The one where I went to Aloha

This is what happens when you ask some random Joe to take your picture... Be that as it may, that's me on the left and my motorcycle instructors Jessica and Tim.  They were excellent!  I've been riding in Korea for several years, but I still learned a lot about motorcycles, motorcycle safety and the law.  We did a weekend course at the elementary school I attended as a child.  Eleven of us started the course, then one guy fell off his bike and damaged his knee, so we were down to ten.  All ten of us graduated, and I got a 100% on the course written exam even though I messed up two times on the riding test... a little.  The tight U-turns inside a small box were no problem during practice, but as soon as they started testing it, I got nervous.
Yesterday, Bette and Jack and I went up to Aloha, Michigan, where my brother is remodeling a house into a B&B... but not really a B&B.  It's more like a French "pension" if you know what that is, a kind of half-ass inn.  Anyway, despite three years of work, my brother hasn't completed even enough of the building to allow for habitation of any kind.  No water. No sewer.  That's the difference between us.  I would have completed at least one small section to live in (including water and sewer hookup) then proceeded to work on the rest.  Eh, c'est sa vie et pas la mienne!  All the same, it was a beautiful day for a lovely drive through the northern woods to Mullet Lake where his new house is.  Here's a picture of the house/pension.  It's right at the front gate of Aloha State Park.

Chuck and Deanna and their kids Matt and Lacy stopped in on their way up to Copper Harbour.  They have a cabin up there in the wilderness of the Upper Peninsula.
My niece's daughter Amber arrived safely on Sunday and is now staying with us.  She seems to be getting used to the place quite nicely.

The one where I visited Beverly again

I went to see my cousin Beverly again today at the nursing home. We watched an episode of The Golden Girls.  She seemed happy for the company, and I got a nursing attendant to take our picture.  So I ran down to the Rose City drugstore where the photo shop lady helped me print out a hard copy which I put in a frame.  Then I ran back up to the home to give the picture to Beverly.  She was on her daily oxygen.  I brought her and the nursing staff a couple bags of doughnuts and some fig newtons, too.  I hope to visit her a couple more times before I have to go back to Korea.
I did a once-over at Wal-Mart for some things I need to take back to Korea:  bed sheets, a humongous towel, a couple card games, a board game, and a couple cheap bags for the trip back... other sundries, too.
One thing I'm finding nice but different from Korea is that TV shows start exactly on the hour or half-hour!  However, they cram scads of ads in every 4 or 5 minutes, so watching American TV isn't very relaxing.  I endure one show (NCIS) but that's about as much as I can tolerate of TV in America!
The Downtown Café lunch special today was grilled turkey on rye with chips french fries-- not very good ones, but OK.  There was a painting on the café wall by my mother's old friend Naomi Bunting, but the waitress had no idea whether Naomi is still alive or not.  I might try to find out tomorrow.  Tomorrow is a motocross at the high school, so I'm going to go out there to watch that.  Should be fun.  I did stop to look at the high school.  The sports field is all shiny and new-looking, but the rest of the facilities I saw were the same as when I went to school there, though somewhat dumpy and dingy.

The one where I go to Rose City

Yesterday, I decided to go see my cousin Beverly in the nursing home in Rose City then head out to a sports shop in the north woods to get a motorcycle helmet.  The car was low on fuel, so I stopped at the gas station.  Here's the fuel pump in Rose City.  I used the 89 octane button, and that's where that speaker device is located, and I'm not sure if that speaker would have started up had I chosen a different button, but be that as it may, as soon as I pushed the 89 octane button, that speaker started blaring out an advertisement designed such that it sounded like a radio station broadcast... anyway, I nearly dropped the fuel nozzle when it began as it startled the bejesus out of me.  I caught Beverly at the tail end of her breakfast, so I chatted with her and the ladies at her table before wheeling her down to her room.  We had a nice talk about dad's side of the family.  There are pictures on her wall of people I'm supposed to know, I think, but I don't.  At the sports shop, the lady helped me choose a nice helmet, and we chatted about the economy and teaching English in Korea.  Their store is in the country outside Mio.  I made a video of my trip out there.  There is so much empty land between towns in Michigan!  Stopped in to see Bette and Jack after all that.  They're having a time selling that motorhome.  Bette made brownies... really fudgey ones! Mmm.   Today, I'm off to see Bev again, and I'm taking my new helmet to show her, then we'll take a picture.  At the drugstore, you can get prints of pictures off your digital camera, so I'll get a print for her and put it in a frame.  They say it might rain this afternoon.  I'm hoping to see a thunderstorm before I have to go back to Korea.  I miss those.

The One Where I Drink Root Beer and Vernors

Yeah, two things I have missed in Korea: root beer and Vernor's ginger ale! I had to switch to "diet" versions since I've been guzzling them for the last few days! Yum, yum! Today is the gathering of my siblings and their spouses at my sister Connie's house in my hometown of West Branch. My brother John and his wife showed up yesterday afternoon. They were sitting on the deck with Lyle, and I thought they were some friends of his; I didn't recognize them at all. Well, I am told I met John's wife in 1980, but I don't recall. John I haven't seen since April 4, 1980, and he's made no attempts to see me on my trips to Michigan the last 25+ years. As typical for the phoney christians and their "family values", work always comes first with those types. Anyway, I have been told to keep my mouth shut and not cause any trouble, so I've only sat to chat when Lyle is around so that he can guide the conversations rather than I and my seething resentment! LOL I'll be glad when the elder sisters come... people I can talk to whose lives aren't consumed by some cult philosophy.

The weather today is gorgeous. A build up of heat yesterday caused a minor shower during the night, and today all that's cleared out making way for sun and moderate temperatures. Of course, the Michiganians think it's "hot" while I'm thinking it's just right, as long as I wear a jacket or loong sleeves! Speaking of which, I went to the Harley Davidson shop down the road and got a pair of boots and a long-sleeve riding shirt. The HD stuff here isn't very expensive at all, while in Korea, HD stuff is exorbitantly expensive! Next week, they'll have a jacket in my size that I want. It's pretty cool, and I'll look oh so sexy in Korea wearing it! LOL

Well, I'll write more later. For now, I have to stick on a smile and go mingle a little.

The One Where I'm at Narita Airport

I'm sitting in the airport outside Tokyo playing on my laptop. There isn't much else to do. Had a chicken sandwich and cuppa coffee. I'm very tired, but if I take a nap here in the public lounge, I'm afraid I won't sleep on the plane, which would make the trip even longer. I bought the movie "Ironman" and put it on my iPod to help pass some of the time. The book I brought is only mildly entertaining. There's still nearly two hours remaining for me to wait for my connecting flight to Detroit. I hope it isn't a small plane. The trip from Korea to here was only an hour and a half, but I was so cramped and uncomfortable that it felt like a lot longer. Last night Robert C. brought his girlfriend to my place, and despite his promises to take her to a motel, they didn't, and I only got two or three hours of sleep. He drove me directly to the airport in the morning, so that was nice, but I'm still peeved that he brought that woman along.

Well, I better get up and walk around before I fall asleep right here! Update once I get to my sister's house in Michigan!