First night on the road...Mom's

For those of you who are not sure of our Itinerary, we start in Sun City, Arizona to visit my 81 year old mother Mary Ann and her 85 year old boyfriend Lenny. My crafty mother arranged for one of her young friends Bob (a mere 71 years old) to pick us up at the airport...now we haven't ever met Bob but he was supplied with a picture of us, our flight number and arrival time. We of course had offered many times to catch a shuttle but Mom wouldn't think of it and so she dispatched Bob. We arrived on time, made our way down to baggage, figured out which carousel our luggage was coming to and hoped to find Bob. Nancy is so good at these kind of things...she spied him out in record time, we collected our bags and were on our way. Bob turns out to be the kind of guy I'd like to hang around with!!! My mom has cool friends?? Lenny has been ailing for about a week from a procedure he had done, and was still in the hospital...but there not to my surprise was my little Italian mother cooking up lunch for us. This woman was renowned for her fried chicken back in the day and is directly responsible for my being overweight (having taught me the love of food). After lunch we piled into the car and went to visit Len. Hospitals now days have more computers than doctors and nurses put together...if they could only tell you what's going on you'd be a happy camper. Unfortunately these computers have taken a vow of silence so you sit and wait and wait and wait for one of the God like Doctors to make an appearance. We are almost giddy with excitement when this man of action arrives! How wrong can we be??? This Dr. knows nothing, shares nothing and makes no promises. He hasn't read the chart and is kind of like a hot air balloon...nothing inside. After we harassed him for 10 minutes he jumps into action doing what, we don't know. So here we sit the next day getting ready to go back for a little bit of the same! I promise I won't yell to much!!!

Cafe Moda

A good plan gone bad. Funny night...a going away party was planned for Nance and I on my last day of work. I had never heard of Cafe Moda but got the address, the time to meet and looked forward to going. We, as the guests of honor, decided to be fashionably late so planned a 6:45 show up for the 6:30 party. Away we go...arrived at the restaurant and noticed it was in a kind of seedy strip mall, throwing caution to the wind we made our way to the entrance where a number rascally fellows were hanging out by the door. As we made our way around the Limo, parked sideways in front of the entrance, we entered what looked like a wedding hall with a reception going on?? Noticing we were the 1st to arrive and not sure of our location, we inquired, if in fact, we were in the right place. After being hustled into a corner and offered drinks multiple times, by multiple people, we were informed that someone named Valerie had made reservations for 10 people. Huh, the place was packed, we were pretty sure about 30 people were coming and this place could not hold all of us. Keeping the faith we decided to wait outside and went on a stroll thru the seedy strip mall. Finally we see someone we know...there to our rescue comes Valerie herself, together with fear and loathing we make our way back to the Limo blocked entrance and reenter the restaurant. Now the fun begins...as guest slowly arrive we come to the realization that our corner will hold no more than 10 people. The powers that be at Cafe Moda, now see their dilemma and decide to seat part of our party within what looks like a cross between a wedding reception and a prom. We make our way to our seats and notice sideways glances from the other party goers who appear to be a well dressed group of Filipinos (it being a Filipino restaurant). We certainly can't blame them as we have intruded right into the center of their celebration (which actually was a birthday). Sheila, who was hosting this send off, looked at me and asked if I would be more comfortable going somewhere else. In a word I said, "Yes...please". So now it was decided we all drive down to Ellis Island to have dinner and what we hoped would be at a better location. Only problem was only half the guest had arrived. Arrangements were made to call all the managers and have them call their employees who wanted to come and thus spread the word.
 Now the fun really begins, Ellis Island is packed, we have zero idea how many are coming so there is no way to give a correct count for our party that may or may not be seated in 2 hours!!! Where's the bar!
Hooray the bar is empty...we secured two long tables (picnic style) and settled in for bar food, hopefully drinks and a little karaoke. And now the fun really begins because here comes Elvis. I have to admit I have seen one of the greatest wonders I will see during my trip...this guy was 5 ft. tall, weighed ninety pounds and didn't know 1 word to one Elvis song...he got up and just mumbled...funniest thing I've seen in years! A skinny, short Elvis who can't sing. All the frustration of the night melted away and I found myself laughing alot. Thanks everyone for a story I will be sharing for years.

The last dance...

Tonight the NaHoku crew have a get together planned for us...food, friendship and karaoke...should be fun. Sheila has officially taken over (today I gave her my phone), good luck to her and all the Las Vegas District. This will be our last dance in Vegas, tomorrow we head for Sun City, AZ and a few days with my mom. Leaving 110 degrees and heading into the real heat of Arizona...yikes! Time to start the vacation tan.

The Cake.

Went to my last General Sales Meeting yesterday, it was a great time filled with tears, laughs and memories. One of my employees spent hours making a world map cake...it was awesome. I was very touched, Thanks Chris! I also received a fabulous compass (from everyone), many wonderful words of praise and lots of well wishes and hugs. A fun day.

Relief...

All the prepping for a big trip leaves you stressed and tired...thank goodness there's a big trip so you can recover! Had great advice from a fellow traveler and friend yesterday...V Taylor has been there and done that and cautions us to not let confusion and frustration be the lesson of the day, but rather to enjoy the taste, sounds and sights and let those be the keepers. Good advice.

The one month transition...

Sheila Reindel was named as my successor at NaHoku on June 3rd...here we are one month later and the transition is complete...in just 30 days she has stepped up to own the position she is filling and I'm learning how to bow out with grace...a win - win where we both are evolving into our new roles. This young woman has been a loyal, honest and hard working employee for me for 8 years and deserves every good thing she gets. Cheers to you Sheila and good luck! 

Last stop Las Vegas

Got here yesterday to begin my last days of responsibility...I'm excited to hand the baton to my replacement but at the same time sad to separate from this great group of people. Nancy is with me and from here we start our travel's. First stop is Phoenix where yesterday a sand storm 50 miles wide and 1 mile high hit the city...oh the wonders we will see! We are hoping to become the kind of wandering vagabonds that experience the fullness of life. See you on the road!