Engagement
At long last we officially have a
new family member! Madison Williams- We were privileged to help Kiehl select just the right ring when we went to the Jewlery district in LA (sorry had to keep that one under raps)
- After holding on to a newly purchased ring, and conferring with both sets of parents and BFF, and waiting for just the right time, it finally happened, Kiehl proposed and she said Yes!
- Plans for a 10-10-15 wedding have started
Las Vegas
- With the newly engaged couple the Smitanic was loaded up with Theresa's mom and her sister Dorothy and hit the road to Vegas for B-day celebrations (Kiehl & Madison that is)
- What stays in Vegas is ... your money
- Got close up and personal with the Blue Man group and attended Tony & Tina's Wedding (improv show on everything that could go wrong at a wedding) Kiehl and Madz learned lots of lessons!
- After warming up using a Craps video game, Kevin & Madz had some success playing Craps for the first time. Success is defined as not loosing more than you allotted in the time you have allocated. Thank goodness there were places to be so it made it easier to walk away... Madison's techniques made the combined duo ahead by a small margin.
- Visited with Kevin's cousin & family (Kathy, Thom, Brittney Reese) who live in Vegas. Madison and Brit compared notes on upcoming nuptials
- Theresa and her mom enjoyed the penny slots and were able to walk away with very little spent on hours of entertainment.
All enjoyed the Dam Tour (Hoover that is). Had lunch at the Dam Grill and took lots of Dam pictures.
RV
On the way home from Vegas, Theresa discovered the toilet seat bolt had busted. This would be an 'easy fix' with a new plastic bolt purchased from Lowes. Installation of said bolt was not that easy as only small hands could a)reach behind the seat and b) hold the bolt in place to get the nut screwed into place. Finally Theresa was able to get the seat secured and was feeling a sense of accomplishment, until.... the next use resulted in no water entering the stool for the 'nasty' rinse. This was not so easy of a fix as Kevin determined after inspection found an unattached wire was dangling under the constricted area that Theresa maneuvered to do the repair.
The RV repair guy was summoned and after completely removing the toilet was able to repair the wire and left with all systems operational. That night Kevin awoke to several repeated flushes and assumed that Theresa was the source only to find her sound asleep next to him. Is there a Smitanic Ghost? Kevin, woke up Theresa and slowly crept into the commode to examine the phenomena. Whooshhh it happened spontaneously again confirming Kevin's conjecture... a ghost. Kevin turned the water entry down to a low flush and with nothing more he could do until the AM he resumed his ever vigilant slumber. In the AM Kevin called the RV repair guy to describe the night's haunting. Brad (RV repair guy) could only come up with the thought that a bit of moisture made it into the wiring box under the stool causing a short and was the source of the haunting. No more spontaneous flushes were heard so it was assumed that the poltergeist had been evicted.
GVP (Golden Village Palms)
The minority contingency (US citizens,
still working, and slightly younger) continued to partake in some of
the Parks amenities:
- Fresh fruit and veggies at the Farmers market
- A tribute Rolling Stones band delivered all the hits for the 60+ crowd that lit up the dance floor at the concert
- Pickleball drop in challenges that led the two to met new folks from Canada
- Pool / Hot tubs
- Hosted the last get together with family (see you next year)
- Selection of our site for next year that is closer to Pickleball and not under a tree that dropped it's winter ruminates but also deposited spring new bloom on the top of the RV which resulted in an additional washing prior to leaving.
Hash AGM
Kevin haired with x-GMs covering
over 33 years of hashing history
- long hilly shiggy Turkey trail for Mainframe, Squealer, Non-Stop, Zin and Madison
- Saw folks not seen for 20 years
Madison got name NFA (Never Fxxkin again) including a tribute to those that have gone before (Pinhead and Peter Meter)
Starting the trek home
Day one destination was Casa Grande RV
Resort in Casa Grande, AZ. The Passport America rate could not be
beat at $18 for full hook up. Free breakfast of Waffles every AM and
nice pool and lighted pickle ball courts included! Free Wifi is also
included but was not functioning as of this post.
As both have started a new project for
work, Tuesday, Wed, Thursday will be at this location to cover early
ET calls and continuous web meetings.
Friday the adventure continued East on
I10 to just shy of the West TX border, in Las Cruces, NM KOA. This
site offered a lovely view of the sunset over the mountains and a
short pet walk to a gazebo where some more wayward Canadians met Zin
and discussed their trek to escape the arctic cold. Kevin had RV
envy as he examined the custom cover and platform for a fully loaded
Harley. Surgens, SD is definitely on Kevin's bucklist as well as
Burning man and Pumpkin chunkin. Theresa would like to see Mt
Rushmore... the list goes on.
Theresa started the day's drive
thinking it would be a mindless I10 thru the dessert of west TX. She
should have inspected the map to discover the first city was El Paso
had a unanticipated volume of Saturday AM traffic thru winding
highways that skirted the Mountainous terrain. After about 1 hour
she escaped the white knuckle zone and settled into the monotony of
the sagebrush and cacti. At noon Theresa turned the helm over to
Kevin for the remainder of the cruise into Ft Stockton RV park. This
was a revisit from the December venture West, however instead of
frozen pipes, the campers would be faced with mid 80 degree temps and
a lovely breeze from the Southwest. The arrival was early enough to
enjoy a leisurely beverage, update the blog and prepare dinner. The
cafe at the campground offered a great menu, but the frig was loaded
with food that needed to be consumed before the arrival in Florida.
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