What Happened After The Chai Tea?

(June 17, 2007) Happy Father’s Day !

Ok, we left off with that great cup of Chai tea at Winchester Bay, Oregon. We rode our bikes back to the campsite and decided to get in the truck and do a bit of exploring along the dunes. I remember seeing the dunes in Indiana when I was a kid, but I don’t recall them being as large as the ones in Oregon, nor covering such a vast area. They look like the ones you see in the movies with all the camels, etc., but these were dotted with people on ATVs. I’m no good at judging distance and height, but these dunes were taller than most the big hills in Iowa (I know, most of you think ‘big whip,’ but trust me, there ARE a few big hills in Iowa). We were half tempted to rent some ATVs ourselves and give it a try, but common sense prevailed. I figured I’d get way up on the top of one of the dunes and have engine trouble and have to walk all the way back down to get help, and then my allotted time would have expired. It did look like a lot of fun though.

We then headed up to the Umpqua River Lighthouse. It’s at the entrance to Winchester Bay, and sits on a hill 100 feet above sea level on the mouth of the Umpqua River. The first lighthouse in Oregon was erected on the opposite side of the river in 1857, but fell into the swollen river seven years later when the sand eroded during a storm. The one we visited was started in 1890 and officially lit in 1894. It is one of five still operating on the Oregon coast, and is the only one with a red light. The really cool part was looking out over the bay hoping to spot whales. Yep, we did just that. Mike spotted the first one, then we noticed that there were two more. We believe the two that stuck close together and seemed to be playing were a mother and calf. Another one stayed a close distance away. With the naked eye you could see the water blow when they came up for air, but the best view was through binoculars. Too cool!!!

Our last evening at Winchester Bay was spent walking along the bay and listening to the breakers. Blizzard couldn’t figure out that the “barking” we were hearing wasn’t from dogs, but from seals out in the bay. We could not have found a better campground. Everything was picturesque and peaceful. The weather was sunny and slightly cool, and the evening skies were filled with stars. We were most fortunate to have experienced such clear weather. One local told us that they had not seen the sun for quite some time until we arrived, and then the clouds rolled back in the morning we left. Timing is everything.

Our next destination would be Salem, Oregon to visit with Mike’s sister Pat and her family. The scenery along the way continued to be spectacularly beautiful. One area we passed looked like one of Tom Mangleson’s pictures…a beautiful valley with nothing but yellow flowers blanketing the valley and hills. Naturally, the camera was not at the ready. We did see more, and I tried to take some pictures from the moving vehicle, but that one valley will stay in my memory a long time. It was spectacular!

April 5th…arrive in Salem, OR

We spent almost 10 days with Pat and Terry, and had a great time visiting and siteseeing. We had a fantastic Easter dinner with a group of their friends and family, and ate way too much. We met our adorable sixteen-month-old grand neice, Macy, for the first time, and got to visit with her parents and her uncle for a while. It’s always wonderful to visit family and catch-up on each other’s lives.

Pat and Terry are great hosts. They took us to the Mission Mill Museum in Salem. We toured homes from the 1840’s, and the 1898 woolen mill itself. We literally had the mill to ourselves, and were able to tour without any guide or restrictions. It was fascinating to see the myriad processes the wool undergoes before the finished product. We were able to touch a lot of things that ordinarily were not allowed during a guided tour. The mill produced a lot of military blankets during the war, and still produces a few items from its tours. In fact, one could purchase a Pendleton blanket made right there, if one were so inclined…we weren’t.

One day, we all headed to the Evergreen Aviation Museum, or better known as the Spruce Goose Museum, in McMinnville, Oregon. What an amazing place. The museum was built specifically to house and preserve the HK-1 aircraft built by Howard Hughes. Like the redwoods, the Spruce Goose is something you have to see in person in order to appreciate the magnitude and beauty of the thing. It is ENORMOUS. It’s a testament to one man’s dream and determination. All the other aircraft housed there were equally fascinating, and the volunteer guides, of whom many were Air Force veterans, were well informed and helpful. I just couldn’t leave the museum without buying a bomber jacket for our grandson Atticus’ birthday.

Another day, Pat and I drove out to the country to a tulip farm. Again, we got lucky with the weather. It had rained the day before, and was threatening rain again, but we were able to get out and walk the beautiful fields without getting mired in mud. I can remember going to the tulip festival in Holland, Michigan when I was a kid, but I didn’t remember all the different colors and varieties of tulips. It was truly beautiful with the mountains as a backdrop. Great girl fun!

While we girls were touring the tulip farm, Mike and Terry were having good ole boy fun touring some wineries. They did a little “tasting”, and then some more “tasting,” then bought a few bottles and made their way back home.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We had the truck repaired while we were in Oregon. What, you may ask, had the truck repaired? That’s right, I forgot to mention that before we ever left our neighborhood, Mike had a little mishap. He pulled the camper up our street to the cul-de-sac to turn it around. Now, he had done this a few times before without incident. Well, this time some rude person had the audacity to park his vehicle on the cul-de-sac and Mike misjudged how sharp a turn he needed to make. There is a special attachment thingy to the hitch that can be manually disengaged so you can make an almost 90 degree turn without causing the camper to turn into the back window of the truck. Yep, Mike didn’t disengage it and the camper turned into the truck. Luckily, it didn’t break the back window, but it did scrunch the truck along side the window. That’s the repair we had done in Salem.

April 20th…bid adieu to family

We left Salem and headed north to Portland to catch the route east. We deliberately stopped at Camping World outside of Portland with the express purpose to purchase a “honey pot.” To you less informed individuals, a “honey pot” is a tote that can be used to empty our sink and sewage tanks into and use to haul to a dump station within a campground, when we do not have full hook-ups. I call it a “honey pot” in respect to “honey dippers” who go around and clean out septic tanks and outhouses. Lovely, don’t you think?

We knew we could use one when we got back to Georgia, because we would not have full hook-ups at the campgrounds. We wanted to purchase it in Oregon, because there is no sales tax, and that would save us a few bucks. So, we stopped and puchased one, took it out of the box and placed it in the back of the truck and headed down the road. We also planned to stop on I-84 to see the Multnomah Falls. These gorgeous Columbia River falls can be seen directly from the interstate, or you can stop and walk beneath the road and experience them up close, as we did. Again, the pulchritude was breathtaking (like that big word?!). We took Blizzard with us and walked under the roadway and up to the falls. Mike was reticent about our trying to walk the trail right up to and beneath the falls because it was pretty chilly and I do get cold quite easily. Regardless, it was worth the stop just to see them and take some pictures. We spent approximately 30 minutes there, and then got back in the truck and headed east.

About an hour down the road from the falls, we stopped to get fuel and stretch our legs. After Mike came back to the truck he said, “Where’s the honey pot?” I turned around and looked in the back of the truck and discovered it was no longer there…someone had stolen the thing! It must have been taken while we were observing the falls. So much for saving money on sales tax. We were now going to have to spend another $200. Too bad we hadn’t used it, maybe then no one would have stolen it. While trying to track down a place to purchase another one in Oregon, one gentleman told me that people steal them to sell for meth. You have to laugh at the luck of the Murrays.

Our next planned stop was Baker City, Oregon to visit the Oregon Trail Regional Museum. We found a good campground nestled between the mountains. Blizzard was in dog heaven because there was a field fenced off for a dog run. For the first time in her life, she was able to run free. She especially liked running after the magpies that would fly up out of the bushes. We settled down for the first night with plans to head to the museum the next morning.

The museum was just a short drive from where we were camped. We got there and toured the covered wagons outside and the great displays inside. It has always amazed me to think about all the brave people who traversed across this wonderful country of ours, and without all the conveniences, machinery, and knowledge that we enjoy. What kept them going? Why didn’t they look at the vast nothingness and say, “To heck with it, I’m not going any further?” Granted, free land was an incentive, but the hardships they endured hardly seemed reward enough. The museum did a great job of depicting and catalogueing the journey along the Oregon Trail. Those people suffered greatly, and a vast majority never made it.

We had learned that you could walk 1.2 miles down the hill to see the original wagon ruts, and I was totally up for it. It was once again a cool overcast day, but we figured we HAD to make the best of the opportunity. They had a paved walkway that zig-zagged all the way down the hill so you didn’t have such a steep descent. As you descended, you could look out over the arid high desert of Oregon. Not particularly pretty, but certainly fascinating when you put your mindset in that of the pioneers. Again, I marveled at their fortitude. Seeing the actual wagon ruts brought it all clearly to mind.

When we reached the bottom, we found another trail we could take to head back to the parking lot. It was more of a straight ascent, and unpaved, but it was MUCH faster. We got a good workout that day. Comically, and in the Murray luck, as we were driving back we stopped at a marker and parking area along the road. We stopped to read it only to find out that we could have walked directly to the wagon ruts from the road without any hill climbing.

We originally planned to leave Baker City the next day, but Mike discovered that not much farther down the road from the museum, was Hell’s Canyon, so we decided to stay another night and explore the canyon the next day.

Hell’s Canyon, with the Snake River flowing through, is deeper than the Grand Canyon, though not as wide. It was going to be a 60 mile drive to get to one of the best vantage points. Little did we know that it was going to be 6 ½ hours before we got back to the camper.

The drive was beautiful, because it took us up out of the high desert and into the mountains. There were beautiful views all around. The higher we got, the more snow we began to see. Snow, from a warm vehicle is quite pretty. Though it was supposed to be a 60 mile drive, that drive was extremely winding. We finally approached a turn-off we were to take, and chuckled at the sign that read, “Warning Road Not Maintained For Public Travel October 15 – June 15.” What the heck, we were on an adventure, we had 4-wheel drive. That wasn’t going to stop us.

As we got higher, we came across a tree that had fallen across the road, but someone had kindly cut and cleared. We kept seeing more and more snow, some of it across the roadway. No problem, we had 4 wheel drive remember? More trees across the road, more snow. Finally, about 5 miles from our destination we came across a big pile of snow across the road. Mike put the truck into 4 wheel drive and we cautiously started across. Hmm, pretty deep, stop! We had no cell service, no traffic other than us, a big drop off the road if we slid, and no way to get out if we got stuck. The risk outweighed the reward, so Mike backed down the road for about half a mile to where he could safely turn around, and we headed back. We never got to see the optimum view of the canyon. We did enjoy pretty scenery, but could not believe that we had spent 6 ½ hours driving. Boy were our butts sore!

To be continued….

A Few Pictures

So Where The Heck ARE The Murrays?

April 21, 2007

Wow, I haven’t updated this darned blog since January 28, 2007. I know I don’t need to tell all of you, as you’ve been faithfully checking the site every week since. Yeah, I bet. Regardless, I apologize for the delay. Well, a lot has happened since January, so I hope I can both entertain and inform to bring you up-to-date. Hope it doesn’t get too wordy either. A shot of caffeine might help you get through it.

The Indian Hoop Dance contest I mentioned earlier was a lot of fun. The weather cooperated and we enjoyed watching the participants parade around the grounds of the museum before competing for the final day. The costumes were really something. A myriad of colors and textures and designs reflecting the different tribes and individuals. There were contestants from the age of five on up. Unfortunately, we only got to see the youngest ones in the parade because they had competed the day before. They were absolutely adorable. The dance itself is a mixture of dancing, athletics, and stamina with something resembling a hoola hoop. The only difference being that the hoops may vary in number and size. While the contestants perform, there are Native American drummers and chanters. I must admit, after watching about six performers, it does become monotonous. This is not to say we didn’t enjoy it, or that we wouldn’t recommend it. We did, and we do. It’s always worth seeing anything that perpetuates a tradition and history. Trust me, it was fun.

We didn’t get to hike up Superstition Mountain, as something else came up for us to do. We did work security at the FBR golf tournament. Talk about an experience! We have never seen so many drunken individuals in our lives. The FBR is a big party. People gather at the 16th green, drink gallons, and cheer and boo the golfers. We can see why so many of the Pros opt out of the tournament. It’s not about golf. It’s about getting drunk. We did see VJ Sing, Seve Ballisteros, Mark Calvecchia, and a few others. We were positioned right before the 17th green, and got to see amazing shots. It’s a par 4, and several players either drove the green or came really close.

Mike and I arose one morning at 5:00 and drove to Fountain Hills, AZ. There was an art fair going on, and by rising so early we hoped to arrive in time to see the hot air balloonists take off at sunrise. We were not disappointed. It was a bit chilly that early, but the flip side was getting to see the balloons being readied to take off across the lake with a beautiful sunrise in the background. A few didn’t quite judge right, and their baskets skimmed across the lake before rising. In all, there were twelve to fifteen multi-colored balloons that participated. Well worth the early drive. The art fair itself was a lot of fun too.

Annually, the Heard Museum hosts an art fair of exclusively Native American artisans. Our friends, the Carters, had told us about it, so the four of us made plans to attend the first weekend in March. Hands down, the best art fair we’ve ever attended. Row upon row displaying phenomenal artistry from carving, jewelry, woodworking, painting, etc., by amazingly talented people. It’s a good thing we don’t currently have a home because we certainly saw several pieces we would love to own. That doesn’t mean we walked away empty-handed. Mike did buy a beautiful ring and a pair of silver earrings for me. We will definitely attend again next year.

So far, I’ve avoided mentioning tennis. Tennis took over, and controlled our lives from the time we arrived in Arizona in January, until March 27th. I kid you not. We both had regular practice every Monday morning, then a match on Thursday. In between, we both practiced with the 2.0 groups (we were 1.5 players), and then played in their matches on Wednesdays. In the meantime, we practiced to improve our game before the big end-of-the-year weeklong tournaments in March. I played in doubles matches with a new friend, and Mike played in the men’s with another friend. Then, Mike and I played in the mixed-doubles matches. Mike and his partner did well and won their first match and progressed forward from there. Unfortunately, they lost the next match and were out of the tournament. The day before my partner and I competed, I pulled a hamstring. I played anyway, and we lost our fist round, which placed us in the consolation round. We won the next match, but lost the one after. Mike and I did well in the mixed doubles, winning our first match and lost the second when I re-pulled the hamstring. It was disappointing, because we were playing well, but that’s the way the old body crumbles. Mike played extremely well the whole season and moved up to the 2.0 players for next year. I improved and also moved up, but I don’t play quite as well as Mike. He’s really good!!! Plus, he loves it.

After tennis, we took some time to see some sights. One day we took Blizz and went to the Arboretum for a two hour walking tour. It was fascinating to see the different flora, and actually beautiful in spite of the fact that cactus is not my favorite plant life. We learned about the Cholla cactus, which is also known as “jumping cactus”. Chollas appear to “jump” onto anything that gets a bit too close. The removal of said cactus is quite difficult because it imbeds itself with tiny barbs. One should NEVER try and remove them with bare hands. Supposedly, a comb is one of the better ways to remove them. Better yet, don’t get near one.

Next, we took a beautiful ride up to Tortilla Flats, population 7. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful drive to this tiny little area with a restaurant and shops, and nothing else except the panoramic view. They do boast a man 7’4” tall, and the restaurant is completely papered inside with donated dollar bills. Upon inquiring, I was told that there are two layers of the bills on the walls totalling about $90,000. Food was good, and the waitress was a hoot. When I asked if I could have lime with my cola, she proceeded to bring me a whole lime with my drink. We had a great time ribbing each other. Next year we hope to go up there again, and drive beyond onto rougher roads. We understand the views are even more spectacular.

We said good-bye to Arizona the first of April, and headed towards Salem, OR. We took the route over to California, and drove Hwy 101. What a view! It runs right along the Pacific coastline. I have never been to California, and was really looking forward to the entire drive. Little did I know.

Mike was concerned about the traffic around Los Angeles, so there was no plan to stop until we circumvented that area. Well, the roads were horrendous. You’d swear they had freezin and thawing problems there with all the bumps and holes. When we finally did stop, we found that the television had fallen and cabinets had come open and contents were spilled. We were not happy campers. Luckily, nothing broke, and Mike installed the childproof locks on the cabinets, that he had meant to do sometime before, to hopefully avoid a similar problem later. The next leg of the trip in California was just as speedy. Mike wanted to hurry and get past San Francisco and all it’s traffic. Unfortunately, Hwy 101 goes directly down through downtown San Francisco and onto the Golden Gate Bridge. Fortunately, I can say I saw San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, albeit out of the corner of my eye. I must admit, this was the only time so far, that I wanted to pull to the side of the road, get out of the truck, place a “for sale” sign on the truck and camper, and another sign saying, “no charge for husband.” All our plans to take our time and enjoy life and our surroundings seemed to disappear. California dreaming had become a nightmare.

After that fiasco, we decided we would get back on track and take our time more. We found a great campsite at the beginning of the Giant Redwoods. We were amazed at the grandeur and beauty of those amazing trees. At first, I thought, “Ok, they’re big, but I guess I was expecting more.” Well, then I walked away from Mike and turned around and looked at him standing beneath one and was amazed at the comparison. They are unbelievable. They are majestic testaments to time and nature. Pecularly, while walking among them, you see no wildlife or birds. The beauty and serenity of it all humbled me. Apparently, most of the wildlife is at the canopy.

The campsite we chose in Winchester Bay, Oregon made up for everything. Our campsite backed up to the bay. The entire campground was paved and landscaped. We went into the little village for dinner our first night and had fresh seafood with a beautiful view. The next day, we rode our bikes into town and checked out the shops. One shop roasted its own coffee with an old fashioned roaster. Mike enjoyed a fresh cup of coffee, and I had a great Chai tea.



……to be continued.

Finally!!!

At last! We are experiencing a true winter in Arizona. Low's in the evenings in the mid to upper 40's, and mid 60's to 70's during the day with wonderful sunshine. If this is what it's all about, then we can certainly tolerate winters here.

We have experienced just about every kind of weather here...rain, snow, wind, cold, warm, sunny, earthquake. What?! Yeah, earthquake that registered a 3.2 on the Richter scale. Oh no, that's right, that wasn't a true earthquake. It was me hitting the ground on the tennis court. Not a pretty sight at all. Luckily, I do bounce quite well. It wasn't easy explaining to the residents that it was not a true earthquake, and that the hole in the court would be fixed in no time.

Our new life is pretty darned good. I liken it to when we were newlyweds without all the heavy breathing. But seriously, it's just the two of us and the dog in a small living space, and we are adjusting much as we did 40 years ago in our first apartment. Actually, the first apartment was a bit bigger, except the kitchen in the apartment was a converted closet and you had to stand at the side to open the oven, but it too was cozy. Mike and I work together fixing meals and cleaning up. No dishwasher, but washing and drying of the dishes is as minimal as possible. That's not to say we don't fix nice meals, or that I don't bake anymore, because we do. We also get to do whatever we want whenever we want. We highly recommend it to anyone who wants to reconnect in their marriage.

Mike and I participated in a tennis invitational with another resort. It was strictly for fun, and lasted the entire day. Good fun, tennis, and sun. Then last night we were included in a "block" party. About 26 of us gathered with our chairs in the street around a propane powered fire pit. One neighbor cooked the hot dogs and the rest of us brought a dish. What fun!!

We're hoping to plan a hike up part of Superstition Mountain this week. We'll find out how much hiking and climbing I can tolerate. We plan to carry a lunch with us and just take our time and see how far we can go. Saturday, we are both volunteers for the FDR Golf Tournament. Can you imagine, we are part of "security". Woo hoo. Mike's hoping we get to carry firearms. We will be on the 17th green, and have no idea all that we are required to do. Should be great fun, plus maybe we'll get to see some famous golfers up close and personal. Then on Sunday, we are hoping to attend the National Hoop Dancing contest at the Heard Museum of the America Arts. It will be a chance to see a lot of Native American activities and art. I have to thank my baby brother Phil for telling us about it.

That's about it for now. Hope you are all tolerating the winter as well as we. Spring is just around the corner. Take care and drop an email once in a while.

Love, Mike & Sandy

Sunny Arizona??

We have been in Mesa for almost two weeks now, and the temperature has done nothing but decline. It has been freak'n cold here...23, 26, and a high of 45 or 55! Can you believe it? Yeah, but it's a dry cold. Anyway you look at it, it's COLD. We are so pleased to have been here for history...the coldest temps in over 20 years. We are blessed.

Cold weather aside, we are enjoying our new life. In fact, we are enjoying it so much that we reserved a site again, starting in November. That's usually when tennis begins, and we're hoping to be able to actually "volley" by then. We've had two practice sessions, followed by a true match. Mike and his partner lost a good tie breaking game, and my partner and I won our tie breaker. A crazy miracle if you ask me. Actually, I think we won because we could move a little faster than the opponents.

We either walk or ride our bikes to any and all activities. I've joined a quilter's group that meets once a week, and Mike is thinking about joining a poker group and an 8 ball group. There's plenty to choose from, and no pressure to join.

As you can see from the attached picture, Blizz has found her throne to the world. She was used to peering out the windows from our house, as they were low and easily accessible. In the camper, she has to perch atop the sofa to see what's going on out there. As before, she's the queen of the house.


Mike and our friend Glenn went to the Barrett-Jackson auto auction in Scottsdale today. For those of you not in the know, that's the HUGE antique and classic auto auction that is held in Scottsdale every year. They saw some amazing cars, and had some amazing fantasies.

Now that we are getting more organized, in spite of the fact there are several things we swear we brought with us, but can't locate, we are hoping to start planning short excursions to explore the country around us. I'm sure we'll have more entertaining stories as time passes. Until then, love to all.

WE MADE IT!!!

We arrived safely in Mesa, AZ last evening after driving all day after we said goodbye to El Paso and it's early morning greeting of rain and snow mix. We got here around 6:30. We drove up to our reserved site to park the camper only to find that someone else was in our spot. Why would we expect otherwise? I mean, has much else gone completely without a glitch? Of course not! We called our friends the Carters, and they came out, along with several neighbors and helped us pick out another spot to park for the night. We hooked up, chatted a while, walked the dog and went to bed.

We checked with the office this morning and were assigned a completely different site that luckily backs up to the Carters. Bad luck turned to good. We watched our friends play in their tennis tournaments this a.m. (tennis is BIG here), then they drove us around to see the area. Happy hour commences at 4:00 on our block, and everybody gathers in front of someone's camper/mobile home/motorhome and brings their own drinks and a snack, and sit and visit until about 5:30.

So far, everyone we've met has been extremely friendly. The area in which we are parked is known as the "doggie area" for obvious reasons. You are greeted by friendly people who seem to always have a doggie treat in their pockets, and a friendly dog on a leash. Blizzard has never had her backside checked out so many times in one day before. Sure glad it's only the dogs that are doing that!

Mike and I are going to attend a meeting tomorrow morning to see about joining the beginning tennis group. I had originally not considered playing because I figured my muscle problems would not allow me to do the necessary running, but after watching others play, I decided there is not all that much running to be done. Playing doubles helps, so I'm going to give it a try. We haven't played in over 30 years. This should be interesting, but fun. They have all kinds of tennis tournaments and matches going on all the time with other clubs, and within different skill levels.

This truly is an amazing place with tons of activities going on. If you'd like to check it out, you can go to www.resortrvpark.com. I think we're going to enjoy ourselves quite a lot. We plan on exploring surrounding areas, playing golf, try and play tennis, and any and all other activities we choose. Right now, it's good to be in one spot for a while. Please keep in touch!!!

High Ho, High Ho, it's off...

Well, we officially hit the road on Friday, December 29th, after departing Lincoln, NE in the rain. I think we actually saw the sun twice while in Lincoln, and it didn't look too promising when we set out. As our luck would have it, it rained the entire time we were on the road, and while we set up camp in Oklahoma City for the night.

We set out the next day for Texas. At least the sun decided to shine for a change. We did notice that the terrain doesn't change much from state to state. It's pretty much one straight line through Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma (oops! Did manage to see the one mountain range in Oklahoma), and Texas. There's approximately 12 telephone posts between mile markers. That is, if the little markers I saw were actually mile markers. Who knows? We did get excited when we spotted 3 rises in the distant terrain while traveling through Texas. It's amazing what little thing you'll try and focus on. Anyway, as we got closer to the 3 rises, they began to move...they were not hills, or mounds, but 3 dromedaries. I kid you not! There standing in the corner of the fenced area were 3 camel want-to-bes, and not a Bedouin in sight. Unbelievable.

We stopped at a KOA in Abilene, dropped anchor and decided we'd stay here for a full day and get refreshed and rested. Found a hole-in-the-wall steakhouse for dinner that doubles as an aviation museum. It ended up being quite fascinating to tour the back rooms with all the war and airplane artifacts. It turns out the owner is a good friend of Gen. Chuck Yeager, and that he used to stop in once a year. The walls in the back room are priceless, as they are filled with signatures of people who served with Yeager, and others. Pretty cool.

Well, I can't have an update without some mishap, right. We decided to initiate the new washer/dryer all-in-one. It was working great until we noticed the floor was flooding. Managed to get it all cleaned up in record time with the huge bag of old towels we'd saved. Seems one should not run the washer without having the sewer line hooked up. LOL Mike was going to wait and hook-up the sewer today, but we both forgot about it and started up the washer. Glad it was nothing critical...just stupidity once again.

We hope you all have a great New Year's Eve celebration, and a Happy New Year. We'll try and keep entertaining you.