Message from afar

Ken and Vickey went to Mexico yesterday to carry on the work of Sr. Maureen while she is recovering from her double knee surgery, they also look after their own sponsor's kids while they are there.

Message from our Vicky "Hola" and she misses us. Made our day!

from yesterday

We miss her too!

Now that we're home

Still tired after the long drive, but I find it's normal to be tired for about three days or so after getting home.

Still some minor unpacking to do in terms of putting things away.

I will only be making a post once in a while whenever I manage to get info on how Sister Maureen's rehab from her knee surgery is going, and/or if I have any information on "Our little Vicky".

We will be sending a package for Vicky's birthday which is on September 7...she will be 5.

Thanks to all who encouraged me to keep writing the blog this year...hope you have enjoyed reading it, as much I have enjoyed writing it for you.

more later....

Update on Sister Maureen

Got an email from Vickey, who said that Sister Maureen's double knee replacement went very well.

[quote]She was back in her hospital room around 8:30 in the evening on Thursday. She had already had 4 and a half hours of exercise. Saturday she had 4 hours of therapy. Today she got to sit in the lounge chair and have the machines massage her feet. She is hoping to be moved to the re-hab facility tomorrow or Tuesday. We will let you know when she is moved and how she is doing. [/quote]

Vickey said they will be going to Mexico soon and will visit our Vicky and her family and tell her how much we miss her.

Back home now

Had breakfast then left Omaha at 8:30. Good driving conditions. We stopped for a break just south of Fargo at a Casino which is adjacent to the highway. Katie won $4 but I won $15...YES...finally...

We didn't stay long, and the rest of the 10 hour drive was uneventful...until...WE REACHED THE BORDER!!!!

We got to the border at approx 6PM. I didn't expect there would be much of a lineup on a Saturday night, and was one of the reasons we planned on getting there on Saturday or Sunday morning to avoid all the Winnipegers coming back from Grand Forks and Fargo. WRONG!!!!

There was a single lane lineup over a mile long and moving forward like a snail. After we had been in the lineup for 25 minutes and could still not see the building.

There are two lanes...one for trucks and one for cars. Now this alone gets me wondering...why do trucks get special treatment? We are in line for 25 minutes and they come shooting down the other lane and get to go right through.

Now a van comes down the truck lane, the driver having obviously not read the sign..trucks only...or simply didn't care. What happened to him? have no idea...the line was so long, impossible to see what happens at the front.

Later on an SUV with Alberta plates comes down the truck lane bypassing all of us waiting in line. By this time we had moved up slightly, so I could after awhile see the this car in a parking lot off to the side. But then, the driver and passenger came out of the parking lot, managed to convince someone to let them so through the bumper to bumper waiting line, and this SUV then went into the truck lane right at the kiosk. There was lots of discussion there with border guard, but they were allowed to proceed. This is ridiculous that someone can come down the truck lane and bypass everyone waiting in line for a long time.

Shortly after a girl driving a vehicle and another vehicle who obviously just followed what she was doing like a sheep, came down the truck lane. She then realized that this was not a good thing and she had messed up. She stopped a few cars behind us in the truck lane and had conversation with those in line behind us. She was actually blocking the truck lane. Then a truck came...we have now been in line for about 45 minutes, and he manages to get around her and the other car. She then managed to convince someone to let her into the line...by this time cutting in front of approximately over a mile of waiting vehicles. I am sure they were not happy!!!!

We were right behind a truck who had about 15 two by fours in the back, who must have thought he got a better deal at Menard's in Grand Forks. When we got to the no tax pick up area, he pulled out of the line, in front of the trailer, got his booze and/or cigarettes, pulled out of this semi circle, got in line again, and in this process skipped ahead of six vehicles in front of us.

This whole scenario needs to be seriously looked at and redesigned.

First they need a big overhead flashing sign like the US highway Amber Alert signs which indicate "Trucks ONLY...cars prohibited" or something similar...or...design 6 lanes so the single lane lineup does not extend miles back...trucks go in one of these lanes same as everyone else.

They need to re-route lane jumpers back to the end of the line where they belong. I have seem them do this in the past, but they did not appear to do that this time. In the past they made runners come out from the no tax pickup so the vehicle remained in the long lineup. Don't do this anymore either, so those getting booze get an advantage.

At least they had six lanes open at the front, and we finally got there after an hour...then we got to talk to someone who looked like a 12 year old...lol...when he asked me how far I went in Texas...I said Pharr....he looked very puzzled and slightly annoyed...and finally asked if that was a place...I laughed and said yes. Next time I will say San Juan or McAllen...anything but Pharr.

I felt sorry for one guy...he was in line so long he had car trouble...so he had to pull out of the line...I would not want to be him...he would have to find someway to fix it or call a tow truck because he would not be able to wait another 45 minutes or so to get to the front.

Lesson learned...don't come back at 6PM on Saturday...when it would seem those who go to Grand Forks for the day are all coming back. Can't imagine what it is going to be like on Sunday.

Another issue is that Customs closed the Border Crossing at Noyes, which is just around the corner and could seriously reduce the lineups...but they obviously don't care about Canadians trying to get back into their own Country in a timely manner.

That's my rant for today...but it's all ok...why?...because we're home now safe and sound but very tired. Good thing is...Katie has three days before she has to go back to work.

more later....

The last 10 hours

We went to the casinos across the river in Council Bluffs last night. The first one was Ameristar...the place was absolutely packed...very hard to move around and virtually every machine making them a lot of money.

We didn't like it much and moved on to the Horseshoe...much much better...lots of room to move...the only bad thing about all these casinos is the smoke...I know it's not true of course, but it seems like...every person who goes to these casinos...smokes! Will be glad to get back home to smokeless casinos.

I did my usual losing thing...but Katie did her usual winning thing and we ended up net $176.

10 hours to go now...so we're up and gathering our things. This hotel has a Perkins attached to it and they give you 10 percent off in lieu of continental breakfast at the hotel. So after getting our stuff ready we will head downstairs to Perkins for breakfast.

Then it's an easy drive home in terms of traffic etc.

It was a great trip and thoroughly enjoyable, but it was also be great to be home.

more later...