Thursday, October 20, 2016

October 9, 2016 Church Ladies

Brenda offered to drive Rosie and me to church this morning.  I was wondering on the way to church if the priest had evacuated and returned.  As we approached the church, the place looked deserted.  We pulled up to the church to read the sign posted on the door.  The bishop of the Savannah diocese has lifted the obligation to attend church this weekend.  He recommended that all the priests in the evacuation areas should evacuate to safety. 

We decided to drive to Rosie’s favorite restaurant for coffee, the Cedar Oak.  I don’t know what made us think it would be open.  We parked in front of the place, got out, then realized there weren’t any lights on.  As we were heading back to the car, a lady walking her dog stopped to tell us that the owners had evacuated and just returned to town.  She invited us to her home for coffee.  We explained how we were planning to go to the catholic church, but they weren’t having church today.  So she told us about the Presbyterian church a block away.  They were starting their 11:00 service now and we would be welcome to join them.  We decided to do that and walked down the block.
Presbyterian church in St Mary's, GA

It was a small old church.  There were about 10 people there.  They welcomed us and explained that they were all sharing their hurricane experiences.  They were all amazed to find out that we lived on sailboats.  We were all so thankful that there wasn’t any major damage to this community and our loved ones.  It was a great opportunity to thank our Lord and share it with others.
church ladies Mary, Rosie and Brenda

 After the short service, they invited us to the fellowship hall for refreshments. They didn’t have electricity, but they had water and sodas on ice, sandwiches, and donuts.  They asked us more questions about living on boats.  They told us about how the city of St Mary’s has an annual Thanksgiving dinner for boaters.  It started one year when a lot of boaters were stranded here because of a storm.  Then they decided to do it every year.  I guess a lot of boats stop here as they are moving south for the winter.  I doubt that we’ll be here until Thanksgiving, but will check it out if we are.
angel made from palm fronds
St Mary's survivors
That evening, we walked over to the dock area with a couple other boaters.  It was amazing to see how calm everything was at sunset.  I called it the “calm after the storm”.
the calm after the storm
shrimp boats in the distance

October 8, 2016 Return to Dave and boat

I actually slept pretty good last night.  I wasn’t as worried about Dave as I was the night before.  I sent him a text about 7:15am.  I was anxious to see if he was ok, but I was hoping not to wake him.  I had to patiently wait for him to respond.  I went out for coffee about 8:00.  Adrian was outside, too.  So we all went to McDonald’s again this morning.  About the time we returned to our motel, Dave texted that it was quite calm and everything was OK.  He had slept in because he was parading around at high tide at 2:00am.  There was no rain at that time, so no more flooding.  After talking to Dave, we decided to check out and head back to the boat yard. 

Dave had warned us that there may be bridges closed that could delay our return trip.  Traffic was normal, no rush of people heading south.  Driving through St Mary’s was strange.  A lot of businesses were boarded up, and most everything was still closed.  We had to detour around a traffic light that was down in an intersection.  We reached the corner that was about 4 miles from the boat yard about 11:45 am.  That’s where we found the road block.

We saw the boat yard’s courtesy car in the parking lot of the gas station at that corner.  There were 4 hurricane survivors from the boat yard having a tail gate party.  Rosie and Larry and 2 single guys were having a picnic.  We joined them to find out what the problem was and to hear their stories.  Rosie greeted us with a big hug.  It was so nice to see that they were ok. 

The 4 of them left the boat yard this morning to find coffee, since they didn’t have power.  They knocked on our hull, but Dave didn’t answer.  (He was sleeping with ear plugs.)  There were barricades at the bridge on the causeway, but no one around.  The bridge looked fine, so they went around them and went into town.  They had coffee and then picked up some groceries, which they had been snacking on in the back of the Tahoe. 

When they returned to the boat yard, there were police officers blocking the bridge.  The Governor had ordered that all bridges in the county be inspected by the Department of Transportation.  They had been told that this would be the first one inspected about noon.  So we spent some time sharing our hurricane experiences.  I brought out my motel provisions and  added them to the party. 

After about an hour, a different police officer came and visited with the one present and left again.  So I decided to check on any new details.  The bad news was that the police officer didn’t have any new information.  The bad bad news was that this could take hours or a week.  I asked what would happen if we chose to cross it anyway.  We would be fined.  So I asked how much?  They couldn’t tell me, but wouldn’t allow it anyway.   I did get a phone number of the county non emergency dispatcher to at least call to check on the progress if we chose to leave and check back.  They recommended we just get a room and check back tomorrow.  We weren’t ready to that, but would weigh our options if this lasted until 5:00.

Larry is an ex-marine, so he called the number I had a tried to give them the business.  I guess he knew the sheriff and did some name dropping.  He even asked to talk to him, but he was in a meeting.  So that left us with no new information.  Here Larry and Rosie had made it through the hurricane with no problem.  And now they may be faced with having to get a room with no luggage, not even Rosie’s purse or their medications. 

John, an employee of the boatyard, came by about that time.  He also lives on the other side of the bridge.  They were going to look for a generator, so I took his number and told him we would call if the road opened up.  He told us he had a 17 foot fishing boat that he could launch and take us by river to the boatyard, if need be.  We all laughed as he left.  The 2 single guys decided to walk back to the marina. 

I kept updating Dave occasionally.  The police officers had a shift change.  Occasionally National Guard trucks would come and go.  There were also power lines down in the area.   One police officer said we could walk across and have someone meet us on the other side. The bridge was about 1.5 miles from the corner.  So we would just bring a few things with us and get the rest after the raid opened up.  Dave had a ride lined up for us.  He was being a lumberjack today helping clean up the boat yard. 

About 3:30.  Adrian, Brenda and I decided to drive into town to the boat ramp and see if we could pay a fisherman to take us to the boat yard in their boat.  The boat ramp was totally empty.  I guess we should have figured that, since everyone had evacuated the county. 

Dave told us the boat yard owner, Rocky, was heading back and they were going to let him through.  Maybe we could connect with him and go as stow a ways in his trailer, like illegal aliens.  I called  him, and he did not have a guaranteed pass.  He was just hoping they would let him through.  He did have a tug boat at the marina that he would put in the water and come get us at the boat ramp, if need be.  He’d make sure we made it back somehow. 

We headed back to the road block, hoping to follow him through.  About 4:30, the DOT ARRIVED!!  Rosie and Larry had left to get something to eat.  We left them phone messages and texts, but didn’t hear back from them.  Rocky arrived, but they weren’t letting anyone through while the bridge was being evaluated.  Within about 30 minutes, they cleared the bridge!!  They had to bring in one other police officer to help control traffic, but that only took about 5 minutes.  We fell into line with about 20 other cars waiting to cross that bridge.   It was 5:00.  That’s when we were going to give up and get a room if it hadn’t opened.  
this causeway had flooded.  the debris on the side of the road had covered the road earlier. and the bridge to be inspected was at the bend in the road

Back at the boat yard, Dave met us as I unloaded from Adrian’s truck.  It was SO good to see him.  He was busy telling everyone about how things went for a while.  A couple boats had sails that were caught by the wind and shredded.  An anchored boat had drug anchor and hit another boat damaging itself, not the one it hit.  And a branch had fallen on a boat causing a little damage.  All in all, not bad.  Then we headed back to the boat.  It was so nice to see no damage to our boat.  It was over!!  Dave’s favorite text from a friend was “hurricane, check”.




debris in the yard

the sail on the boat in front of the green hulled boat had a sail come loose
We sat in our cock pit and had a couple beers.  We shared some with a couple guys.  And the younger couple brought over some wine and visited for awhile.  They really appreciated having Dave check on their boat for them while they were in Atlanta.  They were planning to leave before the storm, but had to wait out the hurricane.  They are taking their boat to Marco Island on the west coast of Florida.  They have jobs waiting for them and plan to live on the boat.  You could tell Derek was having trouble relaxing and was thinking about what else needed to be done.  But Rosie (Dave calls her baby Rosie) enjoyed visiting with us.  She reminds us of our nieces.  She can give crap right back to Dave. 

October 7, 2016 Hurricane, check!


 As you can imagine, I didn’t sleep well last night.  Our hotel didn’t have a breakfast or even coffee in the room.  I walked to the gas station next door to get coffee and a can of fruit. I had brought a few breakfast bars.  Of course, I didn’t have any silverware, so it was a little messy eating the canned pears.   

I turned on the TV and started all over again.  Alma was under Tropical Storm watch and possible flooding.  Still lots of storm surge predictions, which means our boat could float off of the stands and end up who knows where.  So I started in again with the texts to Dave.  He finally sent me this text “they don’t know for sure yet.  Don’t fret.  I know what can come.  Don’t keep feeding it to me Please Please Please!”

Dave thought I was just trying bother him because I was upset that he didn’t come with us.  But I was actually worried about him.  I then realized that I was getting caught up in the TV hype.  We know that they always project the worst, so people will be prepared.  BUT they also make it sound sensational so people will stay tuned and their ratings will go up.  So from that point on, I decided I had to be supportive.  In the worst case scenario, I didn’t want our last conversations to be a fight.

Late morning, the 3 of us went to McDonald’s for breakfast.  Then we went to a local grocery store to pick up a few items to eat in the room.  As the hurricane moves closer, we are sure to get heavy rain and winds.  We are only 60 miles inland.  And we weren’t sure we wanted to go  out later.  There was a chance that we would lose power or the water wouldn’t be safe to drink.  So I picked up some things that didn’t need refrigerating, or that I knew we would eat back at the boat. 

I also picked up a cheap flashlight.  I wished I had brought one with me.  It needed D batteries and the store was out of them.  So we stopped at a dollar store (no luck), then a hardware store.  They didn’t have D batteries either, so I bought an nicer LED light and some AAA batteries.  The atmosphere was like people stocking up before a blizzard.  The big difference was that the people were displaced from their homes.

We headed back to the rooms by early afternoon.  I thought I’d take a nap, but that didn’t go so well.  I had lots of people calling or texting to check on us.  I have to share what our friend, Richard Perdue said to me.  He is the one that taught us to sail and started us on this crazy journey.  He said, jokingly of course, that I should start on my personal ad.  That this would be my chance to move up to someone better if something happened to Dave.  When I told another friend of ours about that, he said “be sure to include: extremely tolerant” as a trait!

About 3:30, Brenda came over to my room and I taught her how to play cribbage.  She beat me in the practice game and in the game on her own.  We were getting some steady rain this afternoon, and the wind was picking up.

We just stayed in our rooms and ate our hurricane provisions.  I checked in with Dave about 7:00pm.  He said everything was great.  The eye of the hurricane looked like it was off the coast from Jacksonville about that time.  Since it turns in a counter clockwise motion, and we are west of the eye, we are getting winds from the north.  Our boat is on the north side of the boatyard with only short trees behind us.  That also means we didn’t expect flying debris from the boatyard to fly towards our boat. 

He said he was awake last night at 2:00am, so he took down our bimini.  He left the dodger up.  That covers the hatch that we open to go below, like a windshield.  He thought it would give him some protection if he wanted to stand outside to look an the weather.  And it would prevent the rain from coming in the hatch.  Then he rigged up a spider web of lines to hold the bows together and stabilize the solar panels.  He treated it like a tent in strong winds when you are mountain climbing.  Everything felt nice and snug, “as still as a church”. 

When the rain soaks into the ground, the stands holding the boat can sink a little.  So he was periodically checking the stands and adjusting them to keep them in contact with the boat.  And of course, he was continually checking weather sources.  He would take a walk around the boatyard when the weather was clear.  

Dave had taken the dinghy off of the ground and hung it along side the boat.  He didn’t want it to float away if there was flooding.  If there was surge/flooding over 6 feet and our boat floated off of the stands, he may have been able to use it to escape.  But only if the conditions were right. 
 
It had been raining heavily all day.  By late afternoon, the boat yard started flooding.  The boat lift is at the water’s edge and the lowest area.  The ground slopes up from there throughout the boatyard and is 6 feet higher once you reach the road.  Our boat is about half way to the road.   Dave thinks the deepest the water was at our boat was about 1 foot.  He judged that by having to stand on his tip toes to keep the water from spilling into his rubber boots, his “Wellies”.  At the lift, it flooded about 4 feet deep.  The older couple, Rosie and Larry, were wading through the water trying to grab dinghies, tool chests, etc.  I told them later that I thought they were crazy to be doing that.  They felt like they were doing their part to help salvage things. 

Jeff, the maintenance man, decided to leave because his power was off AND his stove was crackling and smoking.  HIs home and shop are at the water’s edge, so it was even deeper there.  And at that point, they all thought the water would get higher.  He asked Dave to check on his parrot when he could.  He also asked Dave if he had something to weight down the cage so the table it was sitting on wouldn’t float.  Dave  used an anchor and chain and a rock.  And the bird patiently waited for Dave’s finger to enter the cage, which it did.  By the way, the bird bites.

As the water was receding, one of the boaters was cooking food for anyone interested at the shower house/shop/laundry area.  I guess it was a gathering of survivors.  Everyone was checking on each other.  Everyone was wearing their rain gear and having a great time. 

By early evening, the hurricane had been down graded to a category 2, and it was staying off shore. Thanks goodness!  Dave said he was in the middle of “text mania” right now and would call later.  Besides friends and family, he had other people from the boat yard checking with him about their boats.  And we had friends with a boat in the water about an hour north of here that wanted to know how things were looking.  Dave told them that he had always wanted to be a harbinger.  They replied “harbinge away”.  He never lost his sense of humor.  It was good to see that he was calm about the whole thing.  He said the weather actually felt calmer that evening. 

We talked about 10:00.  First he sent me this text “Adrian’s boat that he let’s Brenda ride on, looks good.  I just did my bedtime walkabout.  That’s Botswana talk”  I had just told him earlier today that Brenda had grown up in Botswana and met Adrian there.  They later lived in South Africa and left from there on their sailboat.  Fascinating story. 

My NOAA radar showed the hurricane just hanging off the coast from Dave.  It seemed to have stopped moving.  He was going to try to get some sleep.  He wanted to be awake around 2:00 am when it was high tide again.  That’s when everyone expected the worst flooding.  I wished him luck. 


view towards the water. the horizontal bar in the distance if the boat lift at the water's edge
view from our boat towards the road.  Rocky's house is on the right of the picture, and Dave was welcome to go to the second floor if there was severe flooding

our boat stands

rising water

water rising and a good view of Dave's spider web to hold the framework in place

flooding

water under our boat




receding water, with a f
we were just north of Jacksonville

October 6, 2016 Evacuation

At 5:00 am, I had an emergency alert on my telephone warning us of the hurricane.  That was it!  I wasn’t going back to sleep and I wasn’t staying here for sure.  I got up and started making lists for packing, since Dave was still asleep. 

Once he got up, I said I would pack and then help him with any other preparations.  That’s when he said “I’m not leaving”.  All of a sudden, I was sick.  After hearing that hurricane alarm on my phone, my mind was set to leave, no matter what.  Brenda came over to ask what time we would be ready to leave.  She was shocked that Dave wanted to stay.  So she and I walked around the boatyard to talk to others.  Dave wouldn’t listen to our emotional pleading, so we were hoping to find a local that would talk to him about the risk of staying. 

We found out that Larry and Rosie were staying (and they are in their upper 70’s) along with a hand full of other single men.  The owner of the boatyard has a wife and 3 year old son, so they were leaving for their protection.  But the head maintenance man that lives on site was staying.  Yesterday he was urging people to leave because of the possible flooding.  But I guess that didn’t apply to him. 

SO, we could not convince Dave to leave.  He didn’t ask me to stay, or encourage me to leave.  It had to be my decision.  There is a level of knowledge of the risk vs what can be done to help the situation that each person has to be comfortable with.  I couldn’t stay, but it was tearing my heart apart to leave Dave.  He truly felt he would be OK and wanted to protect our investment.  He would leave if he had an early warning that things were changing for the worse. 

I called the rental car company to cancel by reservation about 9:30am.  They told me that the Camden county sheriff just announced a forced evacuation for the entire county.  Even that didn’t change Dave’s mind. 
This is the radar screen from my  phone.  They predicted the path to follow the coast, hitting land as early as Miami

Before leaving, a boat owner of a stored boat that was a couple boats away from us showed up to prepare his boat.   We had been discussing whether to remove our bimini and dodger.  It’s recommended when there are high winds.  But Dave kept looking at his boat and saying “he’s leaving his bimini up.”  So today, the guy says “Are you leaving your bimini up?”.  Dave said “I thought you were, so I was going to.”  The guy replied “I was just thinking I would leave mine up because you were!”  Is this what you call “the blind leading the blind”?  The guy started taking his down. 
the canvas over the cockpit is the bimini

I had a tearful good-bye with Dave in the privacy of our boat.  Then I had to just be mad at him for being so stubborn, or else I wouldn’t have stopped crying until I saw him again. 

Brenda, Adrian and I left the boatyard at 10:20 am.  I had sent the Louchart’s a text to tell them only 3 of us were coming.  Randy called just as we were leaving.  Dave wouldn’t answer him.  So Randy called me.  I kept repeating “I know!” to everything he said.   But there was no changing Dave’s mind. 

As we were driving through St Mary’s, there were a lot of closed businesses and places boarded up.  It was really strange.  I had to take a picture of the first “Evacuation Route” sign I saw.  I have seen them on the roads in the south for 4 years, but I never thought I’d be following one of them.  Our town had a designated high way to take inland, which was Hwy 40 to Folkston.  From there we turned north to head to Atlanta on back roads.  We didn’t want to sit on the interstate or creep along with everyone from Florida, too. 
Never thought I'd be following these signs
We stopped in Waycross for gas and lunch at Chick-fil-a.  Brenda and Adrian had never been to one and enjoyed it.  When we left there to head further north, there were traffic cops at every intersection.  We later heard that shortly after that, it took about 2 hours to get through Waycross.  We checked a couple hotels, but everything was full. 

We continued north to Alma.  There we found 2 rooms at a local motel, the Sunset Inn.  Adrian wanted to be closer to the boats, rather than driving to Atlanta.  That way we would be able to return to them sooner.  I was looking forward to seeing our friends in Atlanta, but this made sense. 
motel in Alma, GA
I spent a horrible afternoon watching the TV.  I kept sending Dave text messages about the surge that was predicted.  I wasn’t sure he was getting that information.  I finally had to stop watching the weather. 
If I zoomed out, you could see Nicole further off shore. 
We walked to dinner at the Huddle House across the street.  It is similar to a Perkins, but much smaller like a Waffle House.  I spent the evening flipping channels.  Don’t miss TV.
I think it was near Cape Canaveral at this point
I talked to Dave before going to bed.  He said 6 of the boaters that stayed in the boatyard decided to go to dinner together.  He was in the “scout car” looking for a place that was open.  Several places were boarded up and the town was deserted.  They stopped outside a Chinese restaurant that looked open.  A lady came out the door and said “We closed,  it too dangerous, you go now!”  Closer to the interstate, they found a pizza restaurant open, Ops.  They called the other car to join them.  The bar side was closed.  There were people at several tables, but there were several tables that were dirty.  When someone finally came to their table, they found out that only the owners were there trying to run the place by themselves.  All of their staff had left town, evacuated.  They explained that the service would be slow.  They had nothing better to do, so they pitched in and started bussing tables and seating people.  Other customers helped, too.  It ended up being a fun evening with everyone helping each other. 
packing in more boats
more boats than usual
the lift dock at the boat yard
several boats anchored for the storm

October 5, 2016 Hurricane preparation

Looking overcast to the south, eerie feeling
I was agonizing all day on whether to go to the class or stay here with Dave.  Everyone in the boatyard was asking each other what they thought we should do, stay or leave, what the history was of flooding in the boatyard, etc.  All the while people are moving loose objects, tying things down, removing anything that will catch the wind.  We removed our jib sail.  It is wrapped around the fore stay, but if a piece of the end works free, the wind will shred it.  Dave wanted to take it down and add a piece for protection in an area where the sail rubs the spreader arms.  So that will be done before we put it back up. 

About 4:00pm, the school called me and said they were closing the University of Florida on Friday.  That made one decision for me.  Gainesville is probably 80 miles inland, so this is getting serious. 

We decided at this time to contact our SD friends that live in Atlanta, Randy and Deb Louchart.  They have always told us we could stay with them if we needed to evacuate for a hurricane.  They were going to be home and definitely wanted us to join them.  We discussed our plans with another couple that have a 4 door pick up truck but no contacts in the area.  Brenda and Adrian are from South Africa.  They have never experienced a hurricane either. 

We checked with Randy and Deb and of course, they said our friends were welcome.  Another couple, Larry and Rosie, had an offer to go to a home in St Mary’s.  And they would be able to use the courtesy car from the boat yard.  A young couple, Derek and Rosie, were leaving and heading to Atlanta to be with friends.  The others either lived in the area, had options of places to go, or were staying with their boats.  There are several boats sitting here stored for the summer.  A few owners showed up to do some preparations.

I had been planning to defrost our freezer all week.  So I spent the evening doing that.  If we lose power, all that ice would melt.  We have a well freezer, but the water would flow into the refrigerator and damage the bottom of the door.  And during all this time, we are answering phone calls and texts from family and friends. 

October 4, 2016 Travel decisions

I’m not sure where to start, but this is when things started happening.  Of course we are always watching the weather.  So we knew hurricane Matthew was heading our way.  All week we were debating on what path it was going to take.  I had a dental continuing education class scheduled on Friday, October 7 in Gainsville, FL.  I had a rental car reserved for Thursday and a room in Gainesville Thursday night.  My concern was driving back after 5:00 on Friday into torrential rain.  I checked to see if I could extend my stay another night.  Since there was a home college football game on Saturday, my room rate at a La Quinta went from $75 to $265.  So I thought I would just find a room in the nearest town if I couldn’t make back.

I contacted the school to see if they would cancel or postpone the class because of weather.  At this time, they didn’t see any reason to.  Their cancellation policy was 2 weeks, but they would let me transfer my fee to another one of their classes.  They also told me they would contact me by telephone if anything changed. 

Dave continued with our boat projects as usual.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Sept-Oct, 2016

I will change this with more details in the future.
Basically, Dave and I have been doing projects on the boat.  Some adding gear, some repairing, some cosmetic, some maintenance.  I'll give more details later.
This morning, I was awakened at 5:00 by a hurricane alert on my telephone.  We will be doing last preparations for the boat this morning and leaving for Atlanta to stay with friends for a few days. 
Details and photos to follow.

Sept 3-4, 2016 Omaha to Georgia and Brunswick Landing Marina

I woke up this morning at 7:00 am thinking my friends were shaking the bed to wake me up.  No one was there.  Shortly after that, I was checking Facebook and saw a post by my niece in OK about an earthquake.  So I checked online, and sure enough, we felt an earthquake from OK here in Omaha, NE.  2 of my girlfriends also thought someone was shaking their bed to wake them.  The 4th one was sleeping on a futon.  She didn’t feel it, so her bed must have been more stable.  CRAZY!  I called my sister in OK, and she said she could hear the roar of it getting closer and louder before she felt it.  No damage, just a lot of rattling in the cupboards. 

My friends dropped me off at the airport around noon.  We had such a wonderful time together.  My flight home was uneventful.  Dave met me at the airport.  Since we had a rental car until Tuesday, we decided to get a room for a couple nights to re acclimate to the south and to each other.

On Monday, Labor Day, we drove to our storage unit in Brunswick, GA.  Then we met some friends at Brunswick Landing Marina at their Labor Day party.  It was fun to reconnect with several of them.


Rhonda, Rhonda, Mary, Ann

Gloria and Mary (my mentor)
Mary and Sylvia

Rhonda found this shark's tooth that morning in a dredge pile near the marina

August 29-September 2, 2016 Sioux Falls, SD and Omaha Nebraska

Aug 29-Sept2
I flew to Sioux Falls, SD on Monday to stay with my girlfriend, Sheryl Gerdes Bedard for a few days.  We had dinner with Chelle and Steve Hart.  Chelle and I have been friends for a bout 25 years and met through Ski for Light.  She is visually impaired and I used to guide her cross country skiing.  Gail Weiland Zeller joined us on Wednesday night. 
On Thursday, Lori Landgrebe Schneller joined us, and the 4 of us drove to Omaha, NE to celebrate our 60th birthdays together.  We toured the Old Market area of Omaha and were joined by another friend, Nancy Augspurger Carlson for the day.  The 5 of us have been friends since grade school. 
We had an awesome time at the tailgate party and Jimmy Buffett concert.  This was my 5th concert, Lori’s second, and first time for Sheryl, Gail and Nancy.
On Friday, the remaining 4 of us visited the Omaha's wonderful Zoo.
Sheryl found us a really nice VRBO to rent near everything we wanted.  It was so nice to have a home/condo to stay in instead of a hotel room.  We had such a great time together.  We have been friends for over 50 years.  So grateful to have these friends in my life.
road trip to Omaha-Gail, Mary, Lori, Sheryl
Old Market Omaha-Me, Gail, Sheryl, Lori

Nancy, Me, Lori, Gail, Sheryl

tailgate party, Gail, Lori, Mary, Nancy, Sheryl

yes that's the back wall-Nancy, Mary, Lori, Sheryl, Gail

Yeah Jimmy!!




Omaha Zoo- Lori and Gail standing, Mary and Sheryl sitting

Imax theater at zoo-Sheryl Gail, Mary, Lori

1974 top Nancy and Mary, middle Sheryl, bottom, Lori Gail and Kathy Donlin Harvey

back-Nancy, Sheryl, Mary, front-Lori, Gail

Sheryl's 18th birthday in front, standing-Kathy, Nancy, Gail, Lori, Mary
Nancy, Gail, Lori, Mary with Sheryl in front

"pooped" at the end of the weekend

"Eddie Rabbit" has accompanied us on several weekends together.  Gail's husband started calling us "the bunnies" when we were in high school because we were all soft and cuddly