Goals Without Deadlines

Charlie was ready to take a break from the road and stay in one place for a while. And as much as I like traveling it’s always nice to get back home for a while. It’s especially nice when you left everything clean before leaving.  The first week back was pretty routine catching up on mail and laundry. We went to a bull riding in Cottage Grove with a stop at the Covered Bridge Brewery on the way. It’s nice to see things starting to open up.  I was starting to feel pretty run done and generally not good all over. I knew the trip probably had something to do with it but I think it was more that I was coming up on my next treatment. After my treatment on Thursday I felt better and decided to try to do an in person race on Saturday. It had a noon start so I figured it was better to try one with a late start so I could get myself in a good place before racing. It was the Run 4 Love 5K at Alton Baker Park. It was a better effort than I expected so that felt good. I even felt decent ...

Charlie and I left right after graduation and drove to Valdosta, Georgia headed back to St. Louis. We had dinner on the patio at a Mexican restaurant right next to our motel. All good except for brain freeze from the margarita that almost made me sick to my stomach. Whew! That hurt. Lol We spent one more day and night on the road staying in Clarksville, Tennessee before we got back to Stacie’s in St. Louis.  Charlie quickly made himself at home again.  I wanted to stay until Thursday because Tom’s parents, sister and nephew were coming for Memorial Day and I wanted to see them. Even though it was a short visit it was a good visit. The last night Charlie and I stayed in the guest room before moving into the den Charlie must have sensed we were going to hit the road again because he slept in my suitcase.  One fun thing we did was recreate a picture with Chase Haley and both sets of grandparents.  The trip home was uneventful until the last night when I tried to check i...

Before we checked in to our hotel we stopped at Jeff and Rochelle’s on Merritt Island. I was really happy to see them getting settled into their home.  Charlie and I managed to get out and do quite a bit during our stay in Cocoa Beach. On Monday morning we went to breakfast at a dog friendly restaurant and someone anonymously paid for my breakfast. It’s always a blessing when that happens not because of the money but because it shows that people appreciate service from Vietnam vets. That was a long time coming.  We did a lot in the time we were in Cocoa Beach. We went to the dog beach including once with my sister Carol and her dog Jack. While Carol was there Jeff had us over for Taco Tuesday, he’s really quite the cook. We also got to see a space launch from the cape and Charlie and I found a nice park to walk in that was really close to our hotel.  A big part of any vacation is eating and I was lucky enough to find places where Charlie was welcome at outside seating. W...

We left the Motel 6 in Cleveland, Tennessee to head to Athens to see Clarence and find out if he was going to travel with us or not. Our first stop was Dunkin Donuts where Charlie had his first pup cup.  Our first stop when we got to Athens was a trail by the river where I’ve run many miles so Charlie could stretch his legs before we got to Clarence’s. He was at work but his roommate Rick was home and I knew where the key was hidden.  After driving from Oregon to Georgia this is what greeted us at Clarence’s. A locked gate so I couldn’t even get to the hidden keys. 😳 So I decided to walk downtown on college to get us something to eat. I knew they had a Chik Filet we could get a sandwich and nuggets at. It wasn’t very far but I had to take a break at the courthouse. Coming back I had to take a break halfway up the hill. It really stinks when I think of all the miles I’ve run here and now I get tired just trying to take a short walk. When I was here after my knee surgery and co...