Finishing up in Pittsburgh and back to Yuma.

Friday April 12, 2013

Our last couple of days in Pittsburgh were spent with Krista and I visiting Jeff’s Gram on Wednesday morning and then a quick trip to a plant nursery for Krista and I on Thursday morning before we left. The local nurseries are scrambling to get everything out as it has been so cold and now it has warmed up in the last week.  We experienced a record high temperature for April as well as record low temperature while we were there for our weeks visit. 

I haven’t seen Gram since we were in Pittsburgh and that was six years ago.  She is now 91 and still sharp as a tack!  Living in her own home and although her body is giving her grief in many ways she is still managing on her own.  She has a son and daughter in law up the street (Karen and Bobby) and they help out as needed.  She is no longer driving and I have great respect for her decision.  Last year her shoulders started giving her problems and she felt that she wasn’t strong enough to drive any more.  She was worried that she might cause an accident and harm someone else, possibly a family and she didn’t want that to happen.  We should all be so responsible at that age.  Krista and I brought sandwiches for lunch and we had a nice chat and caught up on all Gram’s news while we ate.  A sweet, lovely lady and just a little bit of a thing.  She and I have Ava Kathryn’s name  in common because Gram (Kitty) is also a Katherine so Ava is named after us both.  It was great to see her and she was really happy to see me too.

 

 

                                                                                                          That’s Gram with Shane a couple of years ago and also Gram in her living room with her Grandchildren.  She loves them all! I forgot my camera so I didn’t get a current picture but she really hasn’t changed much. 

On Thursday our weeks visit was over and it was time to head back to Yuma.  I said goodbye to the kids when they were leaving for school on Thursday morning (Eric was still in bed) and by the afternoon it was time for Krista to take us to the airport.  It was a long day with a four hour flight to Phoenix with a three hour lay over and then a short one hour flight back to Yuma.  We arrived at the Yuma airport at 11:30pm Arizona time and got a cab from the airport to the RV park.  Unfortunately we were greeted by a huge pile of dust and dirt in the rig.  We’d been worried about the temperature getting too high while we were away and had left the windows and roof vents cracked.  BIG MISTAKE!  There was a 60mile an hour dust storm while we were away and the roof vents blew completely open and the rig was filthy.  Luckily we’d changed the roof vents to polycarbonate last spring while we were in Yuma or they would have blown off completely!  We shook off the comforter on the bed (covered in a sandy dust) and I washed out the toilet area so we could use it and then it was off to bed.  Next time we’ll leave everything closed and turn the A/C on low.  Lesson learned! 

Today (Friday) Eric and I got to amuse ourselves with vacuuming the rig from top to bottom.  Oh well….what else have we got to do.   We’ll spend a couple more days here in Yuma and head out on Monday morning after we get the axles realigned again at a local shop before we head north.  We had it done in Kelowna on the way south but the tires are wearing oddly and it needs to be done again.  We’ll head north as far as Quartzite, Arizona or we might make it to Laughlin, Nevada but that will  depend on how late we get out of Yuma.