The Long Way Home

We left Baby B in a secure storage spot in Yuma, Arizona, and started driving home. It had cooled down considerably, and by the time we got to Las Vegas, Nevada, it was really windy, and light rain was falling. Being brought up on the West Coast, I call it "beautiful rain". Terry doesn't agree at all. It was so cozy sitting at Starbucks checking our e-mail and peeking at Facebook, while next door, Terry's binoculars were being fixed at a very reasonable cost. The strap had come loose and they fell on a rock on the mountain hike, jiggling the prisms out of alignment. He did also buy a new compact pair. William, of ScopeCity, was very helpful, and had the binoculars fixed in record time. Terry commented, "Now all we need is to find a rock identification book for our grandson." William offered to sell us a counter copy AND some rock samples from his own collection! "Perfect," we exclaimed! "Caleb will be thrilled!"
In Las Vegas our friend, the mum of one of our first Slovak students, put us up in a huge casino resort because she had access to a room, and felt her own house was in disarray. Jana longed to join us on our missions, and said, "All I need is a husband and an RV!"
In Salt Lake City we visited with Lenka, Jana's daughter. It started to snow lightly; the next morning the mountains all around Salt Lake wore a light dusting of snow like powdered sugar.
Our third visit was at Shirley's, one of Terry's students nearly 30 years ago, about an hour north of Salt Lake. We were blessed to be given some walnuts from a tree in her back yard. There were so many walnuts that her husband would throw them on the road so cars would crack them for the birds and squirrels!
We're in Montana tonight, and the temperature is slightly below freezing. We're suddenly thrust into winter, and the beginnings of the Christmas season. Home in a couple of days! Sorry, the pictures I wanted to post are not uploading; the Internet connection is a bit slow.

Corona

I was having my teeth cleaned in Los Algodones, Mexico, the other day.  The dentist scraped away as usual, but then informed me that I had a cavity, AND a broken tooth!  This is not unusual for me, as my teeth are not my strong point.  I did feel a new sensitivity in that area lately, as if the wind was blowing through.  After asking how much it would be, and consulting with Terry, I told the dentist, "Go for it!"  This is an interesting dental office, a little hole- in- the- wall place, run by a Christian dentist.  We got there first thing, around 8:30 am, so I was able to get right in.  Then a short wait till 2:15 for the crown to be ready and I'm "good to go"  Roland thought he would be the one getting a crown, but his tooth turned out to be not broken .  $270 for a cleaning, polishing, cavity fixed in two adjoining teeth, and a crown.  Not bad.
Sorry I don't have a photo; I was too stunned.