We're Home

Sorry for the long time since a posting, but like many of you, we have been busy. Lets see, after the new year we kind of went into a relaxation mode. Bob and Judie Scranton, part of the Big House Gang (football friends) came down to Grand Isle for a month. As we sat around the campfire we kept calling Dick Shanewald and Crista Dorsey and told them what they were missing. Well, they came down for a week. We all had a great time.

Before we knew what was happening we were in mid February and only two weeks left until we were to fly back up to Anchorage. Our neighbor had a great expression for it, "You are getting to the small part of the funnel." Yep, things were going pretty fast. We had our friends Vern and Mary Voss help us move Danny's Fault on the 9 hour trip up the bayou. We spent the next day getting the boat ready for storage for the summer. She is now sitting down on the bayou, in 4 feet of water. She draws 4' 2". She will be happy settled in the mud for the summer. We then had a couple of days left to get the 5th wheel prepared for the summer. The truck and trailer and sitting in Andy and Sue's driveway. What great friends and hosts while we were in Grand Isle. We have a deal with them, when a hurricane comes, they take our truck and trailer north and live in it until they can get back home.

MARDI GRAS

What a blast! I won't tell you how Jude got the beads. Actually she claims that she threatened to flash them if she didn't get the beads. That is Rachel Galliano with her, Andy and Sue's daughter.

Actually Mardi Gras is not the complete drunken orgy that the press shows. Yes, that happens on Bourbon St, but there are many family parades in New Orleans and in all of the small communities.

Jude was part of the Hibiscus Girls and was in the Grand Isle parade. She is there on the left. I was in the truck and also got to throw beads. On Fat Tuesday we went up to Houma and to another parade. We all collected beads again. We came home with about 70 lbs of beads to throw next year.

The best part was being invited to people's homes in both New Orleans and Houma. That meant more great Cajun food.

ALASKA

We flew up to Anchorage last Monday night. The flight was rather uneventful, except for the drunk that was arrested on our flight in Seattle. In Seattle we did not have time to see Carrie and the kids. Oh, by the way, Carrie is pregnant again! This will make number five. Better her than me! We are very happy for her and Eric.

Today was the start of the Iditarod, the reason we came back home while there is still snow on the ground. Amanda, Julius, Jude and myself were down on 4th Ave by 6:30 in the morning. We help work crowd control and keep mushers and their handlers inside the snow fences and the general public outside the fences. I think there were more people inside the fences than outside. The race is 1150 miles long. The leading mushers travel about 100 miles per day at about 7-10 miles per hour. We would do about 50 per day at 6-7 miles per hour when we were on the boat headed south. That is one long distance!! There are 67 mushers this year with 16 dogs each. The dogs are not what you might think. The are only 50-60 lbs and are called Alaskan Sled Dogs. They are a mixture that have been bread by the kennels, mainly up here.

And last of the news, we have found our new home. On Friday we came up with a purchase agreement on a new house. It is a 3 bedroom ranch with a kitchen that opens up into the living room. All of about 1300 sq ft it sits on a 1.35 acre lot. Again I will live in a house without a garage, but there is a nice shed that is about 16x20. This will give us a wonderful kitchen, laundry, master bedroom, guest room, office, and a back yard that will be our view of the wandering moose. We are excited.

We are now getting close to the final part of the entire moving plan. On April 7 we will fly back to Detroit. While there we will buy a small camper trailer. After visiting with family and friends we will head back up to Bruce Mines, ONT. Once there we will pack up the remainder of our belongings and pack them into the back of a 26 foot U-Haul truck. The U-Haul will be towing a flatbed trailer with Jude's red car on it. My 2003 Silverado will be towing our camper. And we will begin to drive. However there is one last piece to all of this and that is our good friend Dan Webster. Dan is a sailing friend from Michigan who is the only person I know who has a more convoluted life than ours. He and Mary Spencer lived on their boat in Michigan for about 10 years (yes in the winter too). They sailed to the Gulf and then across the Atlantic in 2001. Their boat is currently in Turkey, they have a home in New Zealand, and are now living in a basement apartment in Lansing, Michigan where Mary had to go back to work to finish up her Michigan Teachers Retirement. Now, you think Jude and I are a little off.

Love Ya All

Rob