We are alive and well.   Since our last post (August) we spent several weeks in St. Louis visiting family, friends and doctors.   The time just flew by and we know we missed making contact with a few people we had every intention of visiting.   We apologize and promise to be sure to organize our time better on our next visit.   It seems each year we visit doctors they add a visit, test or procedure which takes up more time than we initially plan.   Guess a testimonial for getting older.    But we had several dinners, card playing events  and visits in front of the TV rooting our Cardinals  with my sister and brother in law.  Celebrated a 50th birthday with my sister in law Margie at a party of 40+ people.  Also, made a great opportunity to see several members of the family and friends.   We made a couple of trips to the winery with Ron's side of the family. Spent time with Ron's mom (88 years young), had a luncheon with a few folks from the office we use to work in and  had cousins who had never seen the coach out for an afternoon chili lunch.   We also celebrated our 39th anniversary at our favorite (non-hill) Italian restaurant - John Mineo's.

We stayed at a city owned park in St. Peters, MO, a location close to most of the family.   Although we were there for several weeks, we never felt settled since we moved the coach 5 times.  We took the coach to a Tiffin dealer/service center 4 times.   A 70 mile round trip venture. The first visit was to get an estimate for replacing the passenger mirror that was attacked by a suicidal duck.  Why they wouldn't order the mirror without seeing the coach still baffles me.  The second time was to install the mirror and the third time to have a motor replaced on our slide.    While in STL we decided it was time to purchase another car, (which also took up time)  so the 4th trip consisted of them installing a new base plate on the new car and to be sure it was in line with the mechanism on the coach.   The 5th move was to Babler State Park for 3 days, while the campground hosted a festival.   They more than doubled their rates for that week-end and since we didn't really want to be in the middle of the chaos we chose to move.

All in all we had a great visit and it was time to leave before we knew it.    We then made a short trip to Lafayette IN to visit Ron's brother and sister in law.    We also got a short visit in with our nephew Steve, Karen and our great niece, Dahlia.  

We really enjoyed our colorful trip from STL to Indiana.

Dahlia, 21 months.   She wasn't feeling well, so this was the best "smile" I was able to capture.

Ron and his "older" brother.    By only 11 months but he keeps reminding Bob that he's younger.

I really like this picture of them.

As we were leaving the campground to meet Bob and Terri one evening I found this visitor on the front floor of the car.    We got rid of him and went along our merry way, until I heard a chirping and scratching coming from the back seat.     Oh no.....he had a sibling      I rode the rest of the way with my feet up on the dashboard and keep urging Ron to drive faster!!

When we got to Bob's house we shook the coach tire covers we hastily threw into the back seat of the car  and sure enough another baby mouse ran out.     Not sure where we picked them up, but they used our tires and covers to seek some warmth. 

We are now in Foley, Alabama and plan on being here until the middle of December.    Stay tuned for our next blog in the next couple of days.

Take care, feel free to leave a message and we hope all is well with you!