YCGL - Minnesota - Day 23 - Monday , May 9 - Summit, SD - 180 miles

 It rained, heavy, last night.  The flow of water into the basement increased a lot over last night .  Joel had stayed the night, but had to leave before I got to Bob's house after staying in the motorhome last night.  

Bob and I had a little chance to do some computer work, specifically getting him back into the Norwegian Digital Archives.  This is a huge depository of information about Norway, including all existent church records up to 100 years ago.  Bob is computer adverse and has never had a good experience with Windows 10.  I wrote down keystep by keystep how to get into his email, use the contact list, save pictures, etc.  

But by then, it was after 1:00 and I had wanted to leave by noon.  So I had to go.  It was tough leaving him.  At 91, he is hurting and this flooding has really gotten to him.  It is possible he won't be here long.  Sometimes Bob drives me crazy.  He is impatient and is demanding, especially in computer work, which I need to help him with.  But he has a heart of pretty rich gold alloy.  He, Grace and Carol (in Phoenix) are the last of the older generation of cousins..

One good thing of all of this mess is that I got to spend a lot of time with Joel.  Our paths have never crossed well, he was often gone when I visited Bob in the past.  I have really had a good opportunity to talk and get to know and respect him.  He has a strong moral line and a love of people around him.  I've enjoyed our time and am sad that I missed saying goodbye.  I look forward to seeing him again.

I got on the road and out of the rain about 20 miles south of Fertile.  But I got into the wind. It was straight across the road so I had to steer into it.  That means that when the wind is interupted by a truck or an overpass, the MH lurches to the right and I have to make a quick correction.  So, it was hands-on and white knuckle much of the way.  

At a rest stop where I had lunch, read and took a nap while the wind was blowing.

Thank goodness I've been able to listen to audio books.  The three so far this trip are:

Devotion by Adam Makos.  "An epic story of Heroism, Friendship and Sacrifice".  It is about Navy Jet Fighters during the Korean Conflict, which I know little about.  It was a great listen, with the main theme of friendship and comradery developed between the pilots.  The last four hours were riveting. 

The Ghostway by Tony Hillerman.  I think Sally and I have listened to all the recorded Hillerman books, especially during our trips to the southwest.  They are always a fun listen, and I could listen to the narrator George Godel read a phone book.  The wonderful stories of Navaho detective Jim Chee and his work around the Four Corners area.

Airframe by Michael Crichton.  A great read/listen about the investigation of an aircraft incident over the Pacific.  It hits a ton of buttons for me, design engineering, safety, competition, legal, the news and its bias, how the FFA works and manufacturers respond.  Good intense all the way through.  I'll end this one today.  

If you travel, I suggest that you look into Chirp.  It is an app that sells audiobooks at $1-$4.  They offer five to ten books a day.  Easy to purchase with a very wide selection.  I bluetooth it to the car or MH radio so it is loud and clear.  In a way, I has expanded what I've listened to, or not.  If a book is $2.00 and I think I might enjoy it, well that's cheaper than a cup of coffee or a burger.  I'll listen for an hour and if it doesn't strike me by then, well, I'm just not out that much. 

The books are loaded on my phone.  The motorhome does not have bluetooth built in, so I purchased a bluetooth adaptor that both sends and receives.  I use the send function to connect my AM/FM radio to my headphones for the basketball games, and then use the receive function to listen to my books off the phone.  This also allows me use the GPS while I'm driving with the audio book running in the background.