Visit to Duluth

On April 13th we flew to Minneapolis and rented a van to drive to Duluth, Minnesota for a homeschool convention. We were able to stay at the Comfort Suites in Canal Park right on the Lake Superior waterfront. On the day we arrived the wind was blowing and sending large breakers crashing against the sea wall. We didn't know what was waiting us...

Saturday morning we awoke to this sight. Snow! The wind had increased on Friday and blew in a spring snowstorm with 4-6 inces blanketing the ground.
Here is the Duluth skyline from our hotel window at about 6:30 A.M. It was beautiful with the twinkling lights and the blanket of snow.

During the two day convention we talked to over 200 homeschool families and had a wonderful reception to our curriculum. Here is Connie talking to some prospective customers at our booth.

A real treat was to have my sister Cheryl and her husband Dwight drop in for a visit. They came to support a young lady from their church who played a piano solo. We were able to spend a nice dinner with them at restaurant on Friday night.

While we were away Kristy received the coveted Carlson Crowd plaque for winning this year's March Madness NCAA Basketball Tournament contest within the family. This was the 5th year in our family contest, and we have had a different winner each year. The only two to not win the contest have been Chad and Brian -- and they are probably the best informed college basketball fans in the family. Go figure?

Connie's Knee Surgery

Since last summer we have known that Connie had to undergo a knee replacement. The surgery was put off until after the Christmas season and finally the day came on Jan. 11th. Wouldn't you know that another winter storm was bedeviling the South. Global warming just isn't given much credence down here in North Carolina. Anyway, here is the "real deal" type of bionic knee that now resides in Connie's left leg. Now comes the fun.

Here's the girl on the afternoon of the surgery -- with Greg & Becky's flowers giving her comfort. She was alert after coming out of recovery, but snoozed off after getting into her room.

The next morning they got her up early and ready for action. Here she is with her dandy brace and "On Q" pain pump. Pretty high tech stuff for Nash General Hospital in Rocky Mount.

Later in the morning roses arrived from Kristy & Brian. All the nurses comment on how great the room smells.

Then at lunch time we joined the other knee replacement patients for a group lunch. They roll the recliners from the rooms right into the eating area. Connie is having fun with her new friends.
Each patient has a coach (spouse, family member or friend) who is invited to the lunch times.

After lunch the patients are returned to their rooms so that the lunch room can be converted to a Gym.

Then it is therapy time with the "Joint Replacement" staff leading the athletes (patients) in strenuous exercise. Connie won the prize for the day by bending her knee by 114 degrees. Tomorrow will be a more difficult day because the heavier doses of pain medication will be eliminated. But she is doing great!

Funnin' with Fosmark & Mincy Fams

On Thursday, Jan. 6th, we had the privilege of a fun night to meet Gail & Paul Fosmark, plus a stealth visitor -- Andy Fosmark -- and Sara & Dave Mincy and family. Gail and Paul escaped eastern Canada to brave the East Coast post-Christmas blizzard to visit the Mincy's in the Raleigh area. Unbeknown to them there was a plan to bring Andy to North Carolina for a surprise visit. We were able to meet the gang at "Sweet Tomatoes" in North Raleigh.

It was a short visit, but we enjoyed it immensely!

Gail and Paul looked great, although Paul has had some health challenges lately. Pray for him as he deals with a skin cancer issue.

It was also wonderful to see Andy for the first time in almost ten years. The last time we saw Andy was in Hollywood, CA., in April of 2001. Andy looked great!

Even though we are live close to the Mincy family, we don't get to see them much. Here is Sara, Dave, Wes, Will, and Skye. They are a fun bunch.

The Mincy kids had their own booth -- right next to the oldsters.

Wouldn't you know -- before we left "somebody" hoisted Skye up in the sky -- er, tree.

Guess who? (Hint: he traveled the farthest...)

Happy New Year

The Carlson family gathered for our bi-annual Christmas get together in Rocky Mount. This year the travel to North Carolina was a breeze. The Walkers' had clear and clean roads and the Wisconsin crowd actually arrived a half hour early to RDU airport. It was great to have us all together again.

We don't have many opportunities when the boys can see their sister, but they do keep close via cell phones.
Kristy was still finishing up some classroom work. Here she is showing Kirk her new laptop that helps her teach online classes for two different colleges, in addition to her high school teaching duties.
And I seized the privilege to have my temporary "in house" mechanic look at a few problems. Chad put a quick fix on a truck issue and then helped me solve a tarp installation for the trailer. The weather was beautiful on Christmas Eve. But snow was coming...
Of course we had some great eating. Connie did her usual outstanding job of providing handsomely for us all -- and then some!
After eating and gifting, and eating some more, we all journeyed out to the Positive Action building on Christmas afternoon for a viewing of the super-animated DVD Wall-E. Here is the comfortable Media Room at PAFC that is a great place for us to enjoy.
Looking down the main hallway of the PAFC building the camera caught the "4 Boys" in this candid shot. Nice hat, Kirk.
But in the night after Christmas...the snow began to fall. And it continued to fall and fall. By mid day it had piled up to be a foot deep! Very rare for North Carolina.
The problem was that our Wisconsin crowd was scheduled to fly out of RDU at 12:30 PM on the day following Christmas. We got to the airport on time, but knew that the flight was already cancelled. The road to Raleigh was treacherous. The bad news was that Delta couldn't give them a flight until Wednesday. That wouldn't do! So, we drove them to Charlotte (3 hours from RDU) and they flew out on Monday morning. Chad had the foresight to purchase trip interruption insurance and that was a blessing to cover the extra expenses. It was truly an exciting three days.

2nd Trip Fall of 2010

We were home for two weeks and then hit the road again. This time we headed for Lancaster, PA. Our truck and trailer seems like a big rig until we pull into a rest stop and park next to the 18 wheelers. But we enjoy having our home with us where ever we go.

Our next stop was in Lexington, Kentucky. We parked at a campground 20 miles south of Lexington at a place called Camp Nelson. Our trailer was backed up to a canyon wall that rose over 70 ft. During the Civil War a large military camp occupied this location on the Kentucky River. It was an interesting place.
After completing our second convention we were able to spend several days in Chattanooga with Kristy and Brian. We enjoyed a special blessing by being able to see the play that Kristy directed this fall. Here is Kristy with some of her cast members at Cici's Pizza for a lunch that we were able to share.
That night we had great seats to see "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night." It was a hilarious play! Here is Kristy with her full cast.
From Chattanooga we headed for Orlando, Florida to exhibit at our final convention of the season. We camped again at our favorite Turkey Lake campground and enjoyed some warmer weather. After the convention we moved to the Tampa area where we stayed at the very impressive Lazydays Campground. Then on Thanksgiving Day we headed for our favorite Thanksgiving Day restaurant -- Mimi's Cafe. This is the fourth city where we have enoyed Mimi's for Thanksgiving. They do an outstanding job.

On the day after Thanksgiving we discovered a delightful Christmas tree lighting event at the Hyde Park neighborhood of Tampa. It was a beautiful evening at a very picturesque place.
The community put on a wonderful program of Christmas carols and family oriented entertainment. Connie said that it was like being in one of those TV Christmas movies.
After our short stay in the Tampa area we headed back north toward home. On the way home we stopped for fuel at a Flying J and saw this guy perched in the window of a big motorhome. It was good to get home and to park the Laredo in our driveway for awhile. But we'll be ready to go again...

1st Trip Fall of 2010

Where did the last three months go? We left home on September 25th and traveled over 8,000 miles on two trips to six conventions. We spent 50 nights on the road and reached all the way north to Duluth and south to Tampa.

Our first trip started out stopping for a night in Pratt, WV, to visit long time friends Dave and Bettye Baughan. Dave is pastor of his home church and we arrived in time for the evening service and then camped for the night in their parking lot.

Then it was on to South Bend, Indiana for our first convention. Actually, our two colleagues, Shannon and Champ, were also exhibiting at another convention in South Bend and we met up to share some of the work load. Conventions are Work!
Upon leaving northern Indiana we headed for Watertown, Wisconsin where we parked for a week at Calvary Baptist Church. It was fun to live for a week in our old stomping grounds. We also were close to Kirk and Chad -- and we took advantage of that close proximity. On the first weekend Kirk came over to Watertown for the day. We took him shopping at the Outlet Mall and ran into old friends from Normal, Illinois who happened to be visiting in the area too. Here is Kirk with Alyce Beernink and Kristy Beernink Dunn.
The next weekend we had the opportunity to spend time with Chad and Jen, which included a short fishing expedition. No fish were caught, but the experience on Lake Mendota was worth the whole trip.
A sad note was added as we shared in some of the last days of Sal, Jen and Chad's cat. Sal had been struggling with a tumor that was debilitating and caused his life to be miserable. Several days after we left Wisconsin Sal had to be put to sleep. "Grandma" Connie had an opportunity to join Jen in comforting Sal during his final days.
While in Watertown we had the privilege of connecting with a number of friends from our past days of ministry. Here we are enjoying great food and fellowship with Wayne and Carole Vawter at the Upper Krust. This fabulous restaurant is owned by our dear friend Donna Kurschner. We enjoyed two delicious lunches at the Upper Krust.
After a quick trip to Pittsburgh for a convention we headed further north into Wisconsin and parked our trailer for a few days at Cheryl and Dwight Turbett's driveway. It was fun to see them and to have them come into our home away from home. While parked at the Turbett's we took an overnight side trip up to Lake Nebagamon and Duluth. Here is our old family cabin (now owned by the Seidler's) on Maranatha Bay. The cabin looks great. A more complete report of our Nebagamon visit can be seen at http://carlsontravels.blogspot.com/.

Beautiful Maranatha Bay on Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin

Before leaving the north we spent a night on the water front in Duluth. Here is the famous Aerial Lift Bridge that was next to our motel on Canal Park.
The next morning our truck wouldn't start and several men came to try to help us before the AAA service truck arrived. Turned out that the guy on the right was a campaign aide for Chip Cravaack, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Congress. This was two weeks before the election. Congressman-elect Cravaack is the fellow who unseated the 18 term incumbent James Oberstar.

After the great time "up north" we headed for our last convention of this trip. That convention was in a suburb of Minneapolis which afforded us the opportunity to meet the Brasks' and Cutlans' for dinner. What a great time!