Oakwood at Adobe Ridge Glendale

... programming homework while Nel slept in. After a dive into Dunkin Doughnuts (thanks Nancy!) for breakfast we made great time to Columbus. We immediately had a highlight of seeing what Nel and Andrew dubbed the "deeronkey": a white deer with antlers and brown speckles running along the highway. Lou looked it up for us and apparently one of the Seneca white deer must have broken from the herd. Nel also got to see the outskirts of Cleveland where her ...

Sophie and Tarrence ready with their Livestrong bands - taking the bus to Missouri Valley, Iowa, where we start our ride tomorrow. Des Moines Register: "RAGBRAI preview: Missouri Valley"

Brenton, Jami, & I loaded up 'Maggie', our 1988 Fj 62 Toyota Land Cruiser, and pointed her nose north towards Flagstaff on Thursday afternoon; a much need break from the heat and a chance to see my favorite band RCPM laid ahead. It was not a typical early July afternoon in Phoenix, instead it was the kind of afternoon you would expect later in July. An afternoon where everything slows down because of the heaviness ...

The transmission was in Omaha this morning at 6:03am... it's now 1:00pm, is it here in Missouri Valley? Nooooooooooooooooo... AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! !!!!!!!!!! 1:39 PM So the parts finally arrived, and presumably the operation has begun. Let's hope. 5:28 PM Blue is out the hospital!!! We're going to try to make it to Des Moines!!!!

... researcher for Beyond Productions in Sydney, Australia. We have been commissioned by National Geographic to produce a fourth series of their successful program "Taboo" You might have a vague recollection of this program because you were actually interviewed for the program a few years back on the theme of "Rites of Passage and marks of Identity" To quickly refresh your memory... "Taboo" is a cultural documentary ...

... finish the job on Friday?" "Well... that depends on when the parts arrive. If he gets started before 10:00am, then yes." "And if it arrives later? Can he finish the job on Saturday?" "If it rains, then sure, he can finish it on Saturday." "If it rains?" "Well sure, this is Iowa... if it don't rain, he's got fields to tend!" So it all boils down to this. Earl's guy MUST finish on Friday because that gives us two days to go 1000 miles to get home on Sunday so we ...

... Or is this what it does after being recently topped off? Whatever the answer, it wasn't going to come from a rest stop in the middle of Iowa, right? Plus, the truck sounded fine... So off we went, and no noise is good news... For the first two miles... and then it started. First we smelled it. That unmistakable stench of burning oil that one learns to recognize by previous expensive experience... We both sniffed simultaneously... "Is that us?" I asked ...

... was able to find it, had one delayed flight that caused me to miss a subsequent flight and waited in line for an hour to have my missed flight rescheduled and bags tagged. In that one stretched out day I had my feet in 4 separate countries, my butt on four different airplane seats and only managed about 5 hours of interrupted sleep. The moral of the story? The best part about ...

... become very warm people when you love them. So, with that, I want to tell you the Ukrainian wishes my friends told me... I wish you good health, friendship, love and happiness for 2006! As we think of each other in corners far across the world, we bring each other joy, reminding ourselves that we are all part of a bigger family. Peace, Liz PS- See Matt Frankland's amazing photos from Sokal and Lviv (including my apartment) at his photo website: http://flickr.com/photos/blitzcat

... rest stops well maintained (some with wifi access) but it's still a long haul. I know the good folks of Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa will take exception but the charms of this area don't measure up to the Rockies, the Southwest and the National Parks.