We got up kind of late. We had our coffee and then we took off. The drive home was fine. 

One of our last stops for gas and snacks.

The weather at home wasn't too cold. We got the camper unpacked and Scott got it on the side of the house. Another year over. 

We got up and made coffee. Then Jessica came to the camper, and we all drank coffee and chatted for a couple hours. Then we said our good-byes and headed home.

It was not a long drive to Bloomington, but it did rain the entire time. Once we arrived, we had a couple hours to kill before we met up with Thomas, so we did some shopping at Home Depot and then relaxed.  We bought an indoor-safe propane heater. It worked very nicely, and we were glad to have it. (We later learned they had had so much snow that morning that Thomas's scho0l had started 2 hours late. But by the time we got there, most of it had melted.)

Thomas arrived about 6:30. He had a few hours tops before he had to get to bed. He had school the next day. We chatted a bit and then Scott and Thomas went off to get BBQ while I got Cracker Barrel. It took them a while to get back because they stopped at Thomas's school so he could show Scott around. Of course, there was some gabbing too.

When they got back we had a lovely visit. ​

The weather was perfect, sunny and warm. After we had our coffee, I had to do some orchestra work, so Scott left the camper in the morning by himself.

After breakfast, they all toured the farm and he milked a cow and milked a goat. Using the milk they'd gotten from the cow, they fed a baby cow whose mother had rejected it. Apparently, that happens sometimes.

Jon came by and asked if we wanted to go see a baby cow that had just been born. We hopped into his truck with the kids and headed over to a field. When we got there, one of Jon's farmhands was waiting. It was now his cow and he'd roped it to get it ready to be tagged.

Then he put the tag in his ear.

Then he was untied and he jumped up and followed his mom to join the other cows. He was a little unsteady at first but then he was fine. Amazing because he was a day old!

There is an old schoolhouse on the property. Jon took us there. It was super cool! It's made of limestone. It has a basement and that rests on a limestone slab that was there under the ground.

When we got back to the main house, Jon gave me a ride in the Ranger. It was a lot of fun and super comfortable, actually.

We kept talking. OMG we heard some amazing stories. How about Jon and Kasey getting dressed for a wedding but having to do a quick change back to regular clothes because they had to go perform an emergency C-section on a cow that was dying?

​Kasey is a hair stylist, and she started a business making tallow skin creams (she gave me a sample, and I love it). She also just started working part-time for some local business doing their books. Jon is a welder and he used to work on oil rigs, but he gave it up to come back and take over the farm. His skills are well-known in the area though, so he still does welding when asked; when we first arrived the day before, he was welding a neighbor's equipment. He is also a volunteer firefighter.  Some of the things he's had to do are incredible. They had terrible wild fires rage through the area recently, and they had to work like crazy for hours and hours trying to beat back the fires and protect the houses they could. They had more than one very close call. They said a lot of farmers lost everything they had. As a firefighter, Jon is also called to help people who crash on the roads and highways. Not a job I could do.

After dinner, we played cards. First I taught Jessica and Dave how to play Poison. Scott played War with Jenna's oldest boy. Then we learned a new game that they play a lot called Pitch. I loved it! Four players, playing as two pairs of partners, deal nine cards. Jessica and I were partners, and Dave and Scott were partners. Players then bid how many points (10 possible) they think they can take in a given suit. Whoever bids highest wins. Then everyone throws away non-trump suits from their hand. Then the remaining deck is dealt out: each player asks for the number of cards he or she needs to have six cards in their hand. Whatever cards in the pile remain are given to the player who called the suit. That person picks out the trump cards and adds them to his or her hand. If there are so many that the resulting hand would exceed six, he or she can give the extra to his or her partner. Then play begins. Does the caller go first or to the left of the caller? If the team winning the bids wins the points they bid, they get those points. If they are set, that number is subtracted from their score. First to (maybe?) 50 wins. The order of cards is this:

• A - 1
• K - 0
• Q - 0
• J - trump -1 
• J - off, same color - 1
• Joker high - 1
• Joker low (determine before which is which) - 1
• 10 -1 
• 3 - 3
• 2 - 1 player who has this card in his or hand keeps the points

We had an amazing and memorable visit with Scott's friend Jessica and her family in Kansas.

Before we arrived at her family farm, we drove through the vastness of the Kansas plains.

When we arrived on the farm, Dave, Jessica's Dad, met us and showed us where to park our RV. Then we introduced ourselves. He was so relaxed and congenial, and that was the theme of the visit. 

We met her mom Krista, her brother Jon, her kids, her nephews, and later her sister Jenna and her sister-in-law Kasey.

The weather was beautiful and we walked down to a barn. We saw goats, chickens, guinea fowl, cattle, and lots of barn cats walking around. The cattle were in the fields and inside fences. They are kept in groups by age. We went into the barn and saw two baby goats that had been born, I think the day before. Also, we met the family dog Sophie, an Anatolian shepherd. It's a beefy dog that keeps the farm safe from coyotes, so a bad ass, but it was the sweetest, gentlest dog ever.

And then it was time to leave.

We had coffee and then got everything packed up. We got out at a decent time and headed for our next stop, a layover of one night at the Sante Fe KOA.

We had a nice drive. The weather was good. The scenery was beautiful.

​When we were a couple hours away from Santa Fe, we started being interested in the elevation of the areas we were driving through. At some point we realized Santa Fe was super elevated, above 7,000 feet. We were worried about how the truck would handle the climb and how Scott might handle the elevation (his legs have swelled up at high elevations before).

So we decided to reroute to the Amarillo Cracker Barrel. That meant adding 2 hours to the drive, but a bonus would be that we'd get to our destination the next day a couple hours earlier. I called and cancelled the KOA; they were so nice about it and they even gave us a partial refund, which they didn't have to do.

We got to the KOA and had a nice dinner. 

Our last full day. We had a nice, relaxing day.

After coffee, I started doing some orchestra business and Scott went off for his last hot tub. When he got back, we started on the puzzle. We worked on it the whole day. At one point, I went to eat some yogurt and Scott kept going.

It turned out to be a super hard puzzle. Plus, it is a little hard to see in the sun and work with the pieces cramped together. We're going to bring the Clam next year.

In the afternoon, the wind started to kick up and we were going to have to put it away. But we brought it inside and worked some more. I kept going while Scott went for an oil change. 

We had a great day. 

After coffee, Scott went down to the fire-pit chairs to read. He ended up finishing the last of the eight books of the history series and then he finished the Charles Murray book he's been reading, and then he started another. I practiced.

When he got back, we went for another bike ride on our same route. It was in the 80s and sunny by the time we got there. It was beautiful. Maybe we should have rested for a day, because this ride seemed a bit harder on account of my legs being fried. We did make it the whole way though and it didn't seem to take us any longer, except that I just couldn't make it up the final hill 75 feet before the road that ends the part of the trail we ride. 

The ride back was nice.

When we got back, we took showers. Then Scott read while I uploaded videos for my teacher. Then we went to the KOA restaurant for dinner! It's my birthday present!

During dinner, Thome called me for my birthday, and we had a nice chat. After dinner, we took a short walk around the KOA and Thomas called me for my birthday, and we had a nice chat. A great birthday.

When we got back to the camper, we played cards, just one game of gin rummy. We were both super tired so we went to bed and turned on a movie. Scott was out in 5 minutes. I kept asking him "Are you awake?" and he lied and said "yes." But then I was like, I'm watching this movie by myself (and I've already seen it), so I switched to Would I Lie to You? and then I fell asleep too.

We had a great day.

After coffee and breakfast, Scott did some work on the camper (putting latches on some doors that didn't have them and painting over where he took off speakers) and I put finishing touches on the concert program and sent it off for review. 

Then we went for a bike ride! Went did the same part of the Loop in the Oro Valley, starting at the Sportsman Warehouse. We have it down now.

It was beautiful. Over 80 and sunny with a steady breeze to keep us cool. We took it easy, and it took us 1.5 hours to make it to the end of the trail where it stops at the road and about an hour to ride back. The ride back was super pleasant and it felt mostly downhill this time. There were a lot of people on the trail for a Monday! But still it didn't feel crowded. Just popular.

This time Scott stopped to take some photos of the pretty foliage we see along the trail.

After that, it was the usual wind down: cards, NYT puzzles, Would I Lie to You? (Scott was asleep in 2 minutes), and then eventually I drifted off.

We had a very nice day. It was sunny and warm all day. Scott slept upright in bed again, not the most comfortable, but he must do it to keep his back from spasming and he gets to stay warm.

After coffee, we went for a quick ride around the KOA. Then we went to mass at a different church. This one was in the Oro Valley where our bike path is, so a 30-minute drive. Still, it was worth it. The drive was pleasant, and the church and the service were very nice.

Then we went for a short walk around the KOA. When we got back, we played gin rummy again. Scott went off to take a shower, then we played more cards, then we did NYT's puzzles, and then we watched YouTubes but both of us fell asleep pretty quickly.

We had another nice day. It got a little warmer, thankfully, and it was sunny.

 Scott's back did well with him sleeping upright in bed. And he stayed warm.

We had coffee, and he went off to read while I computered. When he got back,  we went for a bike ride around the campground. It was very pleasant, sunny and warm.

The mountains around Tucson are actually really beautiful. I don't know why I don't appreciate them more often. Maybe it's the part of town we're in. It's kind of run down. So my eyes are always drawn to the disheveled and disorganized look of the view along the road. 

But Tucson sits in the midst of ring of mountain ranges, some of them pretty high. We have some right out of the back of our campsite, and they are beautiful, but the view is blocked by a lot of unsightly junk. Yesterday, there was snow on one.

And then I made dinner. Tacos! Delish.

After that we played cards, Scott went for a hot tub (which lasted 2 minutes because so many people came after him) and took a shower, we played more cards, we lay down and played NYT's puzzles, we watched old Would I Lie to You?s, and then we went to sleep. Scott slept upright again.