Merry Christmas from across the Plains

For me, Christmas is a time to reflect on the year that is coming to an end.  A time to take stock in my life and to see how I measured up.  Did I accomplish the things that I wanted too?  Did I live the life that I wanted too?

This year just seemed to race on by.  First we were in Palm Springs, California, enjoying the sun.  Then we were three months (too short a time) in Montana.  Next it was a cross country trek that allowed us time (albeit short) to see some family, followed by four months in North Carolina.  Then it was, not one, but two trips from the east coast, here to the Midwest (or plains, depending on how you look at it).  I have worked in four different types of Rehab settings and have met (and worked with) some amazing people.  We've survived some trials and tribulations, and we have enjoyed most of the Grand Adventure.

But now we're here and have been able to see family.  Susan's father and step mother live just an hour east of us and it has been a treat to be able to drive and see them.   So when Harold invited us over for Christmas eve, we jumped at the offer.  We loaded up our three dogs, a bag full of gifts, two WalMart pizzas and two smiling faces...for the trip to west Texas.

We were greeted with open arms, big hugs and a cozy casa.  Alice had veggies, chips and dips waiting for us, plus wine, of course.   Alice knows how to make guests welcome!   She had the tree trimmed and gifts beneath.

Christmas eve was nice.  The pizza almost burned, but didn't (I was in charge...whoops) and was enjoyed by all.  We all had a great time.   Then it was all about exchanging gifts.  Thank you both for being so caring. Then we all settled in for some college football, dessert, coffee and conversation.  

This morning came with our pre-dawn dog walk, but then crawled back in bed for another hour-and-a-half snooze.  Ahh.  Breakfast, along with Christmas music, our gifts to the pups and a nice hike at Ned Houk Park set the tone for a relaxing day with my family.  And now everyone is tucked in and napping.

So however you enjoy the Season, we hope it was great.  Know that we miss all of our friends and family that we weren't able to see this year.  Have a happy New Year and we hope our paths will cross sometime soon.

Chick-fil-A....It's all about The Experience!

Chick-fil-A is more than just a fast food chicken place, as I found out on my last day in Charlotte, NC.  It's an experience.  You drive up to the larger than life restaurant with it's oversize logo, park your car and walk in.  You are then in sensory overload as balloons, fancy lighting, noise and smells bombard your senses.

I've never tried Chick-fil-A.  "What,"  my coworkers asked,  "you've never had Chick-fil-A?"  They all gasped with appall as I said that I hadn't.  "Well, we'll have to take you there."  And so they did.  On my last day at Carolinas Rehab a big group of us loaded into our cars and headed in to town to get some Chicken.

Marty bought me lunch (thanks Marty) and I sat down to quite a treat.  The spicy chicken sandwich and waffle fries were TO DIE FOR.   I was in heaven.  Yeah, yeah, it doesn't take much to make me happy, especially when it comes to food, but this lunch was particularly good.  I am sure that it had a lot to do with the novelty of the experience...and that it was shared with good friends that I really enjoyed working with these past two months.  Thanks guys and gals for being so kind and welcoming of this traveler!

Woohoo!

The Chick-fil-A experience got me thinking that it was another one of the countless experiences that I've had on the road these past two years.   My travels have taken me from the gold country of northern California to Montana, Alaska and the east coast.  I have lived in places that I never would even had seen and I have met some incredible people along the way.  There have been highs, like catching salmon on the fly rod and lows, like breaking down in the desert, but one thing has remained a constant, that it has been an adventure.   I guess that is the draw, the lure that keeps me going...what's next?

So fast forward two weeks and we are in Clovis, New Mexico.   We are currently renting a single wide mobile (another new experience) while the RV maintenance gets completed in Panama City, Florida.  It's cold and boy is it windy, but the light in the sky is incredible and the folks are nice (as usual), though they talk kinda funny    =)

Sunset at the Hospital  Clovis, NM

Still to come...how we left the motorhome behind!

Our Asheville, North Carolina Weekend

Boy, did we have fun two weekends ago, when we spent our three day weekend up in Asheville.   Asheville is a popular "mountain" town about two hours west of Charlotte.  And since neither of us have been there (other than passing by it on the interstate)  we decided that we needed to go.  Be sure to click on the WeB Album on the side bar.

We have heard from family and friends about how "cool" Asheville was and you all were right.  Asheville is a medium sized town nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains (think Sierra Nevada Gold Country) and are heavily wooded.  The hardwood forests of the east are INCREDIBLE, let me tell you.  Those rolling mountains go on for as long as the eye can see, just choked with thick forests of ash, oak, sycamore, walnut and the like.  And now that fall is here they are beginning to turn and the hills are coming alive!  It is truly a sight to behold.

Friday night we packed up Big Bertha, and started out west.   We got into Asheville about 9:30 pm after getting lost trying to find the RV Park.  Okay, it was pitch black and the GPS was off about a thousand feet (going the wrong way on the street), but after a quick reconnaissance in the van, made a quick 180 and we were there.   I plugged us in, we put out the Welcome mat and were in for the night.

Saturday (as do most weekends) started with going out for breakfast at Tupelo Honey,  then it was off to The Biltmore.

The Biltmore Estate is some 8000 acres of property with a four-acre, 250 room mansion.  It was the home of George W. Vanderbilt and has been kept in the family.  It has been on display since the 1930's and was breathtaking.  We ended up spending a day and a half wandering the gardens, touring the rooms and dreaming that someday we could be in a house like that.   Wow!

Dinner was at the Asheville Pizza and Brewing Co.  Great atmosphere, good beer and scrumptious pizza.  Then it was off for a downtown stroll where we found Chocolate Fetish.  You know who was drooling in anticipation of that sweet, chocolate and we both enjoyed some nice deserts.

Monday morning was another great breakfast and then it was off for the antique warehouses.   Asheville has a ton of places to seek out the vintage or unique.  Not bad prices either...just couldn't find out a way to drag a nice Victorian sofa across country.  Oh well, maybe next time.

So our verdict?   Asheville has it, baby.  You have the mountains and streams, the cool downtown with all it's hip stores, lot's of individual characters to mix up the population and plenty of Subaru's sportin'  kayaks and "Keep Asheville Weird"  stickers.   Sound like another mountain town we live in???

Dear Charlotte

My dear Charlotte,

Even though I've only known you for a few weeks,  I am enamored with your soft, southern accent and with your gentile persona.  I love how the morning sun shines on your face and the warmth I feel in my heart when I see you.  Oh dear Charlotte, I think I'm in love...

 Now this is what I imagined the "South" to be.   We made our escape from the I-95 corridor on September 11th for what we hoped was going to be a better experience.   Roanoke Rapids was difficult to say the least...and I'll just leave it at that.

So we gladly exchanged the coronary artery disease, diabetes and stroke capital of North Carolina for the "New South"  as Charlotte is known by.   It is the financial and cultural center of the south, and along with Atlanta, is one of the two cities that people come to when they are moving forward with their careers.  Charlotte has more than a half a million folks, but isn't crazy big like L.A. or even San Fransisco.   It instantly reminded me of Seattle,  a place we called home for about 4 years, a lifetime ago.   And maybe it has taken a lifetime to feel like we feel now, alive.   Maybe we had forgotten what the pulse of a big city feels like or how much there is to see and do in the city.  Whatever it is, we have been bitten and are truly in love with this place.

I am working at a fabulous facility in Mt Holly, a bedroom community, about 15 miles west of the city.   The facility is an inpatient rehab center that is a part of the Carolinas Health System.   CHS is the third largest healthcare system in the nation and employs over 28K people in the Charlotte metropolitan area.  I feel very blessed to be a part of such a great medical community and I am enjoying this rehab setting immensely.

But more on Charlotte.   We go out downtown, which is called Uptown, all the time.   There are restaurants, wine bars, pizza joints, breakfasts spots and more to satisfy one's appetite.   There are cool neighborhoods (again, much like Seattle) that all have their own vibe.   There is every kind of convenience that one could possibly need and there are two Trader Joe's grocery stores!   Ahh, civilization.

Can you tell we've been gone for a while?

But don't get us wrong now,  the big city is nice, but we DO live in Montana, and we know the value (and necessity) of open space.   I guess that is the beauty of where we are staying.   We are outside of the city, but only by twenty minutes, and are near some nice open space.  No, it's nothing in comparison to Montana, but it allows us to run the dogs, and we are only two hours from Asheville, NC.   In fact, we took a three-day weekend there just last week and hope to post pics and a story about that trip soon.   But in the meantime, when you think of us,  just think of the sweet smell of honeysuckle and how we may come back with just a hint of a southern accent.

You all take care now.

Outer Banks...Oh, Yea!

Buxton Lighhouse

Ahh, the Outer Banks, or the OBX by those in the know. To me it was a mythical place, like Paris or Australia, and I would hang on the words of anyone lucky enough to visit such a far off spot and listen with wonder to the tales of miles of beautiful beaches, quaint towns, towering lighthouses, interesting historical details and hidden eateries that only the locals knew about. Words like Blackbeard, and pirates, and seashells, and lighthouses and Lost Colony were so intriguing I couldn't wait to go and see for myself. So, on Erik's first long weekend, we loaded the kayaks, packed up the dogs and headed for the OBX and, boy, it didn't disappoint!

Cape Hatteras

Of course, after hitting the beach, one of the first things we did was check out the lighthouse in Buxton. It's gorgeous and it just begged you to climb it...so we did. First, we loaded up on coffee and pastries at the Orange Blossom Bakery (Oh, don't judge me. When you're faced with climbing 268 steps before 9A, you'd do the same. Let's just call it "carbo-loading"). Going up wasn't so bad and the views made it worth the effort but I will admit I clung like a monkey to the rail and wall as I made my way down. Whose bright idea was it to put in narrow metal steps that you could see through with a black and white checkerboard floor wavering beneath? As I was going round and round and round, I was sure my pastries were going to abandon ship and beat me to the ground level. Erik, on the other hand, had a great time sprinting up and down, snapping pictures, peering out the porthole windows and acting as if scaling lighthouses with rickety metal steps and a psychedelic flooring choice was as normal as walking in the park. I'm betting his pastries were having a rollicking good time.

Down, down, down

One of the towns that we really enjoyed exploring was Manteo which is on Roanoke Island. It's near the site of the Last Colony's settlement and is a mix of Cape Cod charm and beachy vibe. We hit a farmers market at the downtown park and ate breakfast at the marina as sailboats and pirate ships paraded past. Can't wait to go back for more!

Downtown Manteo

Manteo Waterfront

Though we did get out and explored the towns, most of our time was spent in or on the water (or swallowing it, in my case). The really cool thing about the OBX is that you have the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Pamlico Sound on the other so if you want to body surf like Erik or get a good exfoliation and collect sand in your suit like me, you head for the ocean side. The water's warm, the surf is rough and the sand is soft and white. Lovely. But if it's peace and quiet you want and would prefer not to have another layer of skin sloughed off by being drug along on the ocean floor (I'm just saying...), you head for the Sound. The sand is just as soft and white, the water is warmer (though a bit smelly, I must say) and the waves are almost non-existent. The dogs thought they had died and gone to heaven and it was when Riley's legs finally gave out on him that we had to call a stop to the fun. At that point, we dried them off and dropped them off in the air-conditioned room to sleep like the dead and Erik and I grabbed our paddles and hit the water once again.

We kayaked at sunset and watched as scores of beach birds (yes, that's the technical term) from gulls to terns to plovers came flying in to roost and nest for the night in the shrubs and grasses along the Sound's shoreline. The music of their nightly serenades was like an opera with everyone chiming in and it was so serene to glide past them as they went about their nightly ritual. Heaven.

And then the sun set and it was time to head for home. Why do all good things have to come to an end? Oh, well, until next time and now I know firsthand that the Outer Banks are as magical as I imagined them to be....

Cross Country Adventure

Well, we're finally in North Carolina. Susan and I have wanted to go to the East coast and we jumped at the opportunity to do it. But we had to get there first!

I finished work on Friday night, July 2, we finished packing up the RV and headed out of Billings. I have to send a big shout out to all of my coworkers at the Billings Clinic. You guys were all wonderful to work with and I consider you all good friends. Thanks for having me for three months!

We took off and drove to Broadus, where we parked along side of the big rigs that had pulled off the road. We went to sleep to the sounds of their engines idling and others passing by.

We had a long way to go, traveling from Billings to Roanoke Rapids in just one week, so it was all about getting early starts and covering big miles. But in true Digby-May fashion, we took time to explore and enjoy this amazing journey across America.

Rapid City, SD brought us Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monuments. Lakefield, MN dazzled us with local fireworks from miles away... and gave us our first view of hundreds of fire flies. It was magical.


Monday was a super great visit with my Uncle Lew Digby, cousins Linda Digby and Sue O'Brien and second cousin Beth Digby-Britten (with husband Dan and kids Ella and Josie). We had a great meal (thanks Dan) and did some long, overdo catching up.


Tuesday was a night with my brother-in-law Mike May and his two girls, Michaela and Hannah. Bloomington, IN didn't disappoint either. It's a cool town with great, local beer.


Wednesday was to take us to Knoxville, TN, but at Lexington, KY the wheels (almost) came off the happy bus. You see, coming through the "hill country" was going well until I lost ALL power and, of course, I freaked out. Our unexpected stop there turned out to be a wiring problem that was easily fixed and gave us a chance to check out the horse farms surrounding the area.

Thursday was our longest day, topping out at 460 miles, but got us to Charleston, SC where we hung out with the Kettrys. Linda was so nice to show us around downtown and play tourist with us. Thanks Linda.

And we finally made it to our new home by last Saturday night. My odometer registered 2650 miles from our last home. Hot, sweaty and tired, but thankful that we are here. You'll have to keep posted to what NC has in store for our "Dog and Pony Show."

FINALLY, The Much Anticipated Billings Blog

Okay people (family, friends and strangers checking us out), I know that it has been a while and I feel bad for not keeping you all up to the minute with our adventures, so I hope to bridge the gap some here and catch you up to speed!

So, where do I begin? Well, when last you read, Susan and I had just gotten back from a wonderful, weekend trip to Missoula (home). We had a great time. So good, in fact, that two weeks later we headed back there for the Memorial Day holiday. You see, our CRAZY friend Nadia was throwing herself a going away party. No, she's not leaving the country or anything, but she was going to be away for the ENTIRE summer. She is retracing her great grandmother's steps during the late 1800's by way of her bicycle. So, with any excuse, we were back in Missoula partying it up! And for those interested, please follow her own adventure at www.travelswithjosie.com.

Susan got herself a new cruising bike, courtesy of our friends at Open Road Bicycles in Missoula.

I have been riding...a lot! The calves have only just recently allowed me to resume running, but enough about me. And, YES, Susan and I do ride around town together, too!

Then, two weeks ago, we headed to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (aka. Custer's Last Stand). What a saddening (for the native Americans), but fascinating place. It took place in what is now the Crow Indian Reservation, where Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull met with the U.S. Calvary and proceeded to kick butt and take scalps. The story is told by native Americans and they give you a glimpse into their history and perspective of how the events played out. It was simply one of my favorite sites that I have been to, since beginning my travels.

Work has been CRAZY busy. I begin my last week here at The Billings Clinic tomorrow. My outpatient job here has just flown by. I have been working with a bunch of fun characters who will be truly missed when I ride off into the sunset (or sunrise, depending on my next assignment). I have loved being back in the clinic, working with my ortho and neuro patients. I have been so busy that I have needed to do a little overtime, and I have also had to work two obligatory weekends up on the floor of the hospital. Now THAT was a learning curve, but the second weekend went smoothly and I even enjoyed some of it.

Okay and then there was last Sunday when the first tornado in 50+ years landed about two miles from our RV Park and proceeded to total our sports arena and some local businesses. Thankfully, no one was injured or killed. I felt kind of like a storm chaser as I went outside (with all of my neighbor RV'ers) and we did our own predictions as to where it was going (as the sirens were going off). We all seemed to agree that we had cheated death this time, so I went back inside to finish watching Pro Cycling on the TV and to finish my beer. It's all about priorities!

Wow, are you still reading? Congrats if you're still with me. That brings you up to this weekend...and we just got back from two days in Yellowstone National Park. I will save our next blog for that one. Needless to say, it was spectacular!!!

So there you have it. I am still trying to get a web album together of some of our favorite pics. So be on the lookout.

~E~

Missoula

Last weekend we drove back to our "hometown" of Missoula, Montana. It has been 6 months since we last touched down in the land of The University of Montana, El Cazador, the Kettle House and some of our best friends. Just let me tell you that it felt good to have been home!

We headed from Billings to Zootown last Friday night, under a beautiful Big Sky.

The weekend started out with breakfast at the Hob Nob with our friend Kay, but not without some strong coffee at Bernice's Bakery. Yum!


The rest of our day was split, with Susan and Kay meeting up with the Hales at the Farmer's Market while my best fishing buddy, Morgan, and I went fishing up at Rock Creek.

Dinner was fun at El Cazador with brother Tom, crazy Nadia, Kay, Terry, Susan and myself. The fajitas were sizzlin' and the wine margaritas were flowin'.


Morning was all about the hot coffee and tea with Nadia, great breakfasts and picturesque walks with the dogs up Pattee Canyon.


Sunday I went on the group bike ride with the NRO ladies and gents. Thanks for an awesome 50 miles around the valley with a finishing climb up Pattee Canyon Dr.

Sunday night was a fantastic BBQ with Kay, Terry, Tom, Nadia, Susan and me. We had good beer, wine and conversation. Our first outdoor soiree was quite a success!

Back in the Big Sky

It sure feels good to be back home. Despite all of our travels, Montana is still number one in our hearts.

We took off from the Palm Desert on Friday, April 2nd and headed North. We took the quiet roads through the Mojave desert and made our way up to Mesquite, NV by midnight. Saturday morning was a beautiful drive up I-15 through Utah and into Idaho. That is when it started to get cold. The wind blew 30 mph that night and with temps in the 20's, the windchill was likely in the single digits. Needless to say...we were cold. Seems the California sun has made us a little soft. But boy was it sure nice to be warm ALL winter.

The winds died down on Easter Sunday and we had an incredible drive. We both took in the beauty of Montana as we crossed the snowy Continental Divide. Then just after we crested the pass, a huge gray wolf came down off the ridge, right off of the highway. The rest of our drive was smooth sailing. Short stops at a park in Twin Bridges and off of the highway in Livingston gave the dogs a much needed stretch, then it was on to Billings.

We've only been to Billings a couple of times, so we know very little about Montana's largest city. At a hundred thousand people, Billings makes Missoula seem like a small town. Good for us, the holiday traffic was light enough for me to navigate Big Bertha to a car/truck wash to spiffy up before arriving to our new home.


Work came bright and early Monday morning and my first week as an Outpatient PT for the Billings Clinic was okay. I think that this is going to be a great place for us!


Looks like we made it. And just in time for spring!

My father-in-law, Harold, made the drive out from Arizona to finally check out the RV and to see us before we hit the road again. He has just been dying to see it, and any excuse to come over to Palm Springs was good enough for him.

So we had an action-packed weekend in store for him and his short time with us.
We began with a trip up the Palm Springs Aerial Tram from the desert floor
to over 8000' elevation.
It was wild to traverse up the steep mountain side, leaving the desert behind and land in a winter wonderland of HUGE ponderosa pines and lots of snow.
It was a hot, eighty-plus degrees down below and a cool 50 degrees on top.
We spent some time cooling down and checking it all out before heading down.

Saturday night was a night out on the town. We had drinks at a nice Bistro
before heading to the movies.

See, we are just around the corner from the IMAX Theater.
So we gave the big screen 3-D images a go.
Alice in Wonderland was a blast... and the 3-D glasses were quite the fashion statement.

Sunday morning was AWESOME.
Harold met us at the RV Park and we headed to Sherman's NY Deli for an early breakfast.
We got some seriously good food, as Sherman's only knows how to do.
Then it was off to the Country Club for a round of golf.

It was great fun to finally play with my father-in-law, the consummate golfer.
We played as a foresome with two brothers from Ohio.
We each shot Par once or twice, I shot eleven for a hole and we laughed and had a good time.

With the day half gone and hunger setting in, we headed to Mama's Soul Food, or as Harold called it, "home cookin'."
It was all about barbeque ribs, collard greens, fried okra and potato salad. YUM!

Harold left Sunday afternoon with a full belly and, hopefully, the memory of a great weekend.
Thanks, Harold for coming out to see us!

Our Quest

Yes, one of the many perks of the job (traveling) is that we get to go to all these cool places and try out the local eats. So this past Saturday, Susan and I hopped on our bikes and headed into downtown Palm Springs to cruise Palm Canyon Drive and get some lunch.

It was a beautiful day and was heating up quickly. This weekend got up to the mid 80's with lots of sun, and by the time we got to P.S. we were hungry and thirsty. So after passing by Maraca's and checking out their margaritas, our selection had been made.

We had a great lunch with two, bomber margaritas (one each.) Just enough to make us a little tipsy for our cruise back home. Then it was out to the pool for a little dip and sun bath...Ahh.

I know, life is hard. But somebody has to do it.

A Walk in the Desert

This weekend, Susan, the dogs and I headed for the Anza-Borrego desert wilderness to hike and explore. The wildflowers were expected to be blooming and with only a few weeks left here, we jumped on the opportunity. Anza-Borrego is one of the largest state parks in California and offers intrepid explorers like us a wonderful, panorama in the desert.

Growing up in the desert, I have always held the desert high on my list of favorite places to be. "The desert?" one may say, "How could anyone like its barren, desolate landscape?" Well let me be the first to tell you that the desert is as alive as any other wilderness. The diversity of flora and fauna is incredible. You just need to have the fortitude to go out there and find it. And now (winter) is one of the best times to do this. The sun isn't as oppressive and this alone makes the desert tolerable. The desert comes alive in the early spring as winter rains give the wildflowers the energy they need to sprout and to bloom.


Saturday was cool and cloudy, even stormy at times. We drove down past the Salton Sea where we turned left into the Santa Rosa mountains, and into the state park. We drove past groves of Ocotillo with their red blossoms. We made our way to Borrego Springs and stopped at the visitor's center. The center is a "must see" for anyone traveling to the area. It is an interactive and interpretive center and makes for a good base camp for planning a hike or two.



We took off from there and headed over Yaqui Pass to hike Plum Canyon. Plumb Canyon is fairly steep and just loaded with Cholla cacti. We had to keep the pups on their leashes and even then, all of us got pricked. Ouch! But it was SO worth it, because getting off the roadway took us to another world, that is the desert. We saw blooming barrel cacti, yucca and ocotillo.

Then we made our way to mine wash to an Indian village site. After our sack lunch of avocado and cheddar cheese sandwiches, we explored the area that the Kumeyaay People made their seasonal camp. It was awesome to be walking in their village, seeing where they slept and ate.

We completed our loop by heading back to Borrego Springs and to the mouth of Coyote Canyon. This was the area of the fullest blooming of the wildflowers. We hiked into the desert field in search of the wide variety of flowers and were able to capture many of them on film. Susan and I had so much fun searching them out and got some great pictures. Be on the lookout over the next few days as we will get a web album together for everyone to see.

At the end of the day we had driven almost 200 miles and hiked a few more. Everyone was tired and hungry, but content after such a day's road trip. A beer, a glass of wine and a chewie later, we all settled in for a good night's sleep.