Los Algodones, Mexico

Los Americanos crossing the border into Dental Heaven...or Hell

Border Patrol...there's the American security on one side and Mexican security on the other. Guess who was nicer!?

Wasn't kidding...the only businesses 

Dental Detour to...MEXICO!

Forgot to mention, while visiting Kaitlin and Mike, my (Karen) bottom molar underneath my bridge started REALLY bothering me. SOOOOO, I found a dentist nearby and sure enough, I was informed I needed a root canal. :( And not only that, the other molar under the bridge had already had a root canal and that one was starting to decay. The dentist recommended rather then do the root canal on the one molar...that could just go bad a few years down the road, just have both both molars yanked and get implants down the road...to the tune of ...

$7 to $10,000 dollars!

NOT IN OUR BUDGET!!!  So I started doing some research online and discovered that many U.S. citizens and fair number of Canadians go across the border to Los Algodones, Mexico to get their dental work done at a third to half of the cost! Instead of going east to Colorado, we were on our way directly due south to Yuma, Arizona!

Drove through Las Vegas. I used to run a conference there when 

I was with Cygnus Business Media for five years. Definitely no

desire to stop. 

Stayed here in Yuma. We arrived on St. Patricks Day and I was really "Jonesan" for a corned beef and cabbage dinner. I figured it was a long shot of finding it in Arizona where most of the restaurants are Mexican, but I asked while we were checking in anyway. The woman laughed and said they were serving it in a half an hour for all the park residents and she was sure she could probably squeeze two more dinners in for us!!!! Nice trailer park with very friendly people (all except this one woman in the pool who told me that I was basically an idiot for supporting Bernie Sanders...The Donald was her guy. OMG. 

I thought I was on my way to check out the pool...Tank obviously had 

something else in mind.

Nothing like the luxury of a cool pool when it's 95 degrees!

Sunset in Yuma

The road to the dental nightmare! Land of 300 dental clinics, 

250 optometrists, multiple pharmacies and $3 haircuts all in 

a five block radius.

Salt Lake City

We arrived in Salt Lake City on Wednesday afternoon, after a 3-day jaunt from Portland.

Crazy-ass biking dude Mike Barklow!

We had leftover killer lasagna that night.  Mike was frantically getting packed and geared up for his upcoming 400-mile bike race, and left early Thursday morning.  Good luck, Mito!  Pictured below is their dog Kody, who went with Mike...
 

      Kait saved our Christmas presents till we got to SLC.

      This is my fave, a T-shirt bearing a photo taken at my 

      retirement party moments after my daughters had surprised me!!

While my daughter Kaitlin was at work on Thursday, Karen, Tank and I went for a hike on a nearby dog-friendly trail.  A sunny day in the 70s!

Came across a beautiful creek of numbing snow-melt! Not for Tankie...he laid directly in it!

Thursday after Kait got home from work we went out to eat at my favorite place, the Red Iguana!!

And of course we watched the Democratic
Town Hall Meeting held in Flint, MI. Feel the Bern!

And talk about coincidences... Kevin Kilkenny (Karen's Ex for those of you who don't know), and his partner Deborah...were in Salt Lake City vacationing so on Friday evening Karen and I met up with them at MacCool's Pub...a great place with superb fish and chips!

Since my girls were wee ones, a family tradition was pancakes on Sunday morning.  I was the chef for many years until the mantle passed to Jordin in her teen years...  but this morning, Kaitlin made delicious gluten-free pancakes and we enjoyed real maple syrup.  Yum!!

...and the leftovers are for me, aren't they?!

When were at my other daughter's place in October, we planted some bulbs...  Jordin sent us a photo today of the bulbs breaking out of the springtime earth!  Signs of the end of WINTER!

It's been great to hang out here at Mike and Kaitlin's home!  Love you guys!!

John Prine concert

This guy gets a separate post.  He's been my favorite performer for probably 30 years or more.  I love his sense of humor and his lyrics, wry observations on everyday life and the characters we encounter.

I have seen him in concert probably 10 times or more, once 3 times in 8 days (Madison, Eau Claire, and St. Paul)!  This concert had to be one of the very best!  The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in the Portland Center for the Performing Arts looked to be sold out!  The audience was totally attentive.  John has gone through a couple hard bouts of throat cancer, and no one knows when his last go-round is going to be...















He played for two hours straight!  He started out with his band, 3 backing musicians, then they took a break and he played 6 or 7 songs by himself on the guitar.  His vocals were rough, but strong.  Then his band came back out to finish the evening.

He told several stories during the evening, but my favorite moment was at the end of my favorite Prine song, Lake Marie.  His usual ending is the line, "Oh baby, we gotta go now!"  Then the band plays a riff behind his talking as the song fades away.  This time he said his line, then added, "And baby loves to cha cha!"  As the band continued playing, John turned away from the audience and shook his booty, doing a little cha cha step from side to side for about 45 seconds.  The place went wild!!

Thanks, John, for another great time!  Love you!!

For those of you who may not know John's work, I've included a few gems that you can find on YouTube.

Angel from Montgomery (duet with Bonnie Raitt)
Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (duet with his wife at the time)
Unwed Fathers
In Spite of Ourselves
Souvenirs (JP with Steve Goodman)
Hello In There
Please Don't Bury Me

Making our way to Portland

I won, Larry W.! But so has Jim...and we haven't kept track of who has won the most at Rumikub. Great way to pass the time in the evenings.

Then the next day we had lunch at the Local Ocean restaurant, a favorite from our west coast trip of three and a half years ago.  YUUUUUMMM!!!!

Very boisterous seals in Newport harbor!

That night we went to see a movie, Race, recounting the story of Jesse Owens winning 4 gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, making a mockery of Adolf Hitler's Aryan superiority.  The sad reality is that after returning, he was snubbed by President FDR and reduced to running barnstorming races against horses to make a living.

Land of the Free...  then we watched a movie entitled Sophie Scholl, the Final Days.  It told the story of a young German woman who was a part of the German WWII resistance group, the White Rose.  She, her brother and a close friend were convicted of treason for circulating leaflets calling for Hitler's ouster.  They were beheaded.  Some heavy stuff...  then listening to The Donald on the TV news...

There was a great dog park in Newport.  Tank made the visit 5 times in a day and a half!!  Tanks for the memories!!

I was born and raised in Iowa.  When I was 19 I traveled to the west coast for the first time...  I was bowled over by the Rockies and totally fell in love with the northern California and Oregon coastlines.  Throughout my twenties, I traveled west pretty much every summer, with a bed and guitar in the back of my van.  I can remember it was always a sad day when I turned my steering wheel onto a road labeled EAST.

Clear-cutting in Oregon. Lisa said it is VERY regulated though. And we did see plots that had been replanted.

Well, after a short drive north along the coast, we turned inland, to the East...  a sobering moment that meant this amazing journey is entering a new phase.  I won't say "ending," because Karen and I have many options and no great need to resettle in any one place.  To say the least, this has been a GREAT TIME!!  And what a wonderful travel companion...

Anyway, more than balancing out any misgivings about heading back was the fact that we are heading toward Portland, and time with Karen's sister Lisa!  Woo hooooo!!








First a drive down the Columbia River gorge to Multnomah Falls and the neat little river town of Hood River!  Tank met his "little brother!"

 

Then we went to the 30th floor of the Big Pink building and the Portland City Grill.  We had a round and looked out onto the city far below!

 






It's Spring in Portland and blooms are everywhere!!

Tank's awesome cousin, MOLLY...smelling the spring daffodils...or a dog!!

Just a month away Wisconsin and Minnesota!

We met Savannah, daughter of Bill and Kitty de la Carpe back in Wisconsin.  We had a nice breakfast and great conversation at her workplace, Miss Zumstein's.

Actually...Savannah met a munchkin and was a little embarrassed to say.

Lisa had just moved into a new apartment (BONUS: She still has her old apartment leased until the 18th, so Karen and I are staying there!!)  She bought a new dresser from IKEA, of course packed in 3 boxes, assembly required...  Hmmm

And we are still talking!!!

And we bought her a little table and chair set for her patio as a housewarming present.  So great to be here!!

We didn't have to build this...but we did have to exchange the table because it the finish was chipped...WTF