APRIL 2023

April 2023 We picked Max up at 7am on the first day of April and headed to Missoula. We had a couple of April Fools Day issues to deal with. Ther brand new inverter wasn't working so we had no fridge. No problem…we could plug in all night and then just not open the fridge during the day. And the passenger door decided to act up again. We were able to get it closed but we were afraid if we opened it that we wouldn’t get it closed again. So no use of that door on the whole trip. Weather in the West turned cold and nasty so we bought a set of tire chains just in case. We had planned to go through Nevada and then head north along the Salmon River but felt it a safer bet to go through Oregon and head east at Washington. We did get snow at Shasta but nothing that needed chains. Max relieved Rog with driving duties so we were able to make it all of the way to the Oregon/ Washington border. We spent the first night on the Columbia River in Maryhill State Park in Goldendale, WA. Beautiful spot. Up early for breakfast, then on the road by 7. There was plenty of snow but we made it over the pass and into Missoula, staying at the KOA. Max was a real Eagle trooper, setting up his tent in the snow and sleeping out in freezing weather. Typical Max: no complaints. In fact, I think he enjoyed it.

Our first full day in MIssoula, we met Kyle, a senior in the wildlife management program, for lunch. He answered all of Max’s questions and more. The campus tour was scheduled for 1;30 so Kyle met us there to show Max around the Honors Program before the tour started. The tour was great…three students took us through the dorms and buildings and we all put up with the constant snowfall and wet, cold, dreary day. At the end of the tour, Max and one other prospective student met with a faculty member from the wildlife management program who answered more questions and gave a brief outline of the program.

Done with the campus, we drove around town a bit then headed to a pizza/beer place to meet up with Ahlani and her new boyfriend, Kyle. Great to catch up with her and news of the Adamson family. Quite a day. The next day, we headed over to the Missoula REI. Max is hoping to be able to transfer there from the Roseville REI. The two stores are pretty similar in size. We also stopped in at Rockin’ Roxie’s, an eclectic store that my sister recommended. Both of Peg’s kids lived in Missoula during their college days and Liz worked at Rockin’ Roxie’s. It was quite the store.

We drove around Missoula for a bit before heading back to the KOA for dinner. Then we headed back to the UM campus to attend a meeting of the Wildlife Management Club.

Max met up with another WM student before the meeting for another dose of advice and sharing. The guest speaker for the meeting was a researcher who is doing a noninvasive study of mountain lions on a large ranch west of Missoula. Quite interesting, The next morning we made another successful trip through the snow over the mountain northwest of Missoula and headed to our first stop in the middle of Oregon We spent the night at Armitage Park in Coburn, just north of Eugene. FINALLY Max gets a night without snow, although it did rain. We made it home the next day by late afternoon. Blooms made dinner for us and Rog and I didn’t even clean out the van until the next day. What a great trip! Now Max just has to be patient and get through his senior year. The next day, we cleaned out the van and got everything back in order. Karissa came over on Saturday and dyed eggs with us. Easter Sunday we had everyone over for breakfast burritos and the annual egg hunt. The weather was perfect…warm and sunny.

The following week, Rog started back at physical therapy, I visited an allergist, and we got the van into Holt’s Repair to get the door fixed. The Mirai remains parked in the driveway with no hopes of hydrogen being available until next month. To be fair, we could go to West Sac but that one has an iffy delivery system and requires a 10 minute wait between car fillups to operate correctly. We finally have reached our limit and started shopping for a new vehicle. We are looking at the RAV4 Prime and now just have to wait for one to show up at the dealer. We are back to attending sports as Karissa made it onto the WSCA volleyball team. We go to the local games on Tues / Thurs afternoons and are amazed at how quickly the girls are improving. The games have gotten quite exciting and Karissa’s team remain undefeated at the end of April.

We joined our card group for dinner and cards. Neither of us won and we had to pass the trophy on. Rog joined Jay for a trip to visit Jim Sagawa in Redwood City. For some reason, they chose a Friday for the trip so the trip home took them 4 hours. But the visit was good. Ryan helped us fill his pickup with junk for the annual Rocklin dump day I don’t know how we collect so much junk but we did get the shed cleaned out. All good.’ ‘ We joined our neighbors at the Elks Club in Auburn to say a final farewell to Ron LeDoux. He will be missed. By the end of the month, we hit the 90’s for a few days before another cool down. So now California is going from drought to record snowfall to flash floods with the snowmelt. A state of extremes and challenges. Meanwhile,the garden is happy!

And we have apair of doves with a pair of babies residing in our porch rafters.