We made it to California and back without a hitch, we made it safely too. We talked about it on November 20th and left on the 24th for California. We stayed overnight in Greensburg, Kansas, Tucumcari, New Mexico, Gallup, New Mexico, and Kingman, Arizona. We became 
well educated in what “wheelchair accessible” meant. One of Marilyn’s showers resulted in flooding the bathroom floor because the drain was placed wrongly. We arrived safely in California on November 28. We were greeted that evening by a Redlands sunset. After the sun went down we had dinner with Randy and Lauren Briggs that evening.
The next day we were also able to enjoy an In-N-Out Burger with Eddie Lopez. Eddie was Glen’s assistant when Glen worked for the school district. It was great to see Eddie again.
Later that evening we had an Italian meal with Ken and Harriett Clark. On Thursday we had the chance to attend Lowell Linden’s Bible study. That gave us the opportunity to see many of the people that we had not seen previously. That afternoon we were able to visit Jean Nease. The next day we visited Pete and Nancy Botten followed by dinner with Maritri Garrett at the Thai House. On Saturday Marilyn had the joy of attending the Christmas Rose breakfast which enabled her to also see many of the folks she had not been able to greet at the church. She also found herself to be the proud owner of a poinsettia plant which I guess had been given to her because she was one of the honored guests. Glen did a wonderful job as he gave a quick explanation of how we decided to go to California and then he was allowed to pull the numbers for the raffle that took place after the program.
That Saturday evening we got to see the Lifehouse Theater production of “Scrooge.” I was good to see some of our friends from the theater.
We were able to attend the church service on Sunday, 3 December. Although Dr. Linden has retired, and things have changed around the church, we did have the opportunity to get to know Steven Jay Davis better and we appreciate how he welcomed us and invited other members of the church to greet us. He acknowledged us from the pulpit.
We drove another approximately 500 miles to see Mike and Mellyn and Christian. It had been nearly 4 years since we last saw Christian. We realized that everyone is growing older. Mellyn realized that her guest bathroom would not accommodate Marilyn’s wheelchair, so she quickly solved that problem by reserving a room for three nights at a nearby motel. We were very comfortable there.
Our first evening we were greeted by some wild turkeys.
We spent the days with Mellyn doing some Christmas shopping. We visited the new Fountains Mall and especially enjoyed the Bodin Restaurant and heartily recommend the grilled cheese sandwich that they offer.
On the trip home we were able to buy a small bear which had been carved out of a small section of the tree trunk. We placed him at an inset to the door way of our apartment. We think that we will like the bear for a long time.
Another new experience from our time on the road was seeing a MacDonald’s which had kiosks where the customer places their orders.
One thing we nearly missed while we were gone was a visit to our daughter in law by her parents Dennis and Di Jacobs. We managed to see them one evening for a meal at Cracker Barrel. The whole family got together, except Nate and Martha. The Jacobs left the next day for a visit with their other daughter.
Matt and Deb invited us to their house for Christmas dinner with their family. Here we are around the table.
LY, Glen and Marilyn Heavilin