Winding down here in the US....

Where has the time gone? We flew into the US on August 29th (overnight flight) and we fly out on October 29th (late day flight). We'll spend the night in Guayaquil and our good friend, Emilio, will pick up for our 4 hr drive through the mountains on the morning of the 30th.

We've seen (or will see before the week is out) over 75% of our family, still missing my son in Ohio, my step-family in New York, my daughter and more step-family in Colorado. We'll see my youngest daughter and her family on our drive to Florida.

All our medical appointments are now complete, only outstanding item is the glasses I ordered from JC Penney. They weren't in before we left, now hoping they will arrive in time to be shipped to Florida. Really liked them and excited about going back to a larger frame (better for us folks with progressive lenses). All other medical/dental/vision issues are good until next year (and I will get our eye appointments done FIRST next time around).

A lot of other things have gotten accomplished - I attended the Writers' Police Academy, we traded in both our Harley's for the new Tri-Glide (named 'Black Cherry' rather than Big Red), I had my first visit to Ocean City, MD where I had my first Thrasher's Fries (yum).

We ate out too much, saw some good movies (and one not so good), we went for a motorcycle ride with friends, we bought new clothes, we bought things to take back to Ecuador, we had meals with friends (yeah, that's part of the eating too much...LOL), we visited family, we got wiggles and licks from Sadie, we got repairs done on the rig (thanks to my talented hubby who fixed the stuck exhaust brake on the Freightliner and the mouse/squirrel chewed wire for the back-up camera), participated in the Red Helmet ride (hubby did, I was fighting a reaction to my first senior *high dose flu shot), got lots of hugs & kisses from grandkids and more.

We had a wonderful drive from Maryland here, the trees were gorgeous and the weather cooperated wonderfully. We spent the night in two truck stops and used free WiFi where we could. A couple of interesting folks were met along the way. At lunch yesterday we saw two ladies about our age - identical twins. Dressed the same from earrings to shoes, even had the same haircut. We thought they might be going to a Twin Event since they were comparing their little date books.

Then last night we met a group of young men from Lenoir City who were moving a load of hay. Stu had noticed them inside and commented on how quickly they ate. When we walked outside to check out a new parking spot for the rig, they were all standing beside their truck/trailer with two seriously blown tires. We commented on having "been there, done that". When Stu walked off to get the rig, I continued chatting with the one who owned the truck. A friend was coming to pick them up and he hoped to find two tires today, cheaper than what he had been quoted locally. He was pleased we would be beside his truck, obviously nervous about leaving it unattended overnight. As they loaded into the friend's car, he pulled a cooler out of the back and offered me some Corn Liquor. I declined with a smile and he chuckled, "Well, I had to ask."

So now we are now sitting on our property in TN where we will spend the week doing all those last minute items that have to be dealt with: packing, banking, packing, utilities, packing, winterizing all the vehicles and oh yeah, packing! Won't be much time for blogging until we are back in Ecuador, then we'll do a little recap comparison of our thoughts of living in both places.