Countdown!!!!

Well, it's been a while but several significant things have occurred so time to update. First, we found out today that our bike and trailer have arrived safely in Missoula and are already assembled and waiting for us. That was a relief, since things got off to a rocky start at the beginning of this week. Big Bang had a little difficulty with the packaging thing, and once we convinced them to take the back wheel off the bike, things moved along. Bob talked to the people at The Bike Doctor who not only assembled what we had but also fixed some chain and cable issues while they were at it.

My flamenco class finished up on Wednesday night. i will be done until the fall, except for practicing. Eva says I'll be in a recital in November, so I may need to call her sometime this summer for a refresher. After talking to my cousin Mary Ann today, I'm doubly glad I took the class since she said she learned in a seminar that learning new things is the best way to keep your brain healthy into old age!

My mom had her first acupuncture treatment on Thursday to help her post-herpetic neuralgia. It was quite successful. It will take several treatments, but she said she got more relief from that than from anything else we've tried. You could even tell in her demeanor how much better she felt. Marianne will take her on Tuesday for a followup and we are very optimistic that it will help enormously. What a relief. Bob and I watched a movie last night in the gameroom, and it seemed really weird that she wasn't there on the bed to enjoy the movie with us. It was the first time we'd gone down there to watch tv since she left and we really missed her.

Unfortunately, Bob's dad has been ill and has been in St. Margaret's hospital since early this week. He had some minor heart congestion and his gout has his foot in severe pain. He's been resting a lot and will probably be there at least until Monday. We briefly considered changing our plans, but after talking to Irene decided just to leave things as they are and monitor the situation. He has a way of bouncing back from these things.

I've been doing some riding on my single bike: all that steering, shifting and braking! Certainly different from being a stoker and only having to pedal. We have a definite plan for our first days in Montana. Once we get the bike and get ourselves together, we're going to visit the Lewis and Clark site in Lolo and also look up Kim Young's Aunti Sally. I guess not that many easterners pass through Lolo, so she's even willing to welcome us for a brief visit.

So now we're down to the minor details. Packing the last few things, and getting ourselves ready for liftoff.