Baseball

St. Louis Cardinals new stadium from the Champions Club seating last weekend.

It was another pretty busy week. On Monday I spent the whole day grading a project for my class. After reading 24 projects I was exhausted. Tuesday I gave the midterm and by Wednesday I wasn’t sure my students weren’t feeling too kindly towards me. The midterm has always been a rude awakening for the students, since it’s a lot of material to absorb in such a short time. I feel for them but every hygienist and dentist knows Oral Path is a tough class. So much material, so little time. 

I worked on the clinic floor on Friday, I really love teaching clinic so it was nice to have a day on the floor. I do miss the interaction with students but I also love the life we’ve chosen and I know how short life (I’ll tell you about that a little later) is so I will be ready by summer’s end to move on. 

Cedar Rapids Kernels Staduim & the Army Reserves Color Guard.

It has been very hot here this week just like it has been in most of the nation. I like to be outside as much as possible but I have to admit it was nice to retreat into the air conditioning  on Thursday and Friday during the day. On Friday we just decided it was time to get out and do something so we chose to go to the Kernels baseball game. They are the A league minor team affiliated with the LA Angels. There is just something about summer and baseball that go together. There was suppose to an exhibition by an Army parachute team before the game but the winds picked up and they were unable to jump due to safety. The young man who sat next to us was a local fella who was in the Army, a Blackhawk helicopter crew chief. He looked so young to be taking on so much responsibility. We visited quite a bit during the game, he shared about his deployment in Europe and his view of many different countries. John bought him a beer and we thanked him for his service. He is soon to be deployed to Afghanistan and we wished him safe travels and a safe return. I hope these wars will soon wind down and these young men and women can come home and out of harms way. As the fourth of July comes closer it reminds me how we need to thank these men and women who give so much for our country.

John enjoying the Kernels game.

We had a special surprise today. Rick and Carolyn that we met at Zion River Resort stopped by the campground to say hi. They also are from Cedar Rapids and were in the park at a wedding. You may remember we had to leave Zion early due to flooding. At the time Rick and Carolyn had driven back to Iowa for Christmas so others had moved their rig during the flooding. It was such fun to see them and we were able to catch up on some of the other people we had met there. Some of the news was sad, like I said life is short. One of the fellas Dave passed away this spring and they were involved in helping his wife Diane after his passing. Dave was a very nice fella and we were so sad to hear this and our hearts go out to his wife as she adjusts to life without him. Another of the campers had treatment for cancer in St. George but they report that Pam is doing very well and we were happy to hear that. 

After all that rain and flooding it was interesting to hear that now with the heat they are very dry and having trouble with forest fires. What a crazy year. Zion was one of our favorite places in our travels last year and I think there will be a winter that we return there in the future. It is so nice to reconnect with the people we have met on the road. RV people are some of the best kind of people around.

I wish everyone a wonderful Fourth of July!

Happy Trails.................................