Here I sit with a full stomach and satisfied mind. All the food was out of this world - turkey with all the trimmings, ham, pies of all kinds. I won't even talk about all the chips, cookies and other goodies. All of the women contributed to the bounty - unfortunately (or fortunately) all of us guys are male chauvinists and the ladies let us get away with it.

I ate more than my share and right now I'm regretting it a little bit ............. just a little bit, mind you.

Some of these people we see only on Thanksgiving and Christmas and we enjoyed catching up on everyones' lives. It appears we all weathered 2006 in pretty good shape and are looking forward to 2007. I thought I took a lot of photos, but it turned out that I only took 12 of them - here they are.

The holiday season is upon us. Linda and Donna are busy planning activities for Thanksgiving. We'll be gathering at Bob & Donna's with the regular group, Bob & Donna's local family, Linda's Dad, Us, Dan, and it looks like Jessica will be joining us. We'll have a traditional dinner and get updated on current events.

We're planning to sit out Christmas and take a little motor trip the week before Christmas - this way we'll keep out of the way of everyone else on Christmas vacation.

I put out a writeup of my September motorcycle trip to Montana. If you're interested, check it out. It takes me longer to write up my accounts than it does to actually make the trips. It's actually kind of fun to write this stuff up - it makes my memories of the trip more vivid and provides a nice way to to relive these trips in the future since I can't rely on my age-impaired memory any more.

Things continue to go well. Linda has even expressed an interest in joining me on a motorcycle trip. We'll start off with some shorter trips to see how she likes it. We've even talked about taking another long trip - this time north to Canada, east across Canada, and down into New England. We have a very busy 2007 already planned, so we're looking at Spring, 2008 for this trip.

In late January 2006 we're going on a two-week cruise to Hawaii with a short stop in Mexico.

Linda has found a web site called Elder Hostel that specializes in travel for seniors . They have some interesting tours and the prices are reasonable. She told me that she would like to take their tour, Island Hopping Adventure on Three Barrier Islands off Georgia. Coincidently, I was reading a magazine article that described a motorcycle trip from Atlanta to California by two-lane highways. The short version is that in May 2007, we'll meet up in Georgia - Linda will fly and I will ride my motorcycle - we'll take the tour together, and get home the way we came.

Linda and her friend Kathy have a trip to Scandinavia planned for September of 2007. There are several tours and they are in the process of finding the right one. I guess I'll just have to plan out another motorcycle ride when the time comes.

Not much to report since last time, even though we are both very busy pursuing our normal vices. Things are going well, and we continue to live happily ever after.

Les's 80th birthday party was a big success. Les's brother, Lurlen and his wife traveled here from Salt Lake City, two nephews and a niece made the trip from Portland, and many friends from the area showed up - 18 people in all. We ate dinner at Mimi's Restaurant in Folsom - the food and service were excellent. After dinner, we all traveled over to our house and we spent about 3 hours sharing memories and stories. It was a very interesting group of people - lots of experiences to share and many points of view. CLICK HERE for some photos.

Bob & Donna treated us to a taco dinner and a game of poker Friday night at their house. Good friends, those two.

Last Tuesday, Linda and I went on a motorcycle ride down historic Highway 49 to Angels Camp and had lunch - beautiful day; nice ride. On the way back we took the back roads. At one spot we found ourselves driving through somebody's yard - house on one side of the road, barn on the other, various machinery on either of the road and two corrals, one on each side of the road. The road had been getting narrower and in worse condition for some time. We had crossed a cattle guard and there was no fencing alongside the road - we were just in a field with a few cows. Then we came around a corner and found ourselves in this yard. I slowly followed what now looked like a drive way and figured we'd have to turn around. To my surprise, the driveway continued on past the house to an open gate - on the other side of the gate was a nice, pave road. We passed through the gate, onto the road, and continued our little journey.

We've been seeing more of Kyle lately. On Mondays and Wednesdays, we've been going to the dojo to work out. We're enjoying his company.

I'm still working on a journal for my motorcycle ride to Montana in late September. I never seem to have time to work on it. I always wonder how I ever found time for a job - there are so many things to do and so little time to do them.

This has been a pretty busy month for both Linda and me.

Linda has added a few more activities to her already full calendar - she joined a yoga class, started a 24-week bible study class, joined a gym. She ramped up her scrap booking - she took a couple of classes and gained many new ideas.

October 16 will be Les's 80th birthday. Linda is busy planning a dinner party Saturday evening at a local restaurant to celebrate it with his friends and family. RSVP responses indicate there will be a good turnout.

We celebrated Bob's 70th birthday with a little dinner and poker at our house. Les and Marti helped us celebrate and they added a new dimension to our game. We didn't take many photos - but here they are.

I planned and completed my "before the snow flies" trip to Montana - it was a good one! The weather was perfect, if a little chilly sometimes, I was able to cross of a couple of more "must see" roads off my list, and I got in a good visit with everyone in Montana. I was able to spend only a couple of hours with Ken & Sharon but we had time for plenty of good stories. I'm working on a trip journal which I plan to finish this week. Check out this view from the top of the Steens Mountains, elevation 9700 feet. Here's another view of the Steens Mountain area from a couple of miles down the road. I also saw some fantastic views from the Lolo Motorway in Idaho, a dirt road carved out in the 1930s along the original route of the legendary Lewis & Clark journey of exploration. I took many more photos which I'll include in my journal - for now, here's a sample.

Julie and Garry have recently purchased a pair of motorcycles and have been exploring the highways and byways of our area. We'd been planning to get together for a ride and Sunday we finally did it. We spent the afternoon cruising the back roads around Ione, Camanche Reservoir, Pardee Reservoir and Rancho Murieta. We spent most of the time riding, but we did manage to get in a few photos.

A reminder for those of you who live in Ravalli County: The election is coming up fast and I'm sure that Jay would welcome your support. MAKE SURE TO VOTE! Check out http://www.jayprintz4jp.com

The Sacramento Monarchs are one game away from their second WNBA championship - they have two wins to one in the best-of-five championship series. Linda has become quite a fan the past couple of years - she and a couple of friends attend about 10 home games a year. She attended the blowout at Arco Arena on Sunday, and has tickets for game 4 Wednesday. She's quite excited about the possibility of seeing the championship game.

I found time to go on another motorcycle trip. This time I took three days to check a couple more "must see" roads off my list.  I started off to explore CA Hwy 96 which follows the Klamath River from Hoopa to Yreka. I've been wondering about that road for over 40 years - ever since my first job assignment with Caltrans in Hoopa. In planning my route, I remembered Forest Rd #1, a road that I stumbled onto during my "Lost Coast" ride last fall. Forest Rd #1 runs north from Mad River, a little town on CA Hwy 36, to Berry Summit on CA Hwy 299 - right on my way to Hoopa. My first job assignment for Caltrans was flood damage repair from Berry Summit to Hoopa. Also, while remembering those days, I remembered a 40 mile dirt-road detour from Hoopa to Lord Ellis Summit about 10 miles west of Berry Summit and decided to include it in my route. To minimize my freeway driving, I also mapped out a route north of Williams using local roads to check out all the small towns west of the freeway. I couldn't find any way to avoid taking the freeway from home to Williams - about 80 miles. I had a great ride and took many photos - and even a little video. Click Here to read my little trip write up.

This BMW has sure fired up my happy feet (wheels?). I'm planning a trip to Montana in late September and on the way I plan to check out a few more "must see" rides. I have to get some new tires first - that's my first task tomorrow.

The Ratkovich family has quickly settled into El Dorado Hills. Kyle has finished a couple of weeks of school and seems to be doing well. He's already made a few friends and seems to be fitting in fine. He's also connected back up with his best friend from his early childhood. He seems happy to be back in California - all the ridiculous gun laws and Democrats notwithstanding.

Linda and I have celebrated another anniversary - this was number 23. We celebrated in our usual low-key fashion. We exchanged cards, some roses arrived at our doorstep, and we drove over to the coast to spend a few days sitting by the ocean. Some photos.  We spotted an interesting display on someone's property near Cleone, north of Fort Bragg. It is a tribute to the local troops currently defending our way of life in the Middle East. View. We also stopped under a cool bridge at Russian Gulch State Park that presented an opportunity to try another panoramic shot. Want to see it?

Linda has finally completed her trip journal for the Mediterranean Cruise she and Donna were on last October and November. She's included some photos and it makes for interesting reading. Read her Journal

Linda and I continue to keep busy with our normal pursuits. Linda and Donna have been attending weekly performances of local productions of Broadway plays at the Music Circus in Sacramento. So far they've seen Fiddler on the Roof, South Pacific, Aida, and The Music Man. Linda was sick for A Little Night Music, but Donna said it was very entertaining. These summer performances are an annual event in Sacramento and there are two remaining performances.

Linda also has been rooting on the local WNBA team, the Sacramento Monarchs. She has attended 10 games this summer and is looking forward to the first playoff game this Saturday.

I continue to explore the area on my BMW and Sunday I'm heading off for a 3-day tour of some country I haven't seen in North Central California. The two primary roads of interest to me are (1) Forest Road #1, a 60 mile Forest Service Road between Hwy 36 and Hwy 299. (2) Highway 96 which follows the Trinity and Klamath Rivers from Willow Creek to Yreka. My GPS software tells me that I'll be traveling just under 1000 miles on this trip.

My brother Ken was in Reno attending a reunion of Veterans of the 3rd  Battalion (Airborne), 506th Infantry (Currahees). Ken wasn't in this unit, but he worked closely with it during his tours in Viet Nam. I drove over one morning, had some lunch with him, and visited a little with some of his fellow warriors. We documented our get-together with a photo - unfortunately some of the banner seems to be missing.

Kyle, Debbie and Doug are pretty much settled into their new house just down the road a ways. We were invited over to a barbeque at their house Saturday evening and shared some good food and conversation with them, Debbie's mom, and some of Doug's family. Kyle started school today - he was a little apprehensive the other night - I hope he had a good day today.

Debbie and Doug have been successful in their house hunting. They've found a really nice house and will be moving in shortly. When Kyle comes back from Montana, he'll have a home again. Click Here for some photos from his visit in Montana.

I've finally finished my write up on my BMW ride to Colorado a couple of weeks ago. Lots of talking with a few photos - Check it out.

Today is the fourth anniversary of Wayne's death and also, coincidently, his 58th birthday. Linda and I went out the the cemetery to pay our respects.

Kyle spent the 4th of July holiday with his Grampa & Gramma Stew and Evelyn, Aunt Julie and Garry, and Austin - they went camping at Yosemite and spent the evening of the 4th at Lake Tahoe. A good time was had by all.

Paul shot down here for a brief visit. He dropped Brandon off in Grass Valley to visit with his people then he came down to the Sacramento area to visit with Dan and then us. Thursday, Dan treated Paul, Kyle, and me to a bicycle ride on some of the trails around Folsom Lake. Dan and Kyle shot out in front and waited for us old men to catch up from time to time. I can't speak for the rest of them, but I sure had a good time - I must say that I'm stiffening up a little as I type this - I better do a little more exercising. CLICK HERE for photos.

Paul left early yesterday afternoon - he planned to stop in the Eureka area to visit one of his old friends. He took Kyle with him so he can visit with family up there before school starts in August. Debbie is heading up to Mead to pack up the house and will bring Kyle back down here on the move back.

Linda and I both returned from our June trips - she to London and me to Colorado - about a week ago. I planned to have some kind of trip report ready to put out here, but I've been having computer problems again, and we're still sorting through photos. I seem to have some kind of computer curse - I've had more hard drive failures in the past couple of years than I saw at work in 10 years and we supported thousands of computers statewide. Anyway .............. it happened again the day after I returned home from Colorado. To top things off, a couple of days after I was back up and running, Windows had some kind of problem and I had to reformat the new hard drive again and start all over. Right now it's been running for 5 days and I'm holding my breath.

It's really been quite a pain, especially with Windows XP SP2. You have to install Windows XP, then all the device drivers, then download about 50 Windows upgrades, then download SP2, then download more patches, then setup the network, then recover my data from backup, then install my application software. To make matters worse, some of my software has to be activated over the Internet and two packages couldn't be activated because I had exceeded the number of installations allowed - Easily fixed with a couple of phone calls, but a pain in the butt anyway. Next time (I hope never) it will be a little easier since I was able to put together a Windows XP SP2 CD that will enable me to install Windows XP once which will include all upgrades and patches thru SP2 anyway.

Kyle, Debbie and Doug have relocated. Doug has landed a job driving truck with ACE Hardware. They are currently trying to get a renter for their place in Mead so they can begin looking for a place here. In the meantime they are basing their operation out of their trailer parked at a friends' house in Georgetown. Kyle has been staying with Julie and for the past 3 or 4 days with us.

We visited Hamilton May 5,6 & 7 and found everyone to be in good health and spirits. Not much news to report - we just had some pleasant conversations and shared a few meals. We took the long way home, twice as may miles and twice as many days as usual. We had the GPS plot a route that avoided major highways and were treated to some new views of the country. As usual, we took a few photos. This time I'm showing them with a web page I put together using some new tools I've recently acquired. CLICK HERE to see how it turned out.

Linda and I are both busy planning for our trips in June - she to London and me to eastern Utah and western Colorado. We're both getting a little anxious. Linda worries about the arrangements she's made and wonders how everything is going to come together. I always get worried before heading out alone on my motorcycle - I seem to dwell on all the things that could go wrong and there sure seems to be plenty to think about. I know, however, that as soon as I hit the road, all these doubts will leave my mind and I'll wonder what I could have been thinking. I'm sure Linda experiences something similar.

In the meantime, Linda is enjoying her volunteer work with the county senior nutrition program. She's also making some new friends and has joined a bunco group and plays canasta every Thursday evening. She's also active in the local church. As I'm sitting here typing this in, she's at a Sacramento Monarch's basketball game with another group of her friends. She's a very busy lady.

My interests are narrower - martial arts, motorcycle riding and playing on the computer occupies all my time. I must say that I'm enjoying every minute.

It looks like Kyle, Debbie, & Doug are moving back to California. Doug has a good job lined up and they're making preparations to move in mid-June. It'll be good to have them in the area. I've missed being able to share life with Kyle - no matter how hard you try to stay in touch, it's hard to stay close when you don't share life's day-to-day, mundane, boring events.

Today marks the 8th anniversary of Kevin's death. It seems like yesterday. Linda and I bought a little bouquet of flowers and placed them on his (and Forrest's) grave today. It is a beautiful day with blue skies and temperatures around 80 - Kevin would have approved.

Debbie and Julie both sent me beautiful eCards to acknowledge this special day in all our lives and let me know that they also are thinking of Kevin today. These two gals are both very special to us.

CLICK HERE to see a video tribute to his life - BROADBAND ONLY - remember to see it "Full Screen", right click on the video.

What a difference a few weeks can make - we went from cold and rain every day to clear, sunny weather with temperatures in the 70s - at least for the past couple of days. They're predicting some minor activity Friday, but it looks like Spring may have sprung. On April 5, after 10 days of rain, we had one good day between storms. I spent the entire day exploring the country to our south on my BMW. To see my GREEN slideshow, CLICK HERE.

Julie responded well to her chemotherapy at UC Davis Medical Center and is now at home. The fundraiser spaghetti feed at Georgetown was a great success with hundreds and hundreds of people showing up. We enjoyed having Kyle around while he and his family were here lending their moral support.

Dad is home and apparently doing well. I've talked to him on the phone several times and he sounds like his old self. Linda and I are planning a short visit to Hamilton in early May. It will be good to see everyone.

Linda's Dad came over for Easter dinner and we had a good visit. He's looking better all the time to me. Linda's computer gave up the ghost a couple of weeks ago and Les was impressed with the new Dell that took its place. I was explaining to him how easy it is to order a computer by showing him the Dell web site and going through the process. When I was finished with all the options, I explained to Les that all I had to do to buy the computer at this point was to click the "ORDER" button. He said: "CLICK IT". I thought he was joking, but he wasn't so I clicked the button and his new computer was shipped yesterday.

Linda and I continue to live happily ever after. We're both feeling great, happily pursuing our interests, and looking forward to enjoying the good weather. Linda has been doing a little work with the El Dorado County Senior Nutrition Program - she's a substitute driver for the Meals on Wheels program and enjoys delivering meals to and visiting with our local people that can't get out of their houses. She's also helping in the kitchen, preparing and serving lunch at the local senior center. She says this is exactly what she had in mind earlier when she wanted to do volunteer work with the Red Cross. The Red Cross, however, was just like work - long hours, no backup, no flexibility, picky bosses, people who felt entitled to the help and offered little gratitude, ridiculous bureaucratic rules and red tape - basically a lot of bother with little feeling of accomplishment. With the Senior Nutrition Program, she works only a few hours a week, has a lot of flexibility, and all the people are happy for the help.

Linda's trip to London with Kathy, Barbara and Edie is taking shape. Everything is booked and cash has been deposited. She will be gone from June 12 to June 24. They will be on their own for a few days in London seeing the sights -- Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, The London Eye, Harrods, at least one theater play, etc., etc. -- then they will be off to Chester, England. They hope to attend the Gala Concert of the International Church Music Festival, however, it's looking like there may be some scheduling problems with the concert. They will then return to London to hook up with a Trafalgar tour which will take them to Stonehenge, Bath, Runnymeade, and Stratford. This will be Barbara's first trip abroad and she is really looking forward to it. With Linda and Kathy in charge as tour guides for a few days, it should be an interesting trip, to say the least.

I'm working on a motorcycle trip while she's gone. I'm not sure where I'll go, but I'm thinking about eastern Utah and western Colorado. I'm always reading about the spectacular scenery in both places and I'm looking forward to some first hand looks. I've had a little taste of each area, but I've never really taken a good look.

About two weeks ago, Julie Thomas, a close friend of both Linda and me, was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia or APL.  Julie is also Kyle's aunt and Debbie's sister.  As serious as this is, APL is the most treatable form of leukemia and the prognosis is good.  She is currently receiving treatment at UC Davis Medical Center.  When Julie was at Marshall Hospital in Placerville, where she was initially taken for emergency treatment, she required many pints of blood and she continues to need the support of family and friends.  If you can make it to the Placerville area and you would like to donate blood in her name, please call Stephanie Carlson at 530-409-5520 - state that you would like to donate blood for Julie Schrader-Thomas.  Please support Julie and her family any way you can - prayers are welcome.

Also, there will be a fund raiser dinner in Georgetown on April 8 to help Julie and Garry defray some of the costs of medical bills. I don't have the information at this time - if you're interested in attending, email me and I'll see you get the info.

Last Saturday morning, my Dad didn't arise at his normal time and when Paul checked in on him he was non responsive. He was rushed to the hospital where it was eventually determined that he had suffered an overdose of pain medication. How this happened is unknown.  The family suffered several days of anxiety while the cause was unknown. He is now at home and slowly recovering. He and Paul could also use all the support they can get - a phone call would be good - prayers are also welcome.

The weather around here has been amazing - not too nice, but spectacular.  The mountains have received tremendous amounts of snow in March - for example, Kirkwood ski resort is currently reporting 5" of new snow on up to 256" of base - that's over 20 feet! We've had rain, thunderstorms, hail, funnel clouds, and snow down to 1000 feet. Our house is at 800 feet elevation and we didn't see snow right at our doorstep, however, we could see a hill less than a mile away that was covered with 6" of snow.  We went out to breakfast that morning to a restaurant less than 7 miles from home - CLICK HERE to see a few photos we snapped along the way.

We're expecting to have Kyle with us from about April 1 to April 8.  Debbie, Doug and Kyle are coming down to give Julie and Garry a little moral support.

I've been busy the last week or so making a web site for my brother, Jay, who is running for Justice of the Peace this year - Check it out.

Linda had another birthday on Sunday.  She spends a lot of time and effort recognizing peoples' birthdays throughout the year and I'm always disappointed in how few people make the effort to remember hers. She never says anything, but I can't imagine that it doesn't bother her just a little. She'd be mortified if she knew I'm putting this out, but I think you guys need a hint.

If you're reading this, I'll bet you've received many personalized cards she's created to honor your birthdays, anniversaries, and other benchmark days. In addition to the cards, she creates a web page each month to share your special days with others who might stumble across our web site. Check out what she's done for this month. You can also reach her page by clicking on the "Special Days This Month" link from our main page.

My sister, Sandi retired this month.  The folks in Hamilton gathered to honor her life's achievements. Linda and I planned to travel up to join them, but mother nature had other plans with her cold and snow.

I've also spent some time making sure that my medical coverage isn't going to get screwed up as next month I become eligible for Medicare.  It's getting really hard to deny that I'm a senior citizen.

Linda's Dad just returned from Costa Rica several days ago.  He picked up some kind of bug while he was away and has spent the last few days recovering from it.  He's taking us out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate Linda's birthday and we're expecting his trip report.

I've been so busy and the weather so unpredictable that I haven't taken any motorcycle trips lately. I do get out for some interesting local rides and I'm always amazed at the roads I've never been on. The other day, I decided to see how far I had to go before I ran into snow. It didn't take long - just above Pollock Pines at a little over 4,000 ft elevation I chickened out. See Photo.

Last weekend I made a trip to Anderson to have Rick Mayer build a custom saddle for my BMW.  For those who don't know, Rick is a cousin of mine - his Dad, Bill Mayer, is my Mother's brother.  Bill Mayer is famous in the motorcycle world for his custom built motorcycle seats and Rick learned from the master.  Rick is gaining quite a reputation in his own right and is known in the industry as one of the premier seat builders in the country. See the Rick Mayer Cycle web site for more information.

I took a couple of photos - my new custom seat - Rick and me with new seat.

I rode up Friday afternoon, stayed overnight in Anderson, and headed for Rick's place first thing in the morning. Rick has a real nice place on 5 acres about 10 or 12 miles west of Anderson.  Over the years I've been really lax about keeping in touch with my relatives and I'd met Rick only once before at his Dad's funeral in 2000.  Rick is an interesting fellow - he was a critical care nurse before going full time into seat building 3 or 4 years ago.  I met his son, Derrick, who seems like a really nice young man.  He had his hands full while I was there - he was overseeing the birth of 10 purebred Newfoundland puppies. Rick's wife had been up all night helping mom with the puppy deliveries and she was sacked out all morning, so I didn't get to see her.  Their daughter was scheduled to take the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) that day and I didn't get to see her either. Rick is making a lot of improvements on his place, one of them being the construction of a new shop. 

He does a lot of motorcycle riding, as you might expect.  In 2005 he completed the Iron Butt Rally.  This is a real accomplishment - only 362 people have ever finished this event. Rick rode 11,000 miles in 11 days. Click here to read his account.

His 2003 BMW R1150RT was about 50 miles shy of 100,000 and he decided that he was going to escort me out of town and bring his camera along to document passing this milestone.  We went the long way back to Interstate 5, making about a 20 mile detour on some of the local country roads - I must say I enjoyed the ride.  We came back to civilization in Redding where we picked up Interstate 5 and headed south. About 30 miles later, Rick pulled over and we took pictures of his odometer. Check it out.  Here we parted ways - I continued on South and Rick headed back home.  We both talked about not letting another 25 years pass before we got together again.  He's going to have a party when he opens his new shop in March and he says he'll send us an invitation - I'm looking forward to it.

Oh! The seat works GREAT.  On the way home I rode 200 miles without taking my butt off the seat and I wasn't the least bit uncomfortable. The stock seat had me squirming after about 60 miles, standing up at every opportunity after about 80 miles and stopping about every 100 miles. My enjoyment of this BMW will only increase with this new seat.

Another year already. I'll spare you the philosophical meanderings about life passing too quickly - whoops! too late.

Kyle spent most of the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve with us. We didn't do too much exciting, but we had a good visit with him. Man .......... he's sure getting tall. Like all good grandparents we've kept track of his growth for some time now. We had a measuring wall at our place at Falcon Haven. When we moved, I transferred all the measurements to a stick. We used the stick until June of 2005 when his height of 6' -1/2" exceeded the length of the stick - I then transferred his measurements from the stick back onto a wall in the garage. This time when we measured his height it was just a tad short of 6' 2" - he's now a full inch taller than me. We did take a couple of pictures while he was here. We went to have a look at Nimbus Dam which was dumping a lot of water into the American River because of the heavy rains in the area - click here to see the photos.

We spent a real quiet New Year's Eve together, Linda, Kyle and myself. There were a lot of plans that went awry. For 25 years or so, we've celebrated New Year's Eve with our friends Bob & Donna - we alternatively meet at each other's homes, eat dinner, play some cards, and toast the new year with sparkling cider. This year, Donna was sick and they couldn't make it. Kyle's Aunt Julie called to invite Kyle to go with them to a New Year's Eve party, but we were out and about and by the time Kyle received the message and called back, Julie and Garry were already gone. So, the three of us hung out until midnight and toasted the new year with sparkling cider.

Linda has finally shaken whatever evil illness she had. From the onset of the first symptoms this thing hung on for nearly two full months. Actually, I'm quite relieved - I was beginning to think there was something serious going on, even though she and the doctor assured me there wasn't.

Linda has made plans with her friends Kathy and Barbara to visit London in June. They've been planning this trip since last summer and they've located a package that suits their wishes. They will be on their own for a few days in London seeing the sights -- Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, The London Eye, Harrods, at least one theater play, etc., etc. -- then they will be off to Chester, England, to attend the Gala Concert of the International Church Music Festival. They are very much looking forward to that. After the concert, they will return to London to hook up with a Trafalgar tour which will take them to Stonehenge, Bath, Runnymeade, and Stratford. This will be Barbara's first trip abroad and she is really looking forward to it. With Linda and Kathy in charge as tour guides for a few days, it should be an interesting trip, to say the least.

I'm continuing my exploration of the area by BMW. I've scheduled a trip to Anderson on February 4 to have Rick Mayer build me a custom seat. He's continuing in his Dad's footsteps. Linda and I spent nearly 20 years riding on a Bill Mayer "Day-Long-Saddle" on our Gold Wing and I can't tell you how much difference it made in our motorcycle riding enjoyment. The BMW has extended my range quite a bit and the stock seat gets pretty uncomfortable after a couple of hours.

I always take my camera with me even though I don't always remember to actually take some pictures. Here are a few photos from some of of my latest rides.

Mosquito Ridge Road - This road runs from Foresthill to French Meadow Reservoir and Hell Hole Reservoir.
Rancho Seco - Rancho Seco is a decommissioned nuclear power plant sitting in the rolling countryside southeast of Sacramento.
Sacramento River - I took the country roads to Galt, then continued on to Walnut Grove and down the Sacramento River levee road to Rio Vista. I wanted to take a look after our heavy rains in weeks past - actually things looked pretty good.
New Melones Reservoir - I let the GPS select back roads to New Melones Reservoir, about 75 miles down Highway 49 and about 100 miles by back road.

Another Christmas is past. This was a quiet one - on Christmas Eve, a short visit to Bob & Donna's to watch the kids open presents and on Christmas day, Linda's Dad treated us to dinner. I also called Hamilton to find everyone in good health and spirits.

Believe it or not, Linda is still not back to 100%. Although her condition is much improved, a nagging cough persists. She is sure tired of dealing with it.

We're anticipating a visit from Kyle this week. He and his parents left home on Christmas Day to squeeze in a short visit between now and the New Year. We're looking forward to spending some time with him.

After a slow start, the rains have arrived and it's turning into a wet year. We've already had some local flooding and they're dumping a lot of water into the rivers to lower the reservoirs in anticipation of more runoff. The temperatures have been very warm and instead of snow in the mountains, we have water. The local weather forecast is for rain every other day for the next week or so.

Not much else to report. All this rain is cutting into my motorcycle riding and I'm getting itchy wheels.

Linda and Donna have been home for a couple of weeks now (since November 12) but things are still not back to normal. Linda picked up some kind of bug on her trip and the second day she was home she started showing cold symptoms. She also suffered from jet lag and it took until Thanksgiving before she started to feel near normal. The day after Thanksgiving, she reported having a sore throat and this quickly moved into a fever and the whole nine yards. She wound up with bronchitis - today is her second day on antibiotics and she is still coughing and hacking. She's still not sure she's feeling better, although I can see in her eyes that SHE IS GETTING BETTER.

I know she must really feel tough. We were scheduled to leave Saturday for 10 days in Mazatlan and she canceled the trip.

Their Mediterranean trip was a spectacular success. Linda and Donna both said that it was the trip of a lifetime - both of them have wanted to see this part of the world for a long time. They took literally a couple of thousand photos and Linda kept a journal. When she feels up to it, she and Donna are going to go through the photos and we're going to work up some slide shows to share with everyone. Linda is also planning to put together her trip journal and I'll post it out there somewhere.

Linda, Donna, Lorraine, and Marti put together a Thanksgiving feed which was hosted by Bob & Donna. We had lots of great food and conversation. As usual, some of us ate waaaaaay too much.

Paul made a blitzkrieg visit - in one day and off the next - to pick up Rodney and head back to Hamilton.

I'm continuing to play with my new motorcycle - trying it out under different conditions, adding a few accessories, and having a ball. Unfortunately, it looks like the winter storm door is open and we're expecting rain and stormy weather for the rest of the week.

Linda and Donna have been gone for two weeks now - it seems more like two years. I don't mind admitting that things are getting kind of lonesome around here. I'm even beginning to appreciate having a cat around the house. I'm surprised that Pepper is actually pretty good company.

Email on the ship must not be quite up to expectations. Linda took the laptop and we had the idea that each room had some kind of network connection that would allow her to get in the Internet any time she wanted. I was even expecting to get a photo or two. Although she hasn't explained how it actually works, I get the idea that there is a community PC somewhere on the ship and that they have to pay for using it. She has sent four or five emails - all of them pretty short - no photos. She sounds like she and Donna are really enjoying their cruise. Linda is calling it a "once in a lifetime" adventure. I can't wait to see her photos and hear her stories. They should be arriving back home Sunday evening.

I had planned to go on a long motorcycle trip, but things didn't work out that way. The weather wasn't cooperating the first week and I wasn't looking forward to suffering in the rain. I did go out on a few day trips in between the days it was supposed to rain. When I'd come home in the evening, Pepper was so starved for company that I felt guilty about being gone all day. The idea of leaving her alone with the neighbor lady checking in every couple of days didn't sit too well. So .... instead of going on a long trip, I just went on a bunch of day trips.

Without Linda here to offer some common sense, I decided to upgrade motorcycles. As much as I loved the KLR 650, there were some shortcomings that I was finding hard to live with. In 2004, BMW came out with a new Adventure Motorcycle that got rave reviews and seemed to fit my needs to a "T". The only problem is that it costs as much as three KLRs. Well ........... One day I decided to go check 'em out and they made me take a test ride. That was it - I was in love. Of course, without Linda to hold me back, I came back a couple of days later and drove home with a new motorcycle. It is a 2005 BMW R1200GS. To see a couple of photos I shot on my first ride, CLICK HERE. For those who might be interested in reading about this motorcycle CLICK HERE.

I'm expecting Paul to arrive sometime late Friday or early Saturday. Rodney has decided he's going to move up to Montana and Paul's coming down to pick him up. It'll be good to see him - we get very few visitors from up there.

Linda and Donna will be leaving Thursday for an 18 day Mediterranean cruise. They will take a bus from Sacramento to San Francisco, fly to Paris then on to Barcelona, rest there for a day, then board a cruise ship which will stop at Monte Carlo, France - Livorno, Italy - Rome, Italy - Mykonos, Greece - Kusadasi, Turkey - Athens, Greece - Santorini, Greece - Naples, Italy - and back to Barcelona, Paris and home. One of Linda's good friends, Marty is a travel agent and had put together this tour. One of the families was involved in a serious car accident and had to cancel out at the last minute. Linda and Donna have been talking about such a trip for years and Marty made them a deal they couldn't refuse.

Coincidentally, I'm planning an 18-day motorcycle trip around Northern and Central California at about the same time.

Linda and I have been out and about some recently - we took a drive into the Sierra to view some of the autumn colors and a few days later we drove over to the coast through Red Bluff, via Highway 36 to the Eureka area where we spent the night. We then drove South through the Redwoods to Fort Bragg where we spent another night, then back home past Clear Lake on Highway 20 - a very pleasant 3 days. Of course we took some photos which those of you with a good broadband connection can view by clicking on the following links:  
                  Sierra Color            Drive to Fortuna

Linda's Dad is really holding up well.  He's decided that he's going to get out and see some more of the world while he has a chance.  Last Sunday, he went on a bus tour to/of San Francisco and he recently signed up for an 8-day tour of Costa Rico in February.  He and Ina were there briefly some years ago on a cruise that took them through the Panama Canal and he's always wanted to see more of the country. He came over for dinner last week to celebrate his 79th birthday and he really looks and sounds good.

I just noticed in my last post that I said "Les and Linda are doing their best to move on ............." - but I didn't expect them to be moving on right out of the country.

Ina's ashes were laid to rest alongside Wayne, Kevin and Forrest on September 16.  She had a nice funeral and many of her old friends showed up and told nice stories about her.  Les and Linda are doing their best to move on with their lives and seem to be holding up pretty well - Life goes on ...............

We finally got around to celebrating Bob's birthday September 30 - we had a good visit, ate a great home-cooked meal, and wiped 'em out in poker.

I continue to play with my GPS, motorcycles, computers and karate. Linda is keeping busy trying out new recipes and trying to keep up with her email correspondents.  She also continues to work on her "Navy" rug that has been in the works for a number of years.  She reports that it takes one hour to complete one row of the rug -- at that rate, she expects it to be finished by 2010 or so.

We've been catching quite a few of the recent crop of movies.  We try to be a little picky by reading reviews to weed out the losers - even at that we see far more bad movies than good. We've given up on going in the evening - people are so rude with their talking and cell phones, it's hard to enjoy the movie.  Yesterday, we went to the 12:10 PM showing of Serenity (ho-hum) and there was only one other person other than Linda and me.  We were wondering if they would show the feature to an empty house.

Last week I went on a five-day motorcycle ride to California's Lost Coast area North of Fort Bragg.  I'd been planning this trip for over a month - all went well.  I wrote up a trip journal and put together a couple of slide shows. Click Here to see the journal, Click Here to see the ProShow Gold slide show, or if you don't have a broadband connection, Click Here to see a regular slideshow.

I didn't get a chance to see all I wanted of the North Coast on my motorcycle trip.  I talked it over with Linda and we're going to take a little automobile trip up there next week.  

Linda's Mom, Ina Elvira Knight, passed away Tuesday morning, September 6, finally succumbing to the stroke she suffered 11 years ago. Her funeral will be held on Monday, September 12, 2005 at 1:00 p.m. at the Green Valley Mortuary in Cameron Park. Ina's Obituary

Another summer has passed. Kyle headed home Monday to begin his high school days. I hope he shows more sense than I did during my high school days. On Kyle's last weekend here we took a 9-mile bicycle ride around Jenkinson Reservoir near Pollock Pines. The south side of the lake was a little more technical than I was prepared for, but all went well. During the rougher parts, I was more concerned with riding than taking photos - too bad. Oh well .... Click Here to see those I took.

We are looking forward to a visit from Paul and Brandon next week - they plan to leave Hamilton on Labor day in their motorhome.

About the only news from here is bad - Linda's Mom has been in declining health the past couple of years and it looks like she's nearing the end of her journey. Hospice was called in today and they will be managing her care from now on. This will simplify things greatly for Linda, Les and Marti - they will no longer have to work through the maze of 911 calls, doctors, hospitals, etc. to try to get the proper help when an emergency arises. Also all the questions about nursing homes and such are now answered - she'll remain at home and hospice will provide the necessary equipment and advice.

Kevin would have been 42 years old today. As I sat here at the computer, looking at old photos and thinking of him, I decided to put together a few photos from his life and make a slideshow. If you'd like to share some memories with me, CLICK HERE. After it gets started, right-click and select FULL SCREEN.

It looks like Montana was the place to be for us the past couple of weeks. On July 19, Linda flew up to Great Falls to spend a few days visiting with her friends Nada and Dave. She reports having a great visit. CLICK HERE to see a few photos from her trip. On July 27, Kyle and I headed, by car, to Hamilton to spend a few days with the folks up there - Linda sent us off on our own since she was traveled out and booked up for the week with prior commitments. Everyone in Hamilton seems to be doing pretty good - Ken and Sharon continue to make great progress on their new house. I didn't take very many photos this time - CLICK HERE to see the only one of general interest.

One thing I learned was that I like it much better when Linda is with me. While she was in Great Falls, Kyle was staying with his Aunt Julie and this old house sure seemed empty. Even though I had plenty of company on my trip, it seemed very strange not to have her by my side.

Kyle is heading out for San Diego on August 6 to spend 10 days visiting with his cousin Austin. After that, he's got about 2 more weeks before he has to start his high school career.

Other than travels, things have been fairly quiet around here. It continues to be HOT! I took another exploration trip in the Sierras - Forest Road #71 and Silver Springs Road. For those with a good broadband connection: CLICK HERE.

We've just returned from a car trip to Salt Lake City to attend a family reunion of Linda's people. Linda was able to see aunts, uncles, and cousins she hadn't seen since she left the area when she was 10 years old. We used our GPS to locate her old neighborhood and we drove by her childhood home. As we drove down the street she pointed out her grandparent's house and a few houses further she pointed out a house and said: "That house is where my Mom's Aunt Gert" lived - she may still be living there." There was a women standing in an enclosed porch and she watched us as we slowly drove by. Linda exclaimed: "That looks like her - we should stop." Dropping in on people is completely out of character for both of us, but this time we flipped a u-turn and went back. We had a great visit with her great aunt - she seemed to be in great health and her mind was 100%. Aunt Gert said her daughter lived just down the street and we should drop in on them, too. We did and had another good visit. Aunt Gert also told us where Linda's maternal grand parents were buried and we drove up to the cemetery and put some flowers on their graves.

We're expecting Kyle to arrive tomorrow sometime. They arrived in the area while we were in Salt Lake City and went camping over the Fourth of July weekend so we haven't seen them yet. We're looking forward to seeing them.

We're planning a very relaxed 4th - we slept in this morning and ate a leisurely breakfast as we read the paper. We then spent some time checking our email. In a few minutes we'll wander over to the pool and catch some rays - and maybe a little nap. This evening we have a couple of rented movies and plan to spend a quiet evening together - all the hoopla with fireworks and noisy celebrations seems like too much work.

I've been using my GPS mapping software and some Forest Service maps to line up some motorcycle rides. I'm having as much fun planning these rides as I have on the rides themselves. The other day I rode my first of these planned rides - Sand Ridge Road and Slug Gulch Road which run through the countryside North and East of Plymouth. Great Ride - Click here to see some photos.

For those of you with a broadband connection, I've also created a little more fancy view with some software called ProShow. If you don't have the plug-in, you'll have to first download some software - it goes pretty fast. For the best view, right-click on the image for a full screen view. When you're ready - Click here.

Our Mexican Adventure Motorcycle Tour went off without a hitch and it was GREAT. We went with a great group of people, the tour guide was excellent, the accommodations were first rate, the food was consistently interesting and delicious, the weather was fantastic, and Mexico exceeded all our expectations - the people were friendly, the scenery and landscapes were spectacular, and the roads .............. they must have been designed by a motorcyclist. Check out my "quick and dirty" trip journal - a more detailed version is in production.

On May 27, I received my 2nd Degree Black Belt at a very nice ceremony at our dojo. It was attended by about 75 friends and family of people who were receiving belts. Our friends Bob, Donna, and their grandson Anthony were able to attend. It means a lot to me that they care enough to show up.

We're planning a trip to Salt Lake City towards the end of June to attend a Knight family reunion. Linda is looking forward to seeing relatives she hasn't seen in nearly 40 years ... and some she's never seen.

We're looking forward to seeing Kyle - he, Debbie, and Doug should be arriving in a couple of weeks. Doug will be working locally with his old employer and they will be staying in Orangevale with Doug's parents until late August. We expect to spend a lot of time with Kyle. We have bought a new bed and are fixing up a new guest bedroom so he'll be more comfortable than in our current arrangement.

Springtime? Maybe it is here after all. We've had a week or so of ideal weather and more is in the forecast - but winter does seem longer every year.

Our Mexican Adventure Motorcycle Tour is coming up fast and we're ready to go. We'll leave May 3 and expect to return around May 20. An old friend from my days in Los Angeles retired to the good life in Boulder City, NV, and we plan to drop in on them on the way home. I haven't seen him for over 15 years.

Kyle, Debbie, and Doug were down visiting April 3 - 11. They had some time off school/work so they came down to celebrate Debbie's birthday with friends and family in the area. Everyone seems to be doing very well. Kyle continues to grow and mature, both physically and mentally. We took a few photos - not enough, but a few anyway.

Linda and I spent a few days hanging around in Monterey and the coast south of there. Not much to say about it other than the weather was great, the ocean was spectacular as usual, and we both really enjoyed ourselves. We took a lot of photos.

I finished up my 2nd degree black belt testing on March 31 and will be receiving my belt at a ceremony on May 27. When I started martial arts training about 10 years ago, it never occurred to me that I would one day be a black belt, let alone a 2nd degree black belt.

Rain, Rain, Go Away ..................... it looks like tomorrow may offer a break - at least until Sunday.  Our stretch of good weather several weeks ago was way too short.

Not much new around here ......... Linda, Dad, Kyle and I are all a year older.

I talked to Kyle the other day - he called to share his report card with us.  He is really doing well - by my calculations, he has a better than 3.0 grade point average.  Also, his citizenship, effort, and cooperation type grades are consistently excellent.  It's obvious that he takes after me.

Today, I received my last after-market parts for my KLR 650 and tomorrow I'll put them on.  My motorcycle will then be ready for our May Mexican Adventure Tour.  I'll continue my off-road practice at Prairie City Off-Road Vehicle park to make sure I'm as ready as my motorcycle. GREAT FUN!!!  I'm planning several "dirt-road" trips on California's North Coast and a couple more "dirt-road" trips in Oregon.  I've also been reading of some great Springtime "Death Valley" rides - I'll save those for 2006.

The past couple of months I've intensified my martial arts training to get ready for the Bunkai (Application) portion of the second-degree black belt (Nidan) examination.  This is the third and final portion of the Nidan testing process - I've been studying and testing for this belt for nearly a year.  The final testing day is March 31 - Linda and I will be spending the next 3 or 4 days after that in Monterey to wind down a little.

Kyle, Debbie and Doug are planning a visit in early April - it'll be good to see them.

JAY IS HOME!

JAY IS ON HIS WAY HOME! As I type this he should be in Baghdad checking his equipment and beginning the checkout process. He is due to arrive home March 10 - Have a safe trip home and God speed!

It's Linda's birthday today - you'll have to ask her how old she is. Next month it's my turn.

We're finally having a few dry days after about 10 days of wet weather. No bicycle, no motorcycle, no walks, just hiding from the rain - now that the weather has broken, I'm sitting around with a sore throat and cough and I'm still inside. More rain is expected Sunday - Man, I can't wait for summer - I'll never complain about the heat again.

Sacramento had a couple of tornadoes the other day that caused a fair amount of property damage, but thankfully, no serious injuries.

All is well in El Dorado Hills, Montana, and Washington as far as I can tell. Nothing to report.

The new year has started with a pretty routine month - not much happening here in California and my sources report that things are also going well in Montana and Washington.

Linda's Mom's condition seems to have stabilized; however, she seems much less able to deal with life's challenges. She remains at home but requires more and more help to get by.

Bob has made remarkable progress in his stroke recovery. The last time we saw him about 10 days ago, he was walking normally and was able to legibly write his name. Last week he and Donna traveled to Yuma for some kind of reunion.

Brandon reports that his condition continues to improve.

Linda and I continue to live happily ever after. In May we're planning a trip to Mexico. I'm going on a dual-purpose motorcycle tour of the Copper Canyon. Linda is planning to ride with me on the highway portions and will ride in the support vehicle when things get a little rougher. In the meantime I'm getting my KLR 650 outfitted and honing my off road skills at the local off-road motorcycle park and some local roads. If you're interested, check out the Rosen's Rides web page to see what we're planning. I'm actually kind of excited about it.

Linda is planning a trip to Europe in 2006 with one of her friends. They're checking out river cruises and so far the Danube looks most interesting.

The weather seems to be turning - lots of blue skies and sunshine the past few days with temperatures in the high 50s and low 60s. I've broken out my bicycle and walking shoes and have been spending some time each day enjoying the good weather.

I took my camera along on one of my motorcycle rides and one of my morning walks and put together a couple of slideshows with some new software I've been playing with. They can be viewed by clicking on the following link: http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewalbum.html?alb=100250   These are huge files so I'm not sure how they'll work if you don't have some kind of broadband connection - either DSL or Cable. You'll also be asked to download some "Presenter" software. When you are viewing a slideshow, you can view full screen by right-clicking on the picture and choosing "Full Screen".

Here's to a new year that will bring healing to several of our friends and family members who had some health problems in the last weeks of 2004.

Linda's Mom has been in and out of the hospital the past couple of weeks with internal bleeding that the doctors can't seem to find. She's been tested from one end to the other but the bleeding seems to stop once she's been hospitalized. They've given her blood transfusions both times, stabilized her, and sent her home. Right now she's at home.

Brandon contracted pneumonia and suffered heat exhaustion during a run in his 5th week of Marine Corps boot camp - just before Thanksgiving. He was a very sick young man - he was hospitalized for about 4 days then put into a recuperation unit. He was there for 4 weeks, but he wasn't able to recover fully enough to complete his training - the word is that it could take up to 8 months for him to fully recover. In the meantime, he was given a medical discharge and arrived home in Montana a few days before Christmas.

Bob Brown suffered a mild stroke a couple of days before Christmas. He was rushed to the ER by the fire department and hospitalized 4 or 5 days. He suffered paralysis on his right side. He was able to regain use of his right leg good enough to walk, however, his right arm is going to require therapy. He is now home.

We had a small gathering at Linda's parent's house for Christmas dinner. Ina was between hospital stays.

Kyle, Debbie, and Doug were down to celebrate the New Year. Kyle stayed with us for a few days and celebrated New Year's Eve with his Mom and Doug with friends in Georgetown. Linda and I celebrated at home with some sparkling cider.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the survivors in South Asia. Also a few prayers for our recovering family and friends couldn't hurt.