April at Callerlab
We did laundry on Saturday morning so that we had enough clean clothes for the Callerlab convention. We got packed and headed for the hotel. There were only two people in line at the check-in counter, but it would cost $30 to check in at 11:00. We turned it down but then had second thoughts since there wasn’t anyone else in line at the time. We thought there might be lots of people in line at 1:00. We went back and checked in. We had a bellhop bring our suitcases to the room. We went to the Callerlab room to pick up Brian’s packet. Then we went back to the room for a quick nap before dinner. We ate at Johnny Rocket’s at the hotel. We went to bed after emptying our suitcases.
Brian attended the convention activities while I took it easy. I went to a couple of quilt shops with two other wives. I didn’t get any fabric but they each did. But mostly I spent the time by myself in the room or in the open area where I could talk with others not attending the seminars. Brian was working at the Genius Bar where he helped others with their computers. He also presided over the meeting of the Marketing Committee.
Here’s a picture of the four couples from Minnesota that attended the meeting.
We returned to the motorhome on Wednesday April 4th in the afternoon and unpacked, did laundry, and got ready to hit the road in the morning. Brian couldn’t find the power cord for his laptop, so he had to go back to Reno to get another one. We had supper at the restaurant and got our $10 credit at the casino. Brian won $75, I lost all but a dime. The wind had kicked up, and the motorhome rocked all night. But we survived.
The Way Back Home
Brian had mapped out our route back home and we headed to a KOA campground in West Wendover, NV on Thursday morning. Along the way we went up and down the mountains and saw quite a bit of snow. It even snowed while we were putting gas in the motorhome before getting to the campground. The motorhome got parked, water and electricity hooked up and supper of French bread pizza. Brian booked our next stop on the way home and we chilled out for the rest of the evening. Lost an hour going East but got to the campground before dark.
Friday morning, we unhooked everything and headed East towards Lander WY for the night. Along the way we saw several herds of deer, a sign advertising Wall Drug, a helicopter flying very low (might have been practicing piloting the helicopter?), a herd of sheep, some working and non-working oil rigs, and it snowed just a bit while we were driving. While we were getting the motorhome to hit the road, I was stepping out of the motorhome onto a collapsible stepstool, and you guessed it, it collapsed. I reinjured my right knee. I was in a lot of pain and could hardly walk.
But we made it to Rapid City, SD for the night. We had decided to spend the night in a hotel so that we could have “real” showers. We decided to stay an extra night in Rapid City to give my knee time to begin to heal and for a rest from the windy conditions that Brian was driving in. Luckily, the hotel had plenty of room. Sunday was much quieter as all the spring break kids had checked out of the hotel that morning. I really was nice to stay in one place for a change.
We left the hotel on Monday morning and headed for a hotel in Brookings, SD. It was very windy again, so driving was hard on Brian. We decided to have lunch at a rest stop along the way. I saw several pheasants along the roadside. We saw half of a house being moved. I wondered which party in the divorce got that half of the house.
We passed the exit to Emery, SD where we have our mail delivered. It almost felt like old home week. We topped off the tank of the motorhome with gas and arrived at the hotel in Brookings. My knee was feeling a little bit better at this point but still was very painful to walk on.
Back In Minnesota
We arrived at the mobile home park in Bloomington on Tuesday the 7th and dropped the truck. Brian took the motorhome to refill the gas and the propane for our stay up north. He got the motorhome situated and we hooked up all the hoses and cords. But alas, there is no water yet there either. We did spend the night in Bloomington as we were tired from the trip.
Then on Wednesday morning, we went to the laundromat on West 7th Street in Saint Paul to wash clothes. There was a brake light burned out on the truck, so we had that fixed. At least the blinker light works properly now. We had lunch at the motorhome and packed some clothes. We will be staying with our friends, Bob and Jeanine, for the time being until the water gets turned on.
Thursday morning Brian went to his old office to see “the girls” and get a snow cone, They have a snow cone machine and would have one during their meetings. That evening was the editing meeting for the square dancing magazine that I work on. It was good to see everyone again after being gone for so long.
Friday morning, we drove back to Richfield to pick up our tax returns. Scary, I know. But this year it was good news; we are getting refunds from both the state and the federal returns. We went to the motorhome and gathered up Brian’s calling equipment and loaded it into the pickup bed. He will need it for Saturday night. After supper, we drove up to Isanti to attend the square dance hosted by the Cambridge Corners club. Again, we saw many old friends at the dance.
On Saturday, the 11th, Jeanine and I made an Egg Bake for breakfast. Brian and I did a little shopping at Cub and picked up some chicken and sides for supper that night. After supper, we headed up to Coon Rapids to the Hotfoot Stompers dance. Brian was calling the dance and the theme for the dance was “Royalty”. It was the night they crowned their new queen. Brian had ordered a king’s outfit and wore it during the dance. There were over 13 squares in attendance that night.
Sunday, we went to our antique car club meeting in the afternoon. We stopped for supper at Rubio’s in White Bear Lake on the way to Wyoming to attend the Jolly Promenaders lessons. Again, saw some friends that we hadn’t seen yet. Brian was needed to dance the right hand dancer (ladies) part. He was a little rusty at it and it was fun to watch.
Monday we returned to the motorhome to unpack Brian’s calling equipment from the motorhome and got them back in their places in the motorhome. We also did some straightening up inside the motorhome. Bob and Jeanine cancelled their lessons for Monday night due to the weather forecast. We stayed home and played a dice game called Qwixx. It was a relaxing evening home after all the running around over the weekend.
Tuesday, we both got our haircuts before heading to Five Guys for lunch. After lunch, we drove to Hampton, MN to Greg’s Meats to get some meals for the week. We have been going to Greg’s Meats since 2020 and we are supporting a small business. Bob and Jeanine took us out for supper to celebrate Brian’s birthday. His birthday was on the 5th, but we celebrated in any case. There is a new restaurant in the area of Larpenter and Rice so we tried it. It’s a Mexican restaurant that serves GIANT burrito’s. It was very tasty and we all had leftovers.