Safely home, a perfect weekend

Dear Family and Friends,
Marilyn and I arrived back in Discovery Bay at about 7:05 this evening. Our arrival marked a perfect weekend with glorious weather, beautiful surroundings, a warm and memorable time with extended family and a send off birthday lunch today at my favorite place in Mt Shasta.
Words will not begin to convey the joy I experienced at seeing Suzie and getting to spend time with her this weekend. The support and loving arms that embrace her at Jerry and Donna's home is nothing short of spectacular. 4 sisters, every one a total character, every one outspoken and stubborn, everyone is funny, witty and totally committed to family.
We arrived Friday evening on schedule at 7 pm and enjoyed a great feast together. We hooked up electrical power which supplied the motorhome frig, lights, fans and even the TV. After spending a nice evening we settled in only to discover that nights get cool at 4,000 feet. We woke refreshed and ready for the new day. Donna and Cindy had created a special breakfast dish that was just incredible and we all sipped either coffee or mocha which was introduced to us all by Nan long ago. Jerry and I went for in inspiring walk in which my heart and lungs decided that neither were up to the altitude, the blood sugar dropped and I had to turn back. My brother who is an amazing 10 years older than me was not even breathing hard.
We all took naps from time to time and then talked and enjoyed the afternoon sun on the back deck, two dogs, one large and one tiny provide constant enjoyment as they perform for the guests and are just great friends to all. Jerry's dog Saddie is a long hair doxy with mostly black and limited brown hair. She is just beautiful and has huge eyes that follow your every movement. My Starr proved to be a very unfriendly intruder so spent many hours in the motorhome considering her ways, there is no evidence that the time outs helped her a bit. Lady and Starr enjoyed their early morning walks around the property with me each morning and then enjoyed their treats upon arrival back at the motorhome.
To my surprise when I just chanced turning on the TV it found a local outlet for 3ABN, a seventh-day adventist TV station. It along with several other stations were still broadcasting in analog and my TV received them just fine. It was fun to find the Sacramento Central SDA church featured. That is the church where Marilyn and Walt were the caretakers and were Nan and I first entered ministry so seeing it struck up a lot of memories for both of us.
The entire family accepted Marilyn like she had been a part of the family for ever. she commented over and over again on the way home about the depth of the friendship extended during her time there. There was general agreement that we would make yet another trip while Marilyn is here because we had such a good time.
I think we were able to average about 10 mpg for the trip and we traveled at 60 the entire time. We found it very warm as we descended into Redding this afternoon and could feel the heat outside and even some of it as it crept inside. We survived just fine though.
I wish you could know the quality of people Jerry and Donna are. They don't have a fake bone in their bodies, they are loving, caring, supportive creative people and I'm proud to claim them as my own.
Now we are back for a new week. I have a couple new orders to deal with and several to get written up. At another time I'll share some new insights I gained from reading the most recent issue of Time magazine about weight gain and exercise. Its not what you think at all.

So for now, good night to all, I'm thankful to a protecting God for a safe trip over the 600 miles between here and there.

love to all

Tim