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.