Longmont, Colorado Springs, and Home

Too busy for photos, but this is close.

 Wow!! My last week in Longmont proved to be busy, strenuous and exhausting. My daughter, Kathy, decided to move, so it was scramble time. A house opened up that fit her needs and she took it. We reserved a truck, started sorting out closets and storage areas, made mental notes of how we'd handle the logistics on moving day, and lined up some helpful friends of the kids.

Moving is always stressful, and this was no exception. The departing owners were very disorganized and did not share our standards of cleanliness. The day we wanted to clean before moving in, they were still moving out, so we spent half the day helping get them out of the way so we could get in.

Even this was too small.

The truck we reserved proved not to be big enough, so a couple of the kids used their pickups to move a lot of the garage stuff and, even that took two loads each. We also loaded every available car to take stuff to the new house. We fed everyone pizza for lunch and take-out Chinese for the ones who stayed for dinner.

Hats off to our 'crew'. Those kids were our heroes, for we could not have accomplished it at all without their willing muscle and 'can-do' attitudes. It was a veritable bucket brigade for both the loading and unloading of all the furnishings and endless bags and boxes. They rocked.

Getting settled in went fairly smoothly. We finished some serious scrubbing, a little painting, lots of deciding where stuff went and hanging artwork on practically every vertical surface. The house finally has my daughter's touch on it and everyone is doing well in their new home, including the dog.

Me, Doug, Carolyn (I have a lot to learn about 'selfies')

I pushed my departure until the last possible moment, staying an extra week, and adjusting my scheduled visits and route home accordingly. I didn't want to be on the road for the week before 4th of July due to all the anticipated traffic and I had promised Mom I'd be back by July 1st.

I drove down to Colorado Springs to visit my sister, Carolyn, and bro-in-law, Doug, as well as my niece and her kids who live there, also. I only stayed a couple of nice, restful days before hitting the road home. I had to cancel a visit to my nephew and his family in the Salt Lake area, and took I-70 west, and I-15 south, then roads through Bakersfield and Paso Robles to the coast.

I drove home in two long days rather than three short ones, and it was fairly uneventful while being somewhat tiring. I was pretty done-in by the time I finally unloaded my car on Friday night. I had the wettest and stormiest June ever in Colorado and came back to a very dry weather pattern on the Central Coast.

It was good to sleep in my own bed and good to see Mom, but always sad to leave my family in Colorado. I was welcomed by a mountain of mail, including a jury summons for the following week, and lots of getting caught up on everyday business. I had a great visit with my family and friends with loads of activity and good times. I'm already looking forward to next year's visit.

Th-th-that's all, Folks!!!