Visiting the City of Friendship and Pride and Future Travel Plans

Rochester, Indiana (mostly cold and windy with occasional glorious spring weather)

Round barn was relocated to a golf coarse

Beautiful Rochester courthouse.

For the past month we have been visiting my brother Harry.  He lives in  Rochester, a pretty lake town in northern Indiana. We stored our RV and have  stayed at his  home. It has been a treat. The lake views are terrific and just being able to cook in his big kitchen has been so much fun. We have cooked some delicious meals together for us and some of his friends. It's been great to spend lots of time with him and there have been lots of laughs.  I have enjoyed taste testing a few of his favorite IPA's beers as well.

We are mostly here to try and figure out what is going on with John's knee since his replacement surgery in November. It has continued to swell and is painful a lot of the time. His surgeon in Florida recommended more surgery. We were not sure if this was the right coarse of action so we came up here to see an Orthopedic surgeon Harry recommended.

Harry's house (brown one)

My brother's pharmacy in Rochester

In between a barrage of tests we visited several towns in the area. We enjoyed the spring flowers. and the nice trails near the hospital where most of the tests were performed. 

Nice water bowl along the trail for Jimmy

Jimmy took lots of naps and even got to go on a few boat rides. He liked those a lot and so did we. 

Jimmy and me

My favorite brother Harry

My favorite husband enjoying the sunset

One of our favorite finds was a vintage trailer converted into a cool ice cream shop. A mother and daughter make homemade ice cream and sell it at this recently restored trailer. It has been a big hit in the community and the ice cream was delicious.

Viewing sunsets out on the pontoon boat at night is special. Being able to reconnect with my brother and having this special time together has been priceless. We were stressed at times during all the tests but being here with him helped immeasurably. Harry says being out on the lake helps resets your clock.

At first the surgeon thought John might need to have his knee replaced. However, after extensive tests no infection was found and the surgeon felt John should just give it some more time. He may be reacting to the implant but the hope is his body will adjust to it over time.. 

Lake Manitou at sunset

We will be here over the weekend and looking forward to watching the Indy 500 race. We used to live in Indianapolis and for many years attended this great event. My favorite driver Helio Castroneves will be starting from the third row. 

On Monday we will be turning "left" and heading west. Our plans include visiting a few beautiful places in Colorado for about a month. We then will be returning to Grand Teton National Park to meet up with friends. John's daughter will be flying in for a visit and we have more friends coming in September. We were supposed to work there this summer with GTA (Grand Teton Association) but had to cancel due to John's knee issues. It will be great to visit some of our favorite places. Stay tuned. 

In the fall we will be attending a Newmar Kountry Klub rally in Pueblo Colorado and will be attending a pre rally with a full-timing chapter in Canon City. We recently joined this camping club for Newmar owners. It's a very active club with many opportunities to attend rallies all over the country. 

Then in October we will be joining the Boomers, an Escapee BOF chapter, at the spectacular Albuquerque Balloon Festival.  We attended this great event four years ago and are really looking forward to returning. There are sure to be other great stops in between. 

Right now there have been numerous tornadoes in the mid west so we have decided to head a little further north and go through Nebraska instead of Kansas. This will be a new state for us and we are planning on staying at a few Corp of Engineer Parks along the way. Be sure to check back soon for more lake views. :)

Thank you again Harry for the wonderful hospitality!

Love you to the moon and back!!!

The Day The Good Guys Won!

Rochester, Indiana

Methamphetamine (Meth) shatters the lives of everything it touches; the addict, meth cook, and  the children living in the homes where this is made. Eighty percent of  children in the state of Indiana in protective services such as foster care are there because a parent or parents is involved with meth.  It's alarming to know Indiana has the highest incidences of meth labs in the U.S. In this small town 32 labs were found in 2013  and it has cost  the tax payers at least  $40,000 to clean up each of these sites and that is just the beginning. Some citizens of Fulton County in Rochester Indiana had seen enough and decided to take action.

Pharmacists and legislators join together  implement a bill to reduce meth labs in Indiana

Click Here for the bill signing video of Governor Pence's visit to Webb's Family Pharmacy 

My brother introducing Governor Pence

A concerned citizen in Rochester (population 6100) named Val Pemberton approached my brother Harry, a local pharmacy owner, about a year ago.  He asked him to do something about it NOW!  My brother was well aware how Sudafed was being used as one of the key components in the manufacture of meth and was careful about the sales of this product. Unfortunately, the other pharmacies in this town were not. Something needed to be done to have all pharmacies unite to stop the sale of Sudafed to smurfs. Val was sure my brother could figure out a way to make this happen.

The concerned citizen who started the process - Val Pemberton

Smurfs are people who are hired by meth cookers to obtain Sudafed at pharmacies. It is one of the key ingredients needed to make a batch. The sales are tracked in a federal database, however, this was not deterring the sales very much. Once a smurf was able to purchase some of this product, news would quickly be passed onto others. My brother said a pharmacy could then expect a steady stream of smurfs purchasing it until the supply ran out. In Rochester it was not unusual in the past to see monthly sales of 700 boxes. My brothers pharmacy only sold 15 of them. Think about this for a moment - pharmacies were profiting off the backs of their citizens. Shame on them. It is thought that only about 20% these sales were being used for legitimate purposes such has a sinus headaches or colds. 

Media

A Fulton County Citizen Action Committee was formed and with a lot of persistence an ordinance was passed in Fulton County to restrict sales of Sudafed to smurfs. This initiative successfully reduced the sales by 50%. With these promising statistics of how it could work the committee approached Randy Head an Indiana Senator.  They gained his key support for a bill modeling what was being done in Rochester. My brother and others testified in the House and Senate and it later was passed and became a law in Indiana. There certainly was a lot of resistance from drug companies and chain stores. But the "good guys" won and it will be implemented in July 2016. Amazing!

Governor Pence signing the bill 

Yesterday Governor Pence came to my brothers pharmacy and ceremoniously signed the bill. There was lots of excitement in the air with legislators, committee members, pharmacists, media, police, and towns people present. It was a really great accomplishment for this small town to have made such a difference and everyone was so elated the bill had became a law..This little town had helped draft a bill which will hopefully curb a big problem. Words cannot express adequately how proud I am of my brother! It's been quite a journey. 

Fulton County Citizen Action Committee

Senator Randy Head and Representative Ben Smaltz received special recognition from the Fulton County Action Committee

Local elected officials and the Governor Pence

John and I have been following this effort almost from the beginning. We came here today to be a part of something really special. It was a great moment!  Congratulations to all on a job well done and for stepping up and making a difference.

If you are interested in this process and the action plan click here  Feel free to share with your legislators and pharmacies.  

Change In Plans

Rochester, IN (87 degrees, very hot and humid)

Martha and John

John's dear sister Martha suddenly called us to let us know she was in the hospital in Sao Paolo Brazil where she resides. She has valiantly been fighting breast cancer for many years and now was told it had spread to her spine and brain. She is very precious to us and although she has a wonderful family and extended friends we felt it was best to be there to help out in any way possible.

We quickly said good bye to our traveling companions over the past two months and put the peddle to the metal and have now left Newfoundland. After much discussion and planning it seemed best to leave the motorhome at my brothers house in Indiana. We will go to Chicago on Monday to get visas to travel to Brazil. Our friend Debbie in Indianapolis offered to watch Jimmy while we are gone. Our plan is to fly out on Friday- fingers crossed.

It's taken a village to pull all this off and we want to thank our friends and family who have offered support and help. Martha has many people known and unknown to her saying prayers and offering positive thoughts for her full recovery. 

We took an overnight ferry about a week ago from Argentia Newfoundland to Nova Scotia and exited Canada into Maine. From there we quickly headed to Indiana. On Monday we are going to Chicago for the visas. We arrived here very tired but safe and sound except for the loss of one side view mirror clipped off at a toll booth and a whole lot of road dust. We had to duck tape and wire the mirror up to the motorhome and arrived sort of looking like the Beverly Hillbillies. 

Please continue to keep Martha and her family in your thoughts and prayers. She has a very positive attitude and has shown amazing strength throughout. 

There Is No Place Like Home

Indianapolis, IN  (72 degrees, blues sky)

I feel like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz racing around trying to see some of our family & friends. It's so nice to be back home in Indiana and the flowering trees and blooming daffodils are so lovely.

Some of the time we allotted has been taken up with unexpected visits to Cummins for a hydraulic  leak. Just as we approached Indiana the diesel engine started spitting oil out the back all over our bicycles and our jeep.. Good grief! Luckily our friend Allen helped us diagnose the problem and Cummins worked us into their busy schedule. It's been nerve racking worrying about whether the parts will arrive in time before we meet up with our friends in Ohio for the Biggest Week in American Birding and further travels into Canada for five months.,

Marcia, Jerry, John, & Linda

We arrived at one of our favorite county campgrounds - White River to find out three of our friends brought their rigs out there to surprise us. Linda, Jerry, and Marcia belong to a camping club with Good Sams we helped initially organize before full timing. It was so much fun to see them and we sat around a fire each evening catching up. Other members -  Norma and John also joined all of us for dinner one evening.

John, me, Jerry, Marcia, Linda, Norma and John

The next day Allen came over to the campground to help John trouble shoot the engine problems. He and his wife Joyce were camp hosts at this campground at one time and we became great friends. Allen drove semi trucks most of his life and recorded over 3 million miles. He knows his way around diesel engines. Unfortunately the next day he took a tumble at home off of a ladder and ended up in the hospital with a concussion.  We hope he'll be feeling better soon.

John also was able to meet up with some of his retired postal carrier friends (Dan and Gary). We all met with them and their wives at a Mexican restaurant. It was a nice evening. I don't think any of the carriers miss working for the post office.  

Me, Chris and John

One morning we drove to Lafayette and saw one of my best friends from my hometown (Monticello). She drove down from the Chicago area just to see us. We had a nice lunch at a restaurant and talked and talked. Chris attended our 40th high school reunion and showed me lots of pictures. Our waiter was very patient.

Afterwards we drove up to Rochester to stay with my brother and his wife for a couple of days. Their friend Rick cooked us a five star delicious dinner on an outdoor  grill and we sat outside long into the evening. S'mores were involved too. It was a beautiful evening along the lake.

Rick and his amazing grill

Harry and John

Corn on the cob and grilled chicken

The next morning we piled kayaks onto a pontoon boat and launched them later into a pristine wetland which feeds the lake. It was a beautiful day and the spring was in full tilt. We saw some Sand hill Cranes, a couple of beautiful Swans, deer, and for once no alligators.  

Kayaks being launched from the pontoon boat

Our happiness dulled, however, when we decided to portage around a couple of areas where the stream was blocked with fallen trees. It looked easy in theory. However, thick muck, slippery slopes, and one overturned kayak (mine) suddenly changed the atmosphere. My kayak ended up being punctured and it suddenly took on lots of water in the hull. Fortunately Penny was using a tandem kayak and  I paddled back with her towing mine behind by a rope. We all thought our decision to portage was not a good one but hindsight is 20/20. The tough reality will be finding someone to quickly repair it before we go to Canada.

We had one last dinner with Debbie and Dave (see previous post) and were also able to visit Debbie's Mom in a rehab center. She is recovering from a heart valve replacement and looked amazing for having been through such a serious surgery. We wish her a speedy recovery.

We were even able to see my friend and former boss Jackie's new house and have dinner with her daughter Kenzie and her sister Jill and her husband.  (oops, I forget to take pictures) Can you tell a lot of great food was also involved with seeing all of our friends and family.  Yum!

David and Debbie

After returning to Indy our unexpected focus has been communicating with Cummins and we also finished up last minute shopping. It's been much easier to accomplish all the shopping because for once we are in a city we know how to get around. However, we are so amazed by how much it has changed in just three years on the north side.

Unfortunately due to all the time spent with the unexpected engine problems we could not see everyone. We will just have to return again soon. Thanks to everyone for taking time to see us. You are all so special to us.

Batter Up - Let's Play Ball

Cincinnati, OH (68 degrees, clear blue skies)

Downtown Cincinnati from the freeway

We spent a few days traveling from Florida to Ohio. It was fun following the spring time along the road. Each state was in a different stage. Cincinnati was our destination to see the Cubs play at the Cincinnati Reds Stadium (Great American Ballpark) We have not seen them play in awhile and John really is a devoted fan. Our friend Debbie bought us tickets in celebration of our upcoming anniversary.What a great friend! She and her boyfriend Dave drove from Indianapolis to meet up and go to the game.

We had fantastic seats right behind the home plate.  

The weather was perfect and best of all the Cubs Won!!!. 

Life is good!

Debbie, Dave, John and me (plus some Reds mascots)

It's always fun to visit Cincinnati.  It's very scenic and the downtown is very vibrant with lots of great restaurants.

Great views from the Moerlein Lager House (Dave and Debbie)

Our campground for a few days is the Little Farm on the River. It's located on the Ohio/Indiana border and many of the sites are located along the river. The sites are a good size and it is a very peaceful and pleasant campground with full hook ups.

Little Farm on the River

View of the river from our site

The next day we noticed on Facebook one of the couples (David and Susie) who are traveling with us in Canada were only 20 miles away. We are members of a FMCA camping club but hadn't met in person. We were able to find a restaurant close by and enjoyed a pleasant dinner together. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture.

We are now on our way to Indiana to meet up with family and friends. 

There is no place like home.

Jimmy is such a good traveler