Goin north, to Ashland, goin north the rush is on!

Hi there everyone,

Well, we went north to Ashland Oregon for New years and a memorial for Mike, Chuck and Steve's mom, Louise. The gathering had four purposes, celebrate Christmas and New years, have a bit of family reunion and for all of us to remember Louise. It was the first time in a very long time that we all had gotten together. We were so lucky to have Steve, Elena, Morgan, Marina and Mia along with Mike, Karen, Marq, Kris and Laura and last but not least, Chuck, Teri, Scott and Kim all made it for the gathering.

We were all bummed that Mia spent most of the holidays at the Ashland Hospital giving birth to a baby appendix. The weekend was filled with virtually non-stop gatherings. The pinnacle event was the luncheon to remember Louise at Calahans restaurant and Lodge south of Ashland. It was kind of exciting 'cause the lodge burned down in 2006 and re-opened in 2008. The exciting part is that there was feared there was a fire in the chimney at the lodge. We even had fire fighters come through checking for a problem. They opened the chimney up a little bit and put things out, but we didn't have to evacuate.

There was also a wonderful bowling tournament that consisted of three games. Everyone had a great time and though most of us saw our score go down in the last game, Marina had her score increase through all three games.

This was such a special weekend, I enjoyed it so much. I am so lucky to have the wonderful family that I do. I got pretty emotional at the luncheon for Louise, but that is ok, it was an important day for all of us to remember and offer up some release.

One other great thing about this weekend is that just before we left for Oregon, I was fortunate enough to meet Bob Livingston, publisher of TrailerLife and Motorhome magazines. Hopefully he will have a chance to give me some feed back on my book so that I will have a better product in the future.

Well, time to call it a night, it was a long drive home for both Carol and I.

Merry Christmast, Happy New Year and Happy camping! - Eric and Carol Anderson -