Declo, Idaho

First, a quick update on my brother-in-law, Larry Clark, who has leukemia and is in Methodist Hospital in the Houston medical center. This is his fifth day following a week of chemotherapy and he sounded like himself again when Kathi and I visited yesterday.  His energy is coming back slowly. His taste buds are also coming back and he wanted a beef and bean burrito from Taco Bell. We took one to him and he ate it rapidly. It was good to see him eat without prompting. It will take a while, but we all know Larry is going to be better.

I will write a blog post someday about the Houston medical center -- it is like a city unto itself and is similar to large medical centers in New York and Boston. But now, I am moving the story to Delco.

Exercise area for cancer patients on the 8th floor of Methodist Hospital.

Books shelves and TV in the hospital waiting room - 8th floor.

Nighttime picture of Texas Childrens Hospital from the Methodist Hospital parking lot roof.

I never get enough of this picture. I like being a patriot.

On June 14, 2004 after our two weeks of treks from Cameron, Montana into Yellowstone National Park, we were worn out, but we made arrangements to meet my sister, Carol and her husband Lloyd in Declo, Idaho. I remember studying United States geography in school so I had heard of Idaho, but never dreamed of actually being there. Oh, we had drifted through a corner of Idaho on one trip from Cameron, Montana to Yellowstone in Wyoming, but this was different. We were actually going to live in Idaho. Our RV is our only abode, so wherever we park is home, so yeah we lived in Idaho for awhile.

We left Cameron going south on U.S. 20 through Idaho Falls, Blackfoot and Pocatello. We took I-86 out of Pocatello to Declo and moved into the Village of Trees RV Park -- total trip about 260 miles. Carol and Lloyd started RV traveling several years before Kathi and I and this was our first opportunity to be with them on the road. The weather was great -- sunshine and sixty eight degrees in the daytime and down to forty five in the evening. Though we were extremely tired, we sat outside and talked until around ten pm. There were a lot of colorful birds flying around us and I moved under a tree for a while and sat still hoping to get some close up pictures, but the birds would not sit long enough for me to get good pictures. The birds were intermittent topics of conversation throughout the afternoon.

The following day we had lunch together and continued our conversation sitting outside in lawn chairs. We took a walk in the evening and found out they were in much better shape than we were in. Kathi had still not adjusted to the higher altitudes and got winded easily. My problem walking is that I carry too much weight. We walked and talked until everyone was freezing before we called it a night. Spending time with my sister was really great. We had not spent a lot of time together while we were working and raising kids. It was a really pleasant time for us. We have managed to meet up in a lot of different locations between then and now.

After a few days just relaxing and enjoying the RV lifestyle, it was time to move along. Carol and Lloyd were on the way northeast with their next stop in Boise and Kathi and I were going to make our next stop in Elko, Nevada on our way to see our sons in California.