the calm before the storm?

Last Wednesday we unhooked all the hoses and cords from the motor home, hooked up the cargo trailer and loaded the bike inside. We were headed "down the road". No, we are not leaving central Indiana just yet, we still have some more treatments to do. Instead of skedaddling up the highway (like we both really wanted to do!) we made the short trip to the fairgrounds in Lebanon. That is where the state rally for the Gold Wing Road Riders Assoc. was holding their rally. We have belonged to this organization for over 20 years and enjoy attending the functions even if we don't ride a Goldwing anymore.
Our riding buddies had an area saved for us and several others. We got ourselves situated pretty quickly and settled in to enjoy the fun. The weather didn't want to cooperate much though and it was rainy and cold everyday. We did manage to take a couple of rides between the showers and even had a campfire one night.
Sunday came pretty quickly and we all packed up and went our separate ways. We are back at our daughters house being squatters in her drive way. :-)

Monday we mostly stayed inside and gathered the necessary paperwork to get our vehicles registered in South Dakota. We had decided to change our residency several months ago and our plan was to take care of all the paperwork in the days prior to starting work at Mt. Rushmore. That little plan was changed with Rudee's diagnoses so we are doing as much as we can by email, fax and snail mail.

Today we had plans to go to the Indy 500 track and watch practice for the big race. Shortly after our daughter dropped the grand kids off at school she received a call that our grand son was not feeling well and needed to be picked up. We made the short trip to the school and he was really disappointed because today was a "field trip" day and he didn't feel well enough to go. Rudee agreed to stay home with him and I hopped on the bike and went to the track solo.
There were quite a few cars on the track today and I stayed until shortly after 2pm watching the drivers trying to "get up to speed". While I was sitting in the bleachers an elderly couple (I'm guessing late 70's) climbed up the steep steps to the very top and sat down next to me. I listened in as they talked about their favorite drivers and who they each were routing for. They were both almost giddy with excitement. I finally asked them if this was their first race because they both looked like wide eyed little kids. The lady said "no, this is my 57th Indy 500 and my friends 61st". Wow! Can you imagine all the changes they have seen at this historic track? Their first races were in the early to mid 50's when front engine cars were all the rage. They saw Roger Ward, Parnelli Jones and a rookie named AJ Foyt qualify and then run (and win!) the big race. They witnessed the start of the Andretti and Unser dynasties as well as watching Rick Mears dominate in his Roger Penske owned car. They saw the cars go from large front engine models with skinny tires to winged, rear engine, rocket ships. They saw Tom Sneva be the first to break the 200 MPH barrier as well as Janet Guthrie be the first woman to qualify and race there. All of that and yet here they were just as excited as they must have been the very first time they climbed the bleachers to watch the cars. Talking to her (he was busy watching the track!) she told me she was from here but had moved to Tennessee several years ago and he was from Saint Louis. They had been friends for years, both had lost their spouses and they enjoyed getting together once a year, here in Indy, to share their love for racing. I couldn't help but smile, they were inspiring and a joy to meet and talk to. :-)

We have two more days to "recuperate" before Rudee's appointment Friday. They have already told us it will be a long day at the doctors office. Once we are done there she will be ready for her radiation treatments to start. She will have two treatments per day starting Monday and ending on Friday. I'll keeep you posted.