The Captain & the Admiral wish you all a Very Merry Christmas! May your days be filled with joy and wonder as we celebrate the Birth of Our Lord!
As you may know, Contessa & the Toad arrived in the Southern California Valley as planned on Monday, October 7. Our target was to get the renovations completed on the casita before we returned home to the cabin on Saturday, November 23. We made it – with 3 days to spare!
We were so blessed with great contractors and are really happy with the results of their work. Below are a few “before & after” pictures –
So, we are ready for company! We return to the desert on December 30 and plan to remain there until the first of April. We were blessed with several visitors last season and it works amazingly well, as we stay in Contessa, so the guestroom and bath are ready for your visit!
In order to get the work done and to enjoy Route 66 on our way west in the fall, we departed the mountain long before the majority of the leaves fell. We returned to literally a mountain of leaves to be removed. Fortunately, Bill Wanless came for Thanksgiving – and was a tremendous help in corralling 55 gallon bags of leaves and getting them to the landfill. In all, we removed ~1600 lbs of leaves and blew another ~800 or so into the ravine at the “back” of the property.
We also shared the joy of getting our Christmas tree, as this is going to be a Very Special Christmas at Dry Dock! Sister Sue and Brother-in-Law Rik, along with Nephew Jim, Niece Christy and her guy Chris will all be with us – which has not been possible for many years. Rik retired at the end of July, which means he doesn’t have to worry about getting back to patients in bad weather – for which we are very thankful. The first to arrive will be tomorrow when Jim comes from Tuscaloosa AL; Rik and Sue arrive on Monday from the Eastern Shore of Maryland (via their new home close to Wytheville VA); Chris & Christy will arrive Christmas Eve from Nashville TN – and we will have several days together as they can all stay until Saturday! YAY!
The Captain and the Admiral then return to the desert on Monday, December 30. Fortunately, Dry Dock won’t be totally abandoned as cousins plan to house sit for a couple of months while their new home is being built in South Carolina. Contessa has been at “the spa” getting a mani/pedi, so we will pick her up early in the new year. She will be bright and shiny – and ready for our adventure this summer when we go to Alaska! Our plan is to return to the mountains (via American Airlines) for April & May – returning to the desert about June 1. We’ll link up with dear friends, Tom & Peggie Perrotto and depart almost immediately for the Canadian border. There we will rendezvous with Guy Deutermann & Kathy and 21 other coaches on June 24 for a 62 day journey through British Columbia, the Yukon Territory and some 37 days in Alaska. We’ll return to the States about September 1.
It is going to be another fun-filled year – we are SO VERY blessed! Wishing you and yours the most wonderful of Christmas seasons and a year of joy, peace and good health!
Contessa & The Toad Get Hitched 
Bill and Jan,
Your casita remodel is Beautiful! Very, Very homey and comfy! Curious who your contractor was? Looks like they did a Great Job.
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