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July 28, 2011
Hi family and friends,
Once again we are eastward bound and in Branson on our way to Richmond Indiana. We are volunteering August and September at Bethany Seminary as hosts at Brethren House. We will be like house parents for short term students, visiting professors etc. I will know more when we arrive and get busy. We are both looking forward to a new adventure in volunteering. There is a chapel there with a very nice organ that I can practice and we can also attend any classes that we would choose,
We left home July 3 and spent that night and July 4 in Lancaster with our friends the Jeters. We had a fun indoor "picnic" July 4 as it was a little too hot to be outside. We had a good time but as usual it was too short to do any visiting.
We left there and wandered on to Flagstaff where it was cool because of the elevation. That was the end of our cool weather and it is still hot! We drove to Holbrook, AZ and went southeast through the mountains where there had been one of the big fires in May and June. We saw lots of fire damage and it went on for many miles. The road was closed during the fire and had only been reopened for about 3 weeks. The forests and mountains that were not burned were very pretty. It was a 2 lane road but very scenic and we had not gone that way before. We wound up in Deming NM for the night. The next day we traveled on to Ft. Stockton TX which was pretty much a day in the desert. We continued on to San Antonio which was our first long stop.
We went to San Antonio to help Ric's sister celebrate her 60th birthday, She told us last year that we had to be there so we made reservations at that time. It worked out as far as our volunteering in IN. Besides Ric needs to visit his mom who lives there and is almost 92. She still lives alone and drives to her "work" which is volunteering at a senior center and not too far from her home. She is in good health and walks daily.
We took a boat ride on the San Antonio River one evening which was 30 minutes long. It was beautiful and well worth it. It was part of the famous River Walk and was close enough to our hotel that we could walk. Again the heat was overpowering for me, at least. Ric does not mind it.
When we left there we came to Branson. We used two weeks of our timeshares and had/have nice places to stay. One was on the east side of town and one on the west which made it nice. The only disappointment was that none of the shows were the "real" performers. Most were paying tribute to the famous. I guess summer is not the best time to come here. We have been here before and it was much different but it was fall. Also some of the more famous are getting too old to perform or have died. Wonder how that happens? We were going to see the Russian comedian, Yakov who we have seen before and is really good, but when we went to get the tickets they told us that it is only produced by Yakov and he is not in the show. Country music is not our favorite either. At both resorts where we stayed, they had a 2 hour preview of some of the performers and so we saw a lot of what here. They were entertaining enough.
We attended Unity of the Hills church which we have attended before and it was good. Their sanctuary which is on a mountain is all windows in front and over looks Branson, Beautiful.
It is hot here and humid. Today we went to the Outlet Mall and when we got back in the car it was 121 degrees. It took a long time to cool the car off. It is only about 100 out, So we stay in a lot. We go out early in the morning to the gym and do whatever we have to do.
We will leave here Saturday morning for IN and hopefully it will be cooler there. (I am afraid it is not, however)
So that is what we have been doing. How about you? It it so nice to hear from so many of you. I keep in touch with some of you on Face Book but this is different.
Our best to you. Take care and enjoy life.
Ric and Jan
