Slight Reversal – Washington then Oregon

With mom’s breast cancer diagnosis, we have decided to tour Washington then Oregon instead of heading up the Oregon Coast into Washington.  So our plans now are to leave early Sunday evening, go as far as Corning, California, straight through the rest of Northern Cal and most of Oregon on Monday where we would camp just south of Portland, then continue our run up to the Olympia area where we will slow down, pick up highway 101 to Port Angeles where we can take a day trip via the ferry over to Butchart Gardens.  (if you click on the link, it will bring up a small pdf which shows a map and provides some of the history of the gardens).  From there we will follow 101 slowly down the coast into Oregon, with the option of heading on back quickly if the surgery happens quicker than any of us anticipate.

In a dozen days from now mom visits her surgeon, and two days before that she is having a “ct scan” of the area where her cancer was 20 years ago.  Time will tell how this is going to go, until then it is a waiting game and time for prayers.  She is very appreciative of those who have made contact with her through facebook, and I know she reads the comments on our blog too.  Her facebook  page is open to the public, and she will “friend” just about anyone who asks.  (facebook links above are to her page)  Of course, one has to be registered on facebook to really use and view facebook, which is one of my pet peeves about facebook.)

Sandy and Patti are having a little “sister time” up in Reno this weekend, they like to go up there at least once a year and have “spa time”, as they call it.  Not the biggest gamblers in the world…Sandy rarely plays anything over a penny slot, but they both enjoy their time up there now and then, and this time it is just the two of them.  Once they come back Sunday, it will free us up to head on out, and instead of fighting the traffic on Monday to get over to I-5, we will take off Sunday around 4 or 5.   As for the “pink ribbon” in the Reno picture, well, I think I am going to add that to my pictures this trip in memory of my mom…  

The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful

As a family growing up we did not go to the movies that often.  I remember some of them…Bambi (yep, cried during that one), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Hallelujah Trail, The Trouble with Angels to name a few…and then there was the time that Dad took Roger, Sandy and I to see The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at the Drive-in theater in West Sacramento I believe...perhaps all the way to Davis.  (of course, all the drive-in theaters are pretty much gone now…and younger readers might need this link to see what I am talking about.)  I like that old movie, and I like most of Clint's other movies too.  Anyway, today's blog post is more like The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful.


The Good

Today I got the oil changed on the RV…when I say “got”, I mean that I did it this time.  It had been many years since I changed the oil on a vehicle…I think the last one was my 1996 Ford F-250 Powerstroke Turbo Diesel…did that once, made a huge mess because finding a oil pan which can hold 12+ quarts of oil is hard to find and filling two 7 quart pans is messy.  Anyway, “I got err done” today, was fairly easy except that raising the front end of the motorhome made it difficult to get out all the oil out.  Oh well, nice to know I can do it and I have all the materials I need to get the job done.  Another good thing here is Sacramento is that they will pick up your old oil on “Recycle Garbage Day”, which happened to be today, and I got it out there before they picked up.  Last time I had to run the old oil by Walmart…and I think it sat in the back of my truck for a few weeks.


The Bad

Mom had a biopsy last week…word came down yesterday that she has breast cancer and it looks like they will be operating on her in 3-5 weeks from now.  Of the breast cancers one could have, this is the best type.  At 85 years old, she does not want Chemo or Radiation, and who could blame her.  Twenty or so years ago she had Stage II, Low Grade Lymphoma, which you can read about HERE when she cut my hair for her 82nd birthday.  They told her back then that she would have a recurrence within 5-7 years…which did not happen.  Going through Chemo 20 years ago was hard enough…which is one reason she is not doing it again.

We are a family who believes in prayer…prayer to heal, if it be God’s will…prayer for strength and comfort for Mom, for Dad and all of our family.  She meets with the surgeon in two weeks and we will know more about her treatment after that.  Marcia and I are still headed north along the coast on Monday, but we may cut our trip short if hey operate sooner than we think they will.  Of course Mom would like us to stay with our schedule…but we will be here for the surgery.


The Beautiful 

Yesterday a lot of clouds came over from the outer arms of former Hurricane Dolores which is off the coast of Southern California.  It created a pretty picture at sunset, that’s for sure.

Did you see that up there in the middle?

A nice end to the day…that’s for sure.  

We leave Monday the 27th, and we will hit the road hard the first day, perhaps all 500 miles to Coos Bay.   After that, we will slow it down.  I'm excited to get out of this heat and over to the coast where it is going to be cool.