Howdy,

Hope you are getting along OK. I’m doing alright, but things could certainly be better. Like, you could be next to me, talking to me so I wouldn’t have to wear my little fingers out communicating with you this way. Actually, my fingers heal up pretty quickly, so it’s not a burden at all.

Yesterday I relinquished control of your Equinox at Emmert for a $70+ oil change. Actually, it was a little less than that because we get a Military Discount. That’s pretty handy.

After the oil change was done, Tom took me to a back room in the service area, and told me about all the other things that needed to be done. Like front and rear brakes, air filters, windshipperwiper blades,brake fluid, etc… The add-ons raised the price for releasing the car came to a little over $1600! Imagine my shocked surprise. I may have grabbed my heart at this point, but they didn’t make any efforts to have me looked at by a doctor, so I must have only thought I grabbed my chest.

Since there were 3 of them, and only one of me, my only option for a response was, “sure, go ahead and do all of it.” So, they got busy ordering parts and telling me I’d have to walk home because they were keeping the car until the work was done, and the bill paid.

Sounds really bad, right? Well, it really wasn’t. The work they identified consisted of things that needed to be done, and I knew it. So, they did it. Max and i just got home from picking it up. He was happy to get your car back because he loves hanging his head out the passenger window, something he can’t do in the truck.

Speaking of the truck … while waiting for your car and was talking with one of the sales people, who’s name I should remember, but can’t, and told her it would be interesting to know how much they would give me for the truck. I figure I don’t really need a truck since I have no plans to be driving all over the place, visiting campgrounds we’ve talked about because I won’t be doing that alone. If the truck goes, so does the trailer. While I’m at it, let’s toss the RV in there, too. I won’t need any of those things. That is, of course, not true if you could find a way to meet me at a campground of your choice. That would be pretty awesome.

I’m going to let that thought process simmer down a bit and talk a little about the walk about Max and I did downtown today.

First, I took the truck to the Kozy for coffee this morning and had a nice visit with Jeff and Larry. I left Max at home. I brought him back after coffee for our walk about. It was either that or he was going to bite me without warning for no reason. So, as soon as I returned home, we got in the truck and headed for town.

Instead of driving to the end of the paved road, like I’ve been doing, I stopped just across from the court house square on 1st Street. Doing that gave us more walking space, and provided some new delights to smell as we moved about. As you know, he’s all about the smells.

We went down and circled around Gracie’s then back up around the square, and back up to 1st Street. On the way we stopped at Wiggle Butz for a visit, and to let them know we were happy they were back. The last time we saw them they were in the process of boxing everything up to move. Turns out they just moved one space to the left.

A little further down the street, toward the parked truck, an item in one of the gift stores, “Spilt Ink Gallery”, caught my eye and drew us in to visit.

I talked with the person in charge at the time, and discovered that most of the items in the store were made by local, Columbia County artists. We love stores like that, right? Everything I saw was way better than the vast majority of gift shops we’ve visited in our travels. As it turns out, the clerk in the store is one of the owner. Her name is Diane. I knew there had to be something special that drew me into the store. Diane and her daughter, and granddaughter own the store. The granddaughter is a gifted artist and her art takes up a large amount of wall space. I made up my mind right then that I was going to go on a saving spree so I could bring some of it home. You should go there and have a look. I’m sure you will agree with me on the quality.

I didn’t get a chance to look at everything because Max was getting antsy and wanted to move along. So, my next trip there I’ll be dog-less. Please do not tell him about this plan.

So, I bid Diane adieu, and we went on our way. It was a very pleasant moment for me and I’m already looking forward to a return visit.

Shortly after we got home, Tom called to report the work was done on your car. So I put Max in his walk about gear and away we went. As we crossed Highway 30 by ACE, he kept dodging to the left because the was a dog walker crossing the street in the other crosswalk and Max apparently thought it would be fun to go visit. While tugging him back into our crosswalk, over and over, all the way across the highway, I wondered how he survived for 2 years on his own without getting run over. It was kind of like when he tried to jump out the passenger window in Bisbee, AZ to get the cat that crossed in front of us. Remember that? I think you do, because you almost dislocated your shoulder when you grabbed for him. He’s a silly critter.

I’m stopping now. I love you dearly, and miss having you around. Tell everyone hello for me. Here’s the view from the court house down town. It was a beautiful day. Reminded me of beautiful you.

Me