a short update

I suppose that I should bring whomever is out there reading this ongoing epistle up to date. Last Wednesday Jan and I drove over to Rochester to meet the tooth doctors. After yet another x-ray of my mouth that shows the broken titanium strap and that the jaw bone has not fused together. Our concern was with only eating on one side, would it wear the teeth down on that side? Doctor Viozzi doesn't think that that should be a problem. I am eating almost anything that I wish to, although sometimes it takes some extras chewing to break it down. He went over what would be involved in repairing the jaw and it sounded a lot like the original operation. The spot that is not fused would need to be cleaned out and a bone donation from my hip this time to fill the gap. You know, I can do with out that kind of pleasure, just now when I am feeling pretty good. I have a hunch that it would mean another week at Mayo and six months of recovery, no thanks. I am eating just fine, probably too good for the diabetes. Anyhow we decided to skip the festivities for now, unless an infection should get going and then I would have no choice but the repair job. On to another subject. Jan and I took the trailer over to Hixton, Wisconsin over the weekend to do some more riding on those good back roads over there. We left here in a rain storm- the first in six weeks I think- and spent the night in the trailer listening to the rain on the roof. Saturday, the clouds broke up and it turned sunny and pleasant so we headed down to Winona and up the river to Alma. At Alma there is a great overlook from the top of a bluff. We had a short lunch and rode back roads north and east back to the campgrounds. Sunday we went out but were dodging rain at times so we came back early, although I did go out later in the afternoon for awhile and got caught in the rain and high winds when the cold front came through. Yesterday we headed back and bucked high wind all of the way home. It is too bad we were not coming home from the Hills with a wind like that at our back. As it was the truck sucked a tank of fuel from Stewartville to St. James running in third or fourth gear- out of five- most of the way. I thought that this expensive diesel engine would pull the trailer without breaking a sweat, but live and learn I guess. We got home before 4pm, unloaded and got it parked on it's pad. With the temperatures this week I may need to think about winterising the trailer to keep the water systems from freezing up. It would be nice to take it out to the Hills again but time is starting to run out on that scheme . We have been thinking about running out to Rapid City around Jan's birthday but it would not include the trailer if we go for just a couple of days. So anyhow, that should bring me up to date. Any questions leave me a comment, OK? Believe it or not we took no pictures this weekend so I may look for something nice.