Drug trailer – Writer of Sweet Small Town Stories of Love and Family

Wednesday Wanderings: The Last of the Excellent Adventure Before the Pandemic

Published on May 13, 2020May 13, 2020 by Live Vi-Carrie-ous1 Comment

The last time I posted about the Excellent Adventure, I had no idea what was coming. I procrastinated posting because we were busy, then we went to Scotland (more about that soon!), then we came home to shelter in place, and the next thing I knew it was May!

So, I left off on Monday, February 17, 2020 in Portland. We had a great day at the Association of Nurseries, then met a friend for dinner.

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

We drove to Tacoma, to our usual Holiday Inn. It’s right on I-5 and we love it for the huge parking lot, but hate it for the road noise. We’ve asked for various locations around the grounds and haven’t found the sweet spot yet. We’ll keep trying.

We had several days with no events, so we kept busy with work (me), working out (both of us), and trailer and truck maintenance (Dave).

We also took a day to be tourists. Tacoma is home to America’s Car Museum. We visited and enjoyed a great day there. It’s very well laid out with different exhibits showcasing things such as NASCAR, Route 66, racer and designer Steve Saleen, British cars, and so on, as well as collections and restored cars on loan from collectors. At the beginning of our wandering, an employee approached us, said it was a slow day and he’d be happy to give us a guided tour if we wanted. We accepted and got a VIP experience.

We tried a few local restaurants. Tacoma has a Bass Pro Shop, so we ate dinner one night at Uncle Buck’s Fish Bowl and Grill. There’s also a bowling alley right there, so the ambiance is a little odd, but the food was good. Right across the street from our hotel was a Korean taco place that was excellent, Takos Koreanos. Also, a teriyaki place we ate at a couple of times, Ichiban Teriyaki. We also visited a couple of chains, BJs, and Red Lobster, when we were in a hurry and/or starving and couldn’t find a more unique local place. Or wanted something that we knew what to expect.

Friday, February 21, 2020

We had a scheduled event at Pacific Lutheran University. They were hosting an opioid awareness summit for the county and we were going to exhibit. The only problem was there wasn’t enough room anywhere near the summit for the trailer. So we brought some props and set up at a table in the back of the room. It was fascinating to listen to the various presentations from professionals in the recovery … industry? business?profession? (that seems redundant), and recovering addicts.

It was a good day, and great to be inside instead of out in the chill and damp.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

We did the tourist thing again and drove into Seattle. We started at the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum. We were familiar with Dale Chihuly’s work, but had only seen a few pieces. To be surrounded by so much beauty, all in one place was overwhelming. I was choked up and verging on tears more than once.

What he accomplished with sand and heat and centrifugal force is amazing.

After a couple of hours in the museum and grounds, we moved next door to the Space Needle. We were able to go right up to the viewing level where we enjoyed a snack. I guess there used to be a restaurant up there, but now there’s just a cafe with light snacks and drinks. There’s the stationary viewing level with the cafe, then the rotating level. We spent a few minutes there, too.

From the Space Needle, we walked the mile to Pike Place Market. We’d found a good place to park the truck, just a block from the museum and Space Needle, so it was easier to walk and leave the truck where it was.

At the market, we browsed a bit. We tried some dried strawberries that were sweet as candy and David bought some. We watched the fishmongers throw some fish. We asked for restaurant recommendations. David wanted crab. We tried a couple of places, but they didn’t have whole crab on the menu. We walked past the original Starbucks, but the line was too long to stop in.

We ended up at Cutters Crabhouse, where David finally got his whole crab. Our meal was amazing. We had a table with a water view, an attentive waiter (from California!), and delicious food.

We walked to the truck and drove back to Tacoma. I was so glad we went on Saturday, because we had discussed going on Sunday and it rained all day Sunday. Saturday was amazing and couldn’t have been a better day.

Monday, February 24, 2020

We were due to come home February 27. Last summer we had booked a trip to Scotland for February 29 – March 9th. We didn’t know that we’d be working with the trailer again. And if it did happen, we didn’t think we’d be on the road again so early in the year. So we had lined up another couple to take over the trailer for us while we went to Scotland.

They arrived at SeaTac Monday evening and we picked them up and took them back to the hotel. We visited while Ron and Sylvie ate a late dinner. Dave and Ron are both retired from the CHP, and we all used to go to the same church, so we have many friends in common and much to catch up on.

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Ron and Sylvie had been studying transcripts and videos of the trailer tours, so we did a couple run throughs of both my and David’s tours. We practiced set up and tear down. We had lunch. Dave and Ron took the rig for a drive. Then we went and picked up a rental car. We had talked about going to the Waterfront area of Tacoma for dinner, but we’d had a late lunch with lots of leftovers (at the Ichiban Teriyaki across the street from the hotel), and we were all tired, so we didn’t have a fun last evening out in Tacoma. It was more of a reheated, walk on the treadmill, movie, early to bed evening.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

We had an event in Tukwila, outside of Seattle. Ron and Sylvie drove the truck and trailer and we took the rental car. It was at an Ironworkers Union. We gave tours to all the apprentices on their lunch hour.

What a great time we had! Everyone was interested and engaged. The apprentices, their journeymen instructors, and other staff. Ron and Sylvie gave most of the tours. David and I were there for moral support and to jump in if needed. I gave a couple of tours. One when we had a big group come through and we needed to divvy them up. And one later in the afternoon, for the mayor and city manager. I was still being the “official spokesperson.”

As soon as the event was over, we hugged Ron and Sylvie good-bye, jumped in the rental car and headed south on I-5. Our goal was Medford, about a seven hour drive. We arrived about 9 PM, tired and ready for bed.

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Another long day on the road, but we got home in time to pick up my car at the house, then return the rental to the Fresno airport.

Friday, February 28, 2020

Errands, haircuts, lunch with my folks, laundry, packing.

Saturday, February, 29, 2020

We left for Scotland! Stay tuned for posts about Scotland. Thanks for reading!!

The latest on the trailer: We arrived home from Scotland March 9. We planned to fly to Boise, Idaho March 11, to take over the trailer again from Ron and Sylvie for an event in Boise on March 12. We got notice March 10 that the event on the 12th was canceled. We canceled our flight and decided to fly to Boise a few days later. Before that happened, all events were canceled and the trailer program placed on hiatus. The trailer is being stored near Boise while we shelter in place at home in Madera. When the program starts again, we’ll decide if we’ll fly to Boise and start from there, or bring the trailer home.

The Excellent Adventure: Back on the Road

Published on February 12, 2020February 12, 2020 by Live Vi-Carrie-ous6 Comments

Today we left home for the first extended portion of our Season 2 with the drug education trailer. We’re headed to Portland for two events this weekend. We planned to leave at 9 am and we were only about 30 minutes behind schedule this morning. We should have been either on time or a few minutes later.

After about an hour an a half, everything was going well. I was working on my laptop. (Since we knew where we were going, I didn’t need to navigate.) Suddenly David said, “Hold on!”

I looked up to see a truck/trailer stopping in front of us. David was braking but we were not stopping quickly enough. Sure enough, we hit them. Not hard. No airbags deployed. The other vehicle immediately pulled to the shoulder and we followed. Dave and the other driver exchanged information. Traffic had just slowed and he stopped quickly. More quickly than we could.

Everyone is fine, so that’s a blessing. The back doors of the other trailer will need to be replaced. Our truck front bumper has a couple of dimples and the license plate is slightly bent. This truck is a beast.

We were back on the road after about twenty minutes. Dave called the boss and told him. We continued on and pulled into our stop for tonight. Whenever we head to Oregon and Washington, we like to spend a night in Yreka. It’s a long day to or from home, but then it’s a shorter day to an Oregon destination. We have our favorite restaurant, so we got to town in time for dinner, checked in, and walked on the treadmill in the workout room.

David is now writing up all the accident information to send to the insurance company and our boss.

Since this trip started with a (literal) bang, we’re hoping and praying the rest of it will be smooth!

It was a beautiful day for driving and we had gorgeous scenery to help pass the time.

Thanks for reading! I plan to stay mostly caught up as we travel this year.

The Great Adventure: Part 2

Published on February 5, 2020February 5, 2020 by Live Vi-Carrie-ous

Yes, we’re getting ready to head out on the road again. The groups sponsoring the Code 3/RALICares/PhRMA trailer decided to do another season and offered us the opportunity to continue with the trailer. We accepted. We loved the job last year and are looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2020.

We’ve had a lovely two+ months at home. Well, mostly lovely. We spent a good part of the first six weeks sick, but once we got past that, it’s been lovely. We’ve gotten to love on our grandkids and spend time with family and friends. We’ve worked a lot around the house and on other projects.

The trailer stayed at our house for the winter. We did two local events in Fresno while we were home. One at the local Code 3 Ministries/JARON Ministries, and one at a 5K run for a local treatment/recovery program.

At the first event, at Code 3, we had about a dozen people come, most of them friends who wanted to see exactly what we’ve been doing. It was so fun to show them the trailer and give the tour. We had a great time! Dave even stayed and hung out with his buddies for a while after the event was officially over.

The second event was last Saturday. We induced Taryn to come and help us. She took the place of a RALI Cares consultant and passed out tote bags for us. She was a huge help! Everyone at the 5K was interested in what we had as they were impacted by drug use in one way or another, either as an addict or a family member.

We arrived at 7 AM to be set up by 8. I gave my first tour at 7:45 to an eager group. But they weren’t quite sure what to expect and as I showed the signs of drug use that I pulled from the trash, one man left suddenly, taking two other men with him. That happens occasionally. Someone may get a phone call, or they see something that reminds them of a loved one they lost. I didn’t think much of it, just continued on. He came by later to tell me that he runs a recovery program and the two men with him were new in the program and he realized that they may see items that would be triggers and he decided he needed to get them out and get them out quickly.

We gave 30 tours in just two hours. We were hopping the whole morning. But it was great. We were home by 10:30.

Then we left again Sunday morning, headed to watch the Super Bowl at my brother’s home near Sacramento. We stopped for gas and David took the driveway at an awkward angle, a little too fast, and … we had to change a tire on the trailer. It didn’t take long and we were soon on our way again. We’ve spent a few days in the Sacramento area after watching the 49ers lose.

We have an event at the Capitol this afternoon, then we’ll drive home tonight. We’ll be heading back to Oregon and Washington next week sometime. We were told our first event is near Portland on the 15th, but I got an email this morning that it may be as early as the 12th, so who knows? I’ll keep you posted!

Oregon –> Washington –> Home!

Published on December 18, 2019December 18, 2019 by Live Vi-Carrie-ous

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

We needed to be in Tacoma by the end of the day, and it’s less than a three-hour drive from Hillsboro, Oregon. Our next event was in Olympia the next day. Since it was our last day in Oregon and our (okay, my) last chance to do some tax-free shopping, I took some time this morning to start my Christmas shopping. I worked for a couple of hours, then Ubered to a shopping center, to Barnes & Noble. By the time I got back, David had done our laundry. A win/win for me!

We had a quick lunch, then checked out, loaded up, and headed north. We stopped for gas again at our casino/gas station and continued on our way. When we made the reservation at Tacoma, since this was our third time at this hotel, we knew the layout. We’d been on the freeway side each time and been bothered by the traffic noise, so I’d emailed and asked for a room away from the freeway. I stressed that we wanted a quiet room.

As we checked in, we reiterated, “Away from the freeway, we want quiet. We need quiet. We’re old. We’re working hard and long days. We need our sleep. Not to mention, we’re half-deaf, so if the traffic is waking us up, it must be really, really loud.”

We were assured our room was quiet and we were being “upgraded” to a suite. That all sounds nice, and the suite was … nice, but it was still on the freeway side. Argh. Of course, this hotel is surrounded by either freeway, an exit ramp, or busy commercial streets. So there’s not a truly “quiet” side, but still, we were specific: away from the freeway.

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant. There was a young girl at a table nearby, with books, coloring books, games, and puzzles spread out. Her father would pop out of the kitchen every so often to check on her. We found out her name is Asia and David struck up a conversation with her. Pretty soon we were playing Tic Tac Toe and Go Fish, to the amusement of the other guests. Asia is quite the young card shark and very good at Tic Tac Toe. I think all of our games except one ended in a tie. (I won that one. 🙂 ) After about fifteen minutes, Asia’s caregiver (she was quick to say she was not Asia’s mother) came and picked her up.

We said goodbye to Asia, thanked her for playing with us and letting us get a pseudo-grandchild visit, then headed back to our suite. 😉

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The next morning, we needed to make an early start for our half hour drive to Olympia and the state Capitol. But David took a few minutes to ask the front desk staff what we could do to ensure a quiet room next time. I usually book a room with one king bed. He learned that the rooms away from the freeway are doubles. Although our upgraded suite had two doubles and was on the freeway side. So ?? But anyway, they said book a double and after making the reservation through the app, call the hotel directly and talk to someone. So we’ll try that next time.

We ordered breakfast, but a collegiate girls’ volleyball team beat us to the ordering counter and we ended up having to take ours to go.

We got to Olympia a few minutes late, but found our appointed spot without a problem, and got set up. This time we were able to keep the truck hooked up which helped with staying warm. Because it was really cold. In fact, after we set up, David got an Uber to a nearby Target and bought some hand and foot warmers for us. They helped …

We were a bit off the beaten track at the Capitol, so we didn’t get any legislators come through. The video team and photographers were at a loss and wanted to make sure the company got their moneys worth, so I gave them the tour multiple times so they could get different angled shots of the props and me and/or my hands pointing or holding things.

A couple of PhRMA lobbyists came through whom we had met in Chicago. That was fun! They remembered us and the trailer and were excited to have us in their home state. They did send a few coworkers by. And two people came through who are employed by a large pharmaceutical company. They both took the tour, but declined to be on camera, furthering the video team’s dilemma. A member of the state police came through and the video team did get to spend some time with her, giving me a chance to warm up in the truck, walk to the Capitol for the restroom, and pop into the gift shop there for postcards.

We had permission to leave the truck and trailer for a few hours after the event, which was wonderful, because we got to have dinner with longtime friends Kurt and Anna who live in Olympia. They came and picked up us and drove us to dinner.

We went to Anthony’s Hearthfire Grill. Anthony’s is a local chain, and the Hearthfire Grill is on the sound. I’m sure the views are amazing, but we didn’t have the right weather (or daylight) to properly enjoy them. We had their dinner specials, which were delicious! Four courses for a flat price. We had shrimp cocktails and Caesar salads. I had prawns for my main course, and they were fabulous, with enough leftover for another meal. Then “Burnt Cream” (Creme Brulee) for dessert.

We hadn’t seen Kurt and Anna in probably 25 years. Maybe more. We keep in touch with Christmas cards and Facebook, so we picked up like we’d chatted last month. It was so wonderful to catch up and hear about their kids and their lives. That has been one of the biggest blessings of this adventure: the opportunity to visit family and friends across the country that we’d otherwise not be seeing.

After dinner, Kurt and Anna drove us back to the trailer and truck. We said goodbye and hopes that we don’t go another 25 years (yikes! We’d be reallllly old by then!), and headed back to Tacoma and our freeway-side hotel room.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Our event is right in Tacoma, at the Tacoma campus of the University of Washington. We had a bit of a sticky situation getting in position. We were told space numbers in a parking lot, so we pulled into the long and narrow lot only to discover that our spaces were on the street in front of the lot. If we’d known that coming in, that would have helped. At one point, I was in the driver’s seat while David was directing me to turn and back up, until the trailer was situated to where he could pull it out of the lot.

It was another cold day, but we still had hand and foot warmers. Our day was scheduled to be from 9 AM to 4 PM. It was Orientation Day for the next semester’s incoming students. We had a fair amount of foot traffic and did a surprising number of tours, over 30.

The campus is really beautiful, considering it’s essentially in downtown Tacoma. At least I think it is. It’s definitely in urban Tacoma. It’s full of old brick buildings that were once commercially used and many of them still have their old, original names on them.

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David walked to a nearby restaurant and brought back hot dogs from Hot Rod Dog for lunch for us and Ana, our local consultant. They were good, with a very crisp snap to them.

By about 3:15 we were frozen and Ana said we were done. Foot traffic had dwindled. So we loaded up. But of course … earlier, two teachers had come by. They were very interested in a tour, but were on their way to a meeting. They said they’d be back. So just as we were almost all loaded up, they arrived. David gave them a brief tour with some highlights, while Ana and I finished the outside tear down. Then we walked around and huddled near the generator, trying to stay warm. Once the final final tour of 2019 was done, we finished loading up, said goodbye to Ana, and headed back to our hotel, all of 15 minutes away, which was a lovely change of pace.

At the hotel, we had our leftovers from Anthony’s Hearthfire in Olympia, enjoyed a brief soak in the hotel spa, and began packing, ready for an early departure tomorrow.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

We are headed home! Our first stop is Yreka tonight. We want to get there in time for dinner at the Mexican restaurant we ate at the first time we came through, coming home from the Alaska cruise with my folks, Casa Ramos.

We have an uneventful day, and have a delicious dinner. We Facetime with Taryn’s family and get a good night’s sleep.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Home is the goal today! It’s a beautiful clear, crisp morning in Yreka. We skip church in favor of hitting the road and getting by 4 PM. Friends Lee and Karie bring over dinner, a delicious stew and rolls.

It’s been a long five and half months. A lot has happened. We’ve learned a lot about ourselves, and each other. About our country. About traveling. About people.

In the next few weeks, I plan to share some of the lessons we learned.

The trailer received funding for another year. We’ve been offered our jobs again and we’ve accepted. We’re tentatively planning to leave around January 15, 2020. I’ll keep you posted about that, too.

Thank you so much for reading! I know these last posts have been looooong. I’ll try to stay more current in 2020.

Oregon: Farmers, Family, Friends

Published on December 15, 2019December 14, 2019 by Live Vi-Carrie-ous

Friday, November 15, 2019

We had all day to drive from Eugene to the Portland area. We had planned to stay in the same hotel as we had earlier, in Wilsonville. But that one had been undergoing renovations and the parking lot wasn’t as trailer-friendly as we’d hoped, so I found another hotel in Hillsboro, Oregon.

We had an event Saturday (tomorrow) in Beaverton, near Hillsboro and Portland, and an event in Salem on Tuesday. Salem is about an hour south, but we decided to stay in Hillsboro and drive that hour down and back on Tuesday instead of checking out and staying in Salem. Because after Salem, we’d be heading north to Washington. That’s another thing we’re learning on this trip: what is really an “inconvenience.” Is an hour’s drive lesser than, greater than, or equal to the hassle of packing, loading, checking out, checking in, unloading, unpacking? In this case, the drive was less than, because we’d have to backtrack that hour the next day, anyway.

So, we took our time driving from Eugene to Hillsboro. It was only a two hour trip, so we got to town before check-in time. We unhitched, and went looking for lunch. We found a place nearby and settled in. Copper River reminded me a bit of Lazy Dog. I had a green chili chicken enchilada that was delicious.

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After lunch, we decided to find a couple of wineries for some tasting. There were two near each other, and about fifteen minutes away, so we headed first to Blizzard. The gal pouring was very nice, but we thought the wines were just okay. We didn’t buy anything there. Next up was Oak Knoll. We enjoyed these a bit more and bought a couple of bottles, including a pinot rose.

By now we could check-in, so we drove back to Hillsboro and the hotel. We made some phone calls and talked with friends for a bit, then I had a conference call with two of my critique partners. We had lunch leftovers for dinner and then sat in the hotel’s spa for a few minutes before bed.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Today’s event is at the Beaverton Farmer’s Market. We got there plenty early to get situated on the street. We talked to the market “Marshal,” and learned that in the summer, this farmer’s market gets 15,000 visitors on a Saturday! They expected only about 4,000 today.

We were near a couple of food trucks that were starting to make breakfast wraps. Rebecca and Sophie, our Oregon consultants, soon arrived and we got all set up.

This was a really fun event, for lots of reasons.

1) Our long-time friends, Tom and Nancy, have a very good friend who lives in the area. IMG_1251 copy I’d texted Robin and she came by! We’d heard a lot about Robin, had prayed for her and her family, but had never met her until today. It was wonderful to finally meet her in person and she’s just as lovely as I knew she would be. Having Tom and Nancy (not to mention the Lord) in common, enabled us to chat like we’d been friends for years, not meeting for the first time.

2) The people who came through for tours were really interested in the trailer and in what they learned.

3) I learned some things. A recovering addict took a tour with me. She did meth, she said, not heroin. In my spiel, I talk about a myth from the 1960s and 70s, when heroin users would pull liquid heroin into a syringe through cotton, thinking it filtered out impurities in the heroin. It doesn’t. They were just picking up bits of cotton fiber. They’d reuse the cotton and, over time, bacteria builds up and then they’d be injecting themselves with heroin, cotton fiber and bacteria, and getting sick with respiratory infections. This recovering meth addict told me, “Yeah, it’s cotton fever.” So I learned that factoid! Also, several parents of addicts came through and were grateful for the education we’re doing. They talked about signs they’d missed, about how well their kids are doing now (or not).

4) We got to buy some delicious food, too. David bought some pears and some salmon spread that we had for dinner with crackers and cheese that night. He also bought us some tacos from one of the food trucks for lunch that were fabulous!

At about 2:00 the market officially closed and we packed up and had to get out quickly because there was a funeral scheduled at the church we were parked in front of.

We dropped off the trailer at the hotel and then went shopping. Because there’s no sales tax in Oregon, we had offered to pick up some things for family members. We bought some shot gun shells for a hunter and a birthday present for a grandson.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

We watched our home church service online, then I did my mid-month work. We called and video-chatted with one daughter and grand-daughter, then we went to dinner and a IMG_9751 copy movie. We saw Midway, which was very good, and we talked about what was accurate and what was embellished by Hollywood.

At Stanford’s, we shared one of their specials, salmon with a beurre rouge sauce that was to die for.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Another quiet day. I worked until about 2 PM, then we went to Cooper Mountain winery for a tasting and had a great time. The tasting room manager, Alicia, is from California and had worked in Napa. She and David talked quite a bit about their Napa IMG_9726 copy favorites. A sweet, but young and rambunctious dog, Webster, was on hand too. We bought some wine for Thanksgiving dinner, then went back to town. We shared a snack in the truck then watched another movie. This time we saw Ford vs Ferrari, another chance to read and see what was accurate and really happened and what was Hollywood taking liberties with in the story.

After the movie, we got to video chat with our other daughter and grandchildren, which is always the highlight of our weeks.

We finished with another soak in the spa and then bed. Tomorrow would be our long day in Salem.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

We left Hillsboro at 7 AM, to get to Salem at 8. Of course, there was traffic, delaying us a bit, but we got there and were set up in front of the Capitol by 9. The truck couldn’t be attached to the trailer in front of the building all day, per the Capitol police, so David unhooked and parked off site, then came back.

This day was definitely focused on getting legislators to come through the trailer and take the tour. I had a woman from the Grange, and a few staffers and one or two legislators. So, overall, I think it was a good day. It was very cold. Definitely a day we’d have enjoyed being able to get in the truck for a few minutes to thaw out, if it had been available.

Walking back from parking, David had passed a sandwich shop, so he backtracked to get us some lunch, which we ate in shifts at the back of the trailer. Eating, drinking, and bathroom use are practicalities that we always have to think about on the job. We have to stay hydrated, so we both always carry a water bottle. But some days bathroom facilities aren’t nearby. But also sometimes the weather is such that no matter how much I drink, it’s fine, I don’t need a bathroom. It’s crazy. And it’s true of cold days, just as much as warm days. I didn’t use the bathroom at all, this day in Salem. In spite of two cups of coffee and two bottles of water. At the Iowa State Fair, when it was super hot and humid, I’d drink 5-6 bottles of water and not need the bathroom until 4:00 in the afternoon. Is that TMI?

Anyway, back to our day.

I have recently reconnected with a high school friend from Castro Valley, California. Heidi now lives in Salem and we had made plans to meet for dinner at 5:00. Because of the cold and because we had no one come by after 3:00, we started packing up at 3:30.

We got permission to leave the trailer in front of the Capitol for a few hours, which was perfect. We’d chosen a restaurant, a local Oregon chain, that we’d started to go to in Eugene, before our Uber driver convinced us to go somewhere else. We still wanted to try the original destination and there was one in Salem. So we’d chosen that place, thinking we could park the trailer there. But since we had permission to leave it, that seemed the better option. And good thing, because the lot at the Ram was not trailer-friendly, at all.

IMG_4352 copy We got there a good half hour early. I texted Heidi that we were early and she hurried over. I didn’t want her to rush, but I also didn’t want her to think we were bored and waiting for her. We were happy to have a few minutes to decompress and warm up while we waited. I had the blackened chicken mac and cheese and had plenty of leftovers to take home for lunch.

Heidi and I hadn’t seen each other in probably forty years, maybe more. We had a lot to catch up on! She’s still an animal lover and a wonderfully kind person.

After dinner, a panhandler waited outside the restaurant. We don’t often give money, but will usually buy someone a meal. David offered to go back in and buy the man something to eat. He refused, saying he just wanted a beer. To my shock, David gave him $5. David said later, “Yeah, I never do that, but he was upfront about what he wanted, so I figured why not?” As David walked Heidi to her car, the man disappeared into the restaurant. I guess $5 + what he had was enough for his beer.

We went back to the Capitol, hitched up, and drove the hour back to Hillsboro, our spa, and our bed.

Tomorrow: Off to Washington!