Holiday Time

Two more weeks are now behind us, and we have one more before we leave for Arizona.  On our project near Moore, Oklahoma, house #3 needed 5 new windows and a couple of floor repairs.  Most of last week was spent at Tina and Willie’s place (house #4), where 4 bedrooms are getting all new drywall and floors, and the hallway will also be re-floored.  Most of the old drywall had already been removed, mostly.  In a mobile home, the drywall had been glued and stapled in place.  It took lots of time and effort to get the studs smooth enough for the new walls. This coming week we will have just 2 couples and the area project coordinator, so we expect to be there all week working mostly on the installation of laminate flooring and molding around the floors, doors, and ceiling.

Two weeks ago we came across a small diner in Oklahoma City that does a lot to support the less fortunate in their neighborhood, so we came back to support them over Thanksgiving: 800 servings were packaged Wednesday evening and we helped combine this food into meal packages on Thursday morning.  Volunteers were lined up to deliver these meals all along the I-35 corridor before noon.  Here are Bob and Barb in front of 300 pies:

After working at the restaurant, we had a late breakfast along with Jack and Barb, our fellow Nomads workers.  Then home to watch the Vikings beat Detroit!!  Our Thanksgiving dinner was provided by Cracker Barrel.  All in all, a nice Thanksgiving Day.

This evening (Saturday) the older downtown section of Moore held a family-friendly parade with over 30 floats, followed by a tree lighting ceremony and sleigh rides. We walked about 2 blocks to get to the parade route.  About 55 degrees out.  Not bad; but not very Christmas-y out. 

   

Resting and Recharging

Here we sit, just off of I-35 in Moore, OK about 800 freeway miles south of Minneapolis.  We arrived last Saturday, the 4^th, after 3-1/2 days of driving.  We are parked behind the First United Methodist Church and have just completed the first of 4 weeks volunteering here.  Some major flooding about 18 months ago created a lot of damage which we are helping to repair.  We are joined with 3 other couples.  We have worked with the Drakes a couple of years ago in California, but the other 2 couples are new-to-us.  Morris and Karen were our leaders this past week, but they left for Florida this morning.  Next week’s leaders will be Jack and Barb, who arrived Wednesday afternoon and worked with us yesterday.

Most of us spent most of the week at Renee’s place; a house originally owned by her native American grandparents on land deeded to them almost 100 years ago.  Most of our work has involved flooring: some new sub-floor, some laminate, some peel-and-stick tiles, and painting.  A few of us also spent time at David’s double wide trailer where we are fastening metal skirting around the outside to help insulate and direct future water runoff around the building.  Both of these homes are about 25 miles southeast of town, so we pack a lunch and eat on site each day.  Another group of volunteers (not Nomads) are coming in this weekend and should finish at Renee’s place, and there is not quite a day’s work remaining at David’s so next week will bring us some new opportunities.

Most Nomads are retired folks who really appreciate our 3-day weekends.  After 4 days working, we need the next 3 to recuperate.

Escaping Winter Just in Time

When we last posted, we were emptying the cabin and loading the motorhome.  We picked a good day to do it, while the weather was still OK.  Most of that work was done a week ago Wednesday, saving Thursday morning for loading the motorcycle, parking the golf cart, and doing all of the final lockups.  As we got to the County road, the weather began to change to a cold mist and drizzle.  It stayed that way most of Thursday, but changed to heavy, wet snow overnight.  We spent the night parked on the street outside of Steve’s place in Duluth and woke up to about 8-10 inches of slippery white stuff on Friday morning.

Paige spent the morning with her mother, while Bob had a last-minute eye exam.  We both got good reports, then left for Brett’s place by mid-day.  The snow on the ground got lighter as we came south.  We parked on the street there for a few more days, helping with the granddaughters’ activities and getting to Paige’s final eye exam.  We also had a family gathering on Saturday night with Brett and Dave’s family (minus LeJoy who is moving her business, but we got to see her Sunday morning for breakfast).  We all had a great time eating lasagna, chocolate éclair ring, and visiting.  Love to see everyone!!  Before leaving Minnesota, we took time to have lunch with the Dave and Nancy, who are now former fulltime RVers and former Nomads.  It was snowing lightly during and after lunch, but quit about an hour later.

The temperature climbed out of the 30s about the time we got to the Iowa border; first time in over a week for us.  Wednesday night we spent in an RV park, first time in a week we got to open all 4 slides.  Today, Thursday, our temperature display showed 60 as we came through Kansas City.  Warmth sure helps the disposition.