vision…other laser equipment can’t. We’re excited. We’ll drive the motorhome to his office and park in the big parking lot and hang out there for 24 hours till it’s safe to drive back to the campground. We’ll be given solar eclipse style sunglasses that will block out the light and we’ll go retire to our rig.

I think it will take a while for it to sink in that we don’t have glasses sitting on our faces anymore. I mean when you add up all the years that Linda and I have worn glasses, you’re talking around 85 years. Holy cow, that’s a lifetime of broken frames from wrestling with a little brother, glasses askew trying to get them into our helmets, scratched lens that drive us crazy, a multitude of lost and not so lost sunglasses bought for the specific frame shape that we have and countless name calling when I first started to wear glasses in the fifth grade. On the coffee tables, outside the surgical area of Dr. Cutarelli’s office, are two big glass jars with pairs of discarded glasses. FREEDOM is within our grasp….my glasses might join those other pairs. We’ll give you an update this weekend after we’ve had it done.

In other blinding news, the solar eclipse was really cool. We were at Linda’s reiki session when it began. She watched it during our motorcycle ride home (45 minutes in length) and would give me the solar sunglasses to look through when we were stopped at a red light. I’m sure the people around us were wondering what we were doing. Just as the “ring of fire” was about to happen, the sun went behind a cloud and was not to be seen again. As the sun got closer to setting, the sky behind the cloud looked like the sun had imploded. The sky was  beautiful, all pink and bright behind the cloud.

Linda had a good reiki session. For those who have asked, it was a present from me. I have experienced reiki in the past and it had some amazing results. I have gone through reiki training but am only at Level 1. Although I have done reiki on her, I’ve not had the training to be able to do it effectively to others. That takes much more training. The woman I took her to is a Reiki Master (having gone through 3 levels) and she also has other extensive training.

It’s been a week of great energy and new discoveries. Here’s wishing that you all have a great week too !

Colorado

We’re in Brighton, just outside of Denver. The mountains are so gorgeous here…everywhere you look, they are off in the distance. I wonder if people, who live here, take them for granted. We asked Ross that question since he’s lived here for eight years. He said he made a promise to himself to never take them for granted. I suppose people in their crazy day-to-day lives can forget to look up and see those magnificent images off in the distance but we sure enjoy them while we are here.

Boomer has had another little medical mis-step. On Thursday afternoon we took him to the dog park, near here, that we found last year. It’s a huge park with a pond that last year had water in it. This year it’s a small, greenish..sludge filled puddle. Earlier in the week we had taken him and he ignored the puddle and had a good time with another dog there. On Thursday, there were other dogs but he found the puddle. He also ran and ran, more than he has gotten to do in a while. Since there is so much room to run, he took advantage of it. I went for  a walk on the path that circles the “puddle” and he followed me but then he decided to run to see Linda at the other end of the park. He ran like the wind, straight into the mud pit and then emerged and ran back towards me. He ran past me, flying like race horse and I turned to watch him. When he got to the far end, he faltered a bit and then stopped on a dime. He walked a couple of steps, limping and then plopped down on the ground. When I got to him, it was pretty apparent something was wrong with his front leg but I wasn’t sure if it was those nasty sand spurs or if he had twisted it. From what I saw, when he was running, it looked like he had stepped into a divot or something and probably twisted his leg. We came home and he wouldn’t walk on it hardly at all. On Friday, we were concerned so we took him to a local vet. The minute we got in the door to the vet’s, it was like a child who comes home from school, saying they are sick and miraculously they don’t feel so bad anymore. He was walking, not holding up his leg, etc. The vet checked him over and she didn’t feel that he had broken it..that it was merely a sprain. He’s on anti-inflammatory pills (the dose just now decided it didn’t want to stay down). He’s doing better…still a little gimpy. Wonder if this little mishap will make him remember he’s twelve and not two…I doubt it and that’s fine by me !

We are headed out to the flea market this morning. Have to go get ready for that. Tonight, Linda has a one hour reiki session…that’s exciting! And while she is doing that, I will be watching the solar eclipse in my special glasses that our friend Cindy gave us. Hoping that the sky is clear and not raining so we can see it. Will post more about all of these “energy” experiences later…

Lets Catch Up…

We left Arizona on Friday afternoon and drove as far as Grants, NM. Stayed at the Cibola Sands KOA, near what we thought were piles of old asphalt along I-40. Turns out that it’s actually lava, from a nearby volcano that flowed over the land and solidified.

It’s comforting to know that the DOT is responsible about where they put their old asphalt. One of the KOA employees pointed out the dormant volcano, responsible for the lava. It’s one of 30 some in the area. This particular volcano is a sister volcano to Mount St. Helens because they both blew out their side wall and not from the top. There’s a joke in that whole discussion that I think it best I steer clear of.

We left Saturday morning, bound for the RV park where Cindy and Wendy are staying. It’s in a little town above Santa Fe, off of 285. We got in around 2:00 and got set up. We had supper with the girls….Wendy made an awesome curry chicken salad, tomatoes, sweet potato fries and blackberries. On Sunday we went up to Wendy’s mom and dad’s house, in Los Alamos, and had a Mother’s Day brunch with them. We started the meal out with a special adult beverage. Wendy had fixed two different kinds of quiche, a spinach salad and pumpkin bread. Everything was really yummy ! Wendy’s dad had taken a nasty fall, a few days earlier, but still had the big bruise and swelling on his forehead to show for it. Yikes ! Saturday and Sunday night we played Wii bowling at their rig and had a great time. Monday morning we headed out for Colorado.

A little ways outside of Alamosa, Linda texted our friend Bobbie and told her it was too bad she and Jim weren’t in Alamosa as we would be arriving there soon. She texted back and said we are  there….when are you gonna get here? They were shopping in Wally World, as we pulled into town and met them in the parking lot. What a neat coincidence to run into them as we were passing through Alamosa. We went into Subway and had a quick bite to eat and chatted for about an hour before hitting the road again. It was so good to see them again. We just love meeting up with our friends in our travels.

In Colorado there are the remnants of snow in the mountains….so pretty but glad it’s far away. We arrived in Brighton at 4:30, after dealing with rush hour traffic in Denver. Got settled in and was glad to relax…it was a long day of driving. Today was gorgeous with temps in the upper 70’s. Have our meeting with the manager tomorrow morning and will hit the streets selling after we do that.  Will be in Brighton till the end of the month.

Leaving Arizona

 

We are wrapping up here and leaving tomorrow, once we’ve met with both parks. Still have two advertisers’ decisions to come in next week, due to the business being sold to another company and a board meeting. Not a problem to wait a couple days to close the job, just anxious to get on the road. We were originally going to leave Saturday but there is no sense in waiting around one more day. We are bored to death and have some serious “hitch itch”. We’ll take our time tomorrow…don’t need to be to our friend’s park till Saturday. We’re going to spend Saturday and Sunday night with Wendy and Cindy, around Sante Fe,NM.

Last night, the sky was an awesome color of pink and purple colors.There had been some storms elsewhere in the state and I’m not sure if that is what caused the color show but it sure was neat. We’ll arrive in Brighton, Colorado on Monday to start Barr Lake RV Park. After that we go to Breckenridge till the end of June. Colorado bound !

Ruins and Ravines

We’re trying to soak up as much of the local flavor as we can before we leave the Holbrook area. On Friday, we had to drive to Show Low to check in with some businesses so we decided to drive on to the Salt River Canyon to check it out. Our friends Wendy, Cindy and Ross had all driven up through the canyon, on their way to Holbrook, and told us how beautiful it was. It’s a long way out there and a long way back but it sure is pretty. We had a “bumper” picnic, while at the pull-off area…taking in the beauty around us before we started back to Holbrook.

 

 

 

 

Today we took the trike and rode to Homolovi Ruins State Park, just before you get to Winslow. This is the site of what used to be a 1200 room pueblo of a Hopi tribe. Archeologists are still working on the area, since it was only set up as a state park, less than thirty years ago.

Pottery shards	Kiva
Bottom of Kiva..notice the two stones in center. This was the site of the hearth and see the air vent behind the area and bench around the perimeter of the Kiva.	One of two banded lizards we saw around the area…look at his pretty yellow feet.

Nice day out on the bike…even with sunscreen, we both got a little bit of sun. Temp was only in high 70’s but without the breeze, it was really hot. Not sure what we have in store for tomorrow…Nascar will be on TV about the time I’ll be eating breakfast. That sure is different. How to fit my morning political shows in with Nascar…some channel surfing tomorrow for sure. Hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend.