Fall Has Arrived, Getting Ready for Christmas, Marching Band...

Monday, November 2nd, I received no sleep during the night. Zero, nada, zilch, zip. Nothing. Ugh. It seems I would feel sleepy at some point during the night and drift off to sleep. Nope. Wide awake all night light. This would make for a long Monday. 

I placed an Amazon order. In it I ordered me an OtterBox cover for my cellphone. When the package arrived, there were two OtterBoxes in it. I did the work on-line to return the extra OtterBox. Monday I would go to the UPS store and they would mail the extra cover back. Then I went to Kroger to pick up the items Claude would need to make dinners for us for the week. 

When home, I did the laundry. I updated my security setting with Chase. I posted the Relief Society lessons and announcements to Facebook and via eMail. I completed my Blog for the previous week and labeled and stored the pictures. Then I gathered all the Christmas presents I have collected and got things ready to wrap them on Tuesday. I also practiced my Duolingo to learn Italian. I am not diligent enough to do that every day but I do keep at it a bit. 

I felt this was a good day for a lady with no sleep the night before!

 

Tuesday, November 3rd, I determined it was time to changed the bedsheets to winter flannel. Claude was very happy with crawling to flannel sheets. They are so very comfy. 

It was National Sandwich Day. Claude and I observed this will sandwiches from McCallister's. Yum.

Other than that, it was a Castle watching kind of day.

Wednesday, November 4th, was a rainy day. We decided to treat ourselves to Claude's favorite chicken mini's from Chick-filA. We went through the drive-thru, then pulled around to the road beside Chick-filA to sit and eat. The trees beside us were almost completely gold. Their leaves are of a shape that like looking a star-laden tree. So very pretty. Some leaves were partially green and partially yellow as they made their change in color. We really enjoyed these trees as we ate our biscuits.

I updated my Christmas gift list grid and wrapped presents. Not the most productive day because I didn't even finish wrapping the presents. But it was a nice day none-the-less.

Thursday, November 5th, I finished wrapping the presents I have received and purchased. One of those was the Afghans I crocheted the first half of 2026 for each of our great grandmonsters in their favorite color. Left to right: Kennedi (pink), Joel (orange), Emelia (purple & pink), Nelson (red and blue) and Raelyn (blue). Hope they feel our love of each of them when wrapped in their favorite color.

I went through my grids for 2025 for snail mail cards and eMail cards and updated them. This let me assess the need for actual Christmas cards. I went to the draw our stash is kept in and found I needed six more cards to have enough for this year's mailing. This led me to gather and place on the dining room table the Christmas cards to color that Claude had remaining. The rest of my day was spent coloring Christmas cards. 

We went to Burger King drive-thru for dinner. We brought it home and curled up to watch Claude movies for the evening. These would be westerns.

Friday, November 6th, I was up before Claude. As I cleared my cell phone, the desire for Frank's donuts stirred in my brain. By the time Claude was awake, it was a full-blown need. I share my feeling with Claude by saying, "You are taking me to get Frank's donuts!" He chucked and agreed. I mean, really, it doesn't take much for either of us to want these delicious donuts. I marvel that we don't give in to that temptation more. We drove through Frank's and brought home donuts and chocolate milk for me. Great was to start our day.

I then told Claude I would spend my day coloring Christmas cards. It is a much slower process than I realized. By the end of the day, I had my needed six cards and had made the commitment to finish the remaining cards to be colored. I would not get them finished this day. By the time it was dinner time, my thumb was getting blister on it from coloring. Time to let this project rest on the dining room table for a day or two.

Our evening was spent watching horse movies. 

Saturday, November 7th, was a cool autumn day. We would got to Campbellsville University to hear Bailey play. As we got ready to leave our home. I got this great picture of the tree in front of our home in its fall glory. Love it!!

After grabbing a Bojangles biscuit breakfast, we were on the road to Campbellsville. It takes about one hour and 45 minutes to drive there. We were treated to another fall colors drive! Yeah!

We arrived at the university. Andie, Michael and Joyce (Michaels step mother), were already there. They were sitting in front on the football stadium. We joined them and waited for the Campbellsville University Marching Tigers Band to march in for the PITP (Party In The Plaza) performance before the game. I got up to get picture. I got this one of the band arriving. 

Somehow, not sure exactly how I did this, I found myself in the middle of the now two lines of band members coming in the stadium. I could only stand still as they marched by me on either side grinning at this silly Gramma. Andie got this picture of me. If you look at the middle of the picture you can see the back of my gray hair and my black coat. Look at the grin on the guy marching at the front. The kids were getting a kick out of it. My family was laughing hysterically. What a funny moment.

PITP is really a pep rally like we used to have in high school. The CU Marching Band is full of energy and do lots of dancing and moving to the music with cheering as they go. One the other side of the band in the next circle are the cheer leaders. They sing and yell as the band plays. Then the band turns and sings and yells as the cheerleaders take their turn. Back and forth building the excitement and energy for the game. Look for red dots under Bailey.

Michael had secured us seating in the stadium earlier. We showed our tickets on my phone, got our hand stamped and followed Michael to where we would all sit. Andie and Joyce went to get some food. 

These are pictures of the pre-game music. They play their fight song, My Old Kentucky Home, The Eye of the Tiger and other things. 

The half-time show was excellent. They have the band, baton twirlers, and flags all performing to the music. That band marches all over the place. It is amazing and they play very well. This was their Homecoming game. The Homecoming Court was presented. Then the King & Queen were announced. Then the band performed. That filled up the half-time. 

It was a great game. Campbellsville won by 3 points. They were ahead at the half by two touchdowns and a field goal. They played Georgetown College. Georgetown made up the difference and by the end Georgetown had 21 points and CU had 24 points. The stands were really loud. I had some difficulty. We are from Georgetown. I would look at the scoreboard and have to be sure I was looking or CU scores, downs, etc. And, to top it off, both teams mascots are tigers!

My favorite moment is their tradition at the end of a game. The band sits in the end zone. They play the school fight song. All the cheer leaders and football players come to that end of the field. Then the band plays a hymn. All these students stand arm-in-arm and sing this song together. There are no cliques. They all respect the importance of what each group brings to their football game. This is truly a precious moment to me. This is how life should be!

After the game, we went to McCallister's for a family dinner. My bowl of potato soup was excellent. We were doing okay with the temperature while the sun was on the stand. As soon as it started to lower in the sky, it was like someone turned the air-conditioning way up. Coats went back on and we were no officially cold. Hot potato soup was just the treat I needed. 

Sunday, November 8th, has been a good Sunday. The Primary children did their annual Sacrament Meeting Program. They are precious. I love that they are learning to stand in front of a large group of people and talk into the microphone, they learn to sing for an audience, and they share when they have learned in Primary during the previous year. Just precious and very touching. 

Lunch was at Arby's. They have remodeled the inside of our Arby's. This was our first time inside after the remodel. Very nice. 

Claude took his nap. I cleared some things from my DVR'd documentaries. I did doze off a bit.

I'll finish this Blog entry, be sure my pictures are all labeled and filed and I am ready to a quiet evening with Claude. 

Aubrey posted their pictures of Nelson. I was so happy to see them. We got him roller blades for his birthday. He was out learning to use them.

Then she included some pictures of her and her boy.

I love family pictures. The best gift in the world to me is pictures of these kids growing up.

My Feet, Tally the Robot, Louisville Run, Halloween...

Monday, October 26th, Claude and I both had appointments with Dr. Fine, our podiatrist. 

My ankle has been very painful and I have been limping for a couple of weeks. In addition, I needed to have Dr. Fine catch up on my neuropathy issues. X-rays were taken. I simply have tendonitis in that ankle. An elastic support was purchased, as well as insoles for my sneakers. I am to use Voltaren and wear the elastic support all day but not at night and wear my sneakers all day. I will return in two weeks to see if this helps. If it does not, I will need to get one of those huge boots to wear. Ugh!

Claude had a good check-up. He explained about stubbing his toe on a chair at Junie's and wondered if it was broken. Dr. Fine simply assured him it looked straighter and he might want to do the same thing to the one he broke by stubbing it when we were in Tombstone. Poor Guy!

We followed out doctor visit by going across the street to Bojangles for a biscuit, a quick grocery run to get things for our dinner with the missionaries Tuesday evening and to the Post Office to purchase the stamps for 2027 Relief Society birthday cards. 

While in Kroger, I sensed something moving that I thought was a display of some sort. When I looked up, it was moving toward me and turning. It was a robot. There was a sign on it which said, "Hi! I'm Tally. I check shelves for inventory." It continued to turn and move down the aisles. I went to where Claude was and had him check it out. Amazing. One of the store managers noticed my interest. He explained that, if you get close to Tally, it will make a whistle sound to alert you. Unbelievable!

When we returned home, I finished my draft of the November Relief Society newsletter. Then I completed my Blog for the previous week and labeled and stored pictures. I also cut out the pillows from Denise's shirts I had laundered. All is ready to sew. Claude went outside and trimmed the lilac bush so the trimming could go out with the garbage. 

In the evening, we watched Psych.

Tuesday, October 27th, I started my day by making a banana pudding for dessert. We would have the missionaries over in the evening for dinner. I reviewed my newsletter draft and sent it to Jenessa Dymock, our president, to review before publishing.

The missionaries joined us at 6pm for dinner. We had one from our ward and one from the Pioneer Ward. They were on splits. We served them the Cranberry Chicken recipe Junie served un when we visited her in Utah. Claude also made a salad and we had the banana pudding for dessert. Here is the Cranberry Chicken recipe. 

CRANBERRY CHICKEN

June Gulbrandsen Recipe

1 can whole berry cranberry sauce

½ package of Lipton Onion Soup mix

8-oz Kraft Coleslaw Dressing (equals half a bottle)

2-4 pounds chicken breasts (I prefer to just use tenders)

Mix first three ingredients in an 8 x 13 pan. Add chicken and press down so it’s covered in sauce. Cover with foil. Try to seal the foil so no air gets out. Bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours or more. (I overcook it so the chicken is so tender you can cut it with your fork. 

Serve over rice. 

At 8:20 we visited with Bishop Barber for the annual tithing declaration. It was nice to sit and visit with him for a bit. We talked about him and Jennifer's trip to Italy to pick up Rhett, their son who finished his mission in Italy. We talked about our experience in Italy. Just a nice visit about other things as well.

Katelyn posted this cute picture of Raelyn, our soccer girl!

Wednesday, October 28th, I woke up feeling a bit off kilter. At noon, Claude and I enjoyed have cereal for a very late breakfast. With the intermittent fasting, I don't have breakfast. Since Claude waited so late to have his, I had cereal for breakfast for lunch! 

Then I set to work making all those pillows from Denise's shirts. There were 8 of them. I got six of them sown, stuffed and seamed shut, one sew and stuffed but needing a bit more stuffing and one only sewn because I was out of stuffing. 

I wore my shoes all day long. It was killing me. I am truly a barefoot girl. Plus my feet hurt when wearing close-toed shoes. My sneakers are good Brooks sneakers but it it still tough on these poor feet. But I was obedient and wore them all day long. 

I was finally able to connect with the neighbor behind us about having Jon come through their yard to be able to cut down three trees in our backyard. Hallelujah. Then I sent Jon a text with their phone number. He wants to be sure they clearly understand what he has to do so there is NO drama with this process. 

In the evening, we watched the final episodes of the Psych series. We followed that with the Roy Orbison and Friends; A Black and White Night show we DVR's from KET. It seems they broadcast that in 2018. We have kept that one a long time but it is really good and we do enjoy seeing it. He has backup singers for this special like k d lang (wear a dress), Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, Tom Waits, T Bone Burnett and J.D. Souther. It was KET's fundraiser video that year. Excellent performance and music.

Thursday, October 29th, I received word from Jenessa that the newsletter was good to be published Wednesday evening. My first job was getting the tweaks made as I received a new announcement and flyer. 

Claude and I set out too run errands. We shopped at Kohl's to come close to finishing Christmas, at Lowe's to get more trim for the garage door, Walmart for more fiberfill to finish the pillows and ended our errands with dinner at 5 Guys.

When we got home, I called Betty Dixon, an old friend from GWRRA. 

Our television viewing this evening was watching most of the Pole to Pole with will Smith series. I do love the lessons he learns as he visits these amazing places.

This day I tried my insoles with my Orthofeet sandals. Didn't work as well as sneakers but it would do for a change of pace. 

Friday, October 30th, I spent my morning visiting Camille Klein. She is a friend from church. 

My afternoon was spent clearing the DVR while Claude napped. 

The evening was spent driving to Louisville. We met Andie and Michael at The Gaslight Diner for dinner. None of us had eaten there. Good food and we would go back. The reason for the drive was to go to Speed Car Wash. They were doing a Haunted Car Wash from 7:30 to 10:30pm. All four of us got in my car which need to be washed badly and Claude drove us down the road a few blocks to the car wash. There was a line of cars. We drove for well over a mile with both on-coming lanes of traffic full of cars waiting to get into the Haunted Car Wash. Well, it was a fun idea and we would have enjoyed it but we commissioned Michael to find us an ice cream place. Claude pulled to the side of the highway while Michael located Scoops and Stuff. Michael directed us on back roads to the ice cream store and we enjoyed some great homemade ice cream. Then we took Michael and Andie back to their car. It was a fun evening. 

We got home in time to watch a program about Jimmy Webb, a songwriter, composer and singer. He wrote a lot of songs that Glen Campbell sang. He also wrote that really LONG song that was so very popular years ago named "MacArthur Park". His guests were Lyle Lovett, Vince Gill and Ashley Campbell, Glen Campbell's daughter. It was another great evening of music. 

Katelyn posted these pictures of the kids at the school Halloween parade. Drew took Kennedi to watch. In order: Emelia, Joel, Kennedi & Drew, Kennedi, and Raelyn.

Saturday, October 31st, was Halloween. 

We voted first thing. This time we went to the Sheriff's office. We usually go to the library. We are very grateful for this voting early thing. After we finished voting, we got a picture of us with of "I Voted" stickers. Hayden, our grandson, has been diligently posting a reminder to get out and vote for a couple of weeks now. He is very enthusiastic about his right to vote. He event got an Illinois driver's license so he could register to vote in Illinois and actually go to the polling place to cast his ballot. Since he has been in college in Chicago, he has had to do an absentee ballot by mail. We wanted to thank him for encouraging others to vote and to know his grandparents did vote. 

We got our biscuit breakfast and drove to the car wash to get my poor car clean. 

Once home, I finished the two pillows. I took a picture of all eight pillows and sent it to Katelyn so she knew the project was done. Little mementos of the gramma Denise for her family and two for Christmas decorations. Nice.

Then I cut out and stitched up six burp pads. They are not in my craft bag with the crochet thread to crochets edges around them for baby gifts. 

I received an eMail that the flights I made for us to LA for our India/Nepal trip had been changed. The new flight would still go to Atlanta before flying to LA but it now only had a 50 minute layover in Atlanta. We had serious concerns about our luggage and us making it to the next plane. I changed that leg of our journey to still be through Atlanta but to have a 2 1/2 hour layover. Now we can walk to the next concourse and not worry about our luggage making it. 

I was grateful to receive two packages in the mail with Christmas presents in them. Yippee!! 

Claude made us a pizza and him some wings. We would hibernate in the living room watching television and not hand out candy again this year. This is the second year we have done this. It sure saves a lot of money on all that candy. Plus, we don't have to worry about eating lots of left over candy. We are officially to Bah-Humbug of Halloween.

Katelyn posted this picture of the kids and Drew going Trick-or-Treating. 

Sunday, November 1st, was a great Sabbath Day. It was Fast Sunday. This Sunday we fast for two meals and donate the money we would have spent preparing those meals to be used to assist those in need. This Sacrament Meeting the members have the opportunity to come to the pulpit and bear their testimony. One brother was sharing his experience of watching their daughter learn to speak. She wants to talk and does so but is still developing her vocabulary. Sometimes she uses the wrong word or pronounces the word incorrectly. It is very amusing to him. But it made him reflect on Heavenly Father listening to us, His children. Heavenly Father understand our speech. I leaned to Claude and whispered, "Heavenly Father speaks Sandi!" He chuckled. I tend to use wrong words or names. Example: Nissa, Katelyn and Raelyn are names I use interchangeably. They definitely different people. I will catch myself sometimes and make the change. Claude will smile and say, "I speak Sandi!" It was a sweet moment and I love the thought that Heavenly Father speaks Sandi. 

When we got to Sunday School class it was held in the back of the cultural hall. This allowed the Primary to practice in the chapel for their program next Sunday. This means we sit on folding metal chairs. Josh Rayburn came up to Claude and whispered something to him. Then he came back with two folding chairs from the Relief Society room. They have padded seats. Josh then went and got one for for Kitty Lloyd and switched her all metal chair for a padded metal chair. I looked at Jennifer Barber and said, "We are getting old!" We both laughed. This was indeed a kind gesture by Josh and we greatly appreciated him. 

Lunch was Jimmy John's by us. How nice to have a Jimmy John's near our home. The lady at the drive-thru used to work at the the other Jimmy John's across town. She recognized us and was very happy to see us. Love that. This was followed by Claude's nap and my clearing the DVR. 

Then I went to my laptop. I had to set up returning the extra OtterBox they sent me. I will take it to UPS Monday. Jensen/McKay Travel sent us a new Terms of Agreement document to be signed. I got that signed and printed for our travel folder. I received catalog that had items that would be good for Michael and Bailey's birthday's next year. I ordered those items. Then I texted back and forth with Hayden about his birthday present. He is traveling with work and I needed to be sure about sending him something. 

It was a good day.

GWRRA...

As I am cleaning out pictures, I have set some aside to make a Blog post about. One of these groups of pictures is our time with GWRRA (Gold Wing Road Riders Association). This was a wonderful time in Claude and my life. 

I first made a list of all the picture files I saved. This is by no means all the events in which we participated. But it gives a feel of the fact we rode the bike a good bit and Claude held many leadership positions during this time. 

We joined our local Chapter F based in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Claude purchased his first Gold Wing at the shop in Frederick, Maryland. It was a burgundy color of red. Claude would add lights and chrome. We learned quickly that the first thing you do with a new bike is get a custom seat. You take pictures of yourself, sent your weight and measurements in and a seat is built and shipped to you. On those long rides, you feel much gratitude for this more comfortable seat. You need to learn to pack light because the bike only comes with a trunk and two side bags. I learned that ironing our matching t-shire helped them to stay wrinkle free in this tight packing situation. 

Our first rally was May 1987 in Hagerstown MD. This was the Region B Rally. Chapter F in Maryland was part of Region B.

One of the cutest memories was watching Claude buying something, I think a t-shirt, from a little girl at her parents booth. She had him wrapped around her little finger. Claude ended up buying multiples of whatever it was he was shopping for. 

The toughest thing was the contention between some of the members. It seems there was a rift in GWRRA. Some people wanted to form their own organization. These people were there to stir up the membership to leave GWRRA and join their new organization. Since we were very new to this, it was a bit frustrating and we were not going to take up sides against anyone. We stayed with GWRRA and I couldn't tell you what happened to the other organization. 

1987_Aug, PA State Rally, Carlisle PA 

In January 1988, we participated in our first Polar Bear Run out of Alexandria, Virginia. Yes, it was cold. The run started from a restaurant. We got the instructions for the ride and gathered with others to participate as a group ride. Somehow, don't even know how, Claude managed to be at the front of the group and led the ride. Clearly we were novices at this and eventually had to find a way to have the group to a U-turn to get back on the route. It provided a chuckle for all of us and we enjoyed our first Polar Bear Ride.

March of 1988 found us scoping our sites for the first Maryland Stake Picnic. By this time, Claude was Chapter Director for Chapter F. We located Penn-Mar State Park as the site for our May Maryland State Picnic. Penn-Mar lets you know this park was on the boarder of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Beautiful spot. May found us with our merry band of Chapter F enthusiast putting on our picnic with out GWRRA members from other chapters in Maryland and Regional B attending. We were off and running in our GWRRA experience. Top Row: Jeff, Jim, Aaron, Mike and Fred. Middle Row: Claude, Sandi and Alice. Front Row: Dave, Phyllis and Frank.

May 1988 found us riding around Maryland looking for Historic Tour sites. Several of the states did these types of tours. You charged a small fee and the members received the list of historic sites in your state. The members drove to those sites and got a picture of them with their bikes in front of the site. This gets one out and riding and seeing some things we might not see otherwise. We sometimes rode on our own and sometimes with friends who were available when we could ride. We would hold several of these in Maryland. 

The Regional B Rally in 1988 was held in May in Wildwood, New Jersey. GWRRA started a contest for the Queen of GWRRA. Kathy Banton, the Virginia State Directors wife, we the first one of these chosen at Wing Ding, the National Rally. After that, the program was changed to couples instead of a single female. Chapters chose a couple to represent their chapter. The states then picked a couple from all the chapter couples to represent the state. At the Region Rally, one of the state couples was chosen to represent the region. This first ever of the couples competitions, Claude and I were chosen as the Chapter Couple, then the State Couple and at this Region B Rally, we were chosen as the Region B Couple of the Year. Quite and honor. 

Jake, our son, went to Goshen Scout Camp in Virginia. This was a church sponsored event. We asked some friends to take a ride with us and go up to visit on Sunday and attend their sacrament meeting. Dave and Phyllis Ayers went up with us. Phyllis pronounce the service quite like a town meeting. It was a nice ride and allowed Claude to fulfilled his church obligations as well as his GWRRA responsibilities. Plus we had a nice ride with friends.

1988_July MD Chapter F Does Pizza 

    While I have kept pictures of this event, it reminds me of other fun times are Chapter F meetings. These are held once a month and usually at a restaurant. One time we met at a Chinese restaurant in Germantown, Maryland. We all sat at a big round table with the Lazy Susan in the middle. After we finished the meal, the server came with one ticket for all of us. One of the ladies took the ticket to break it into individual bills. She looked at it and was stunned. All she could say was "My G.., it is in Chinese!" We all laughed hysterically.

      Another time we met for breakfast. Everyone had exactly the same thing with the exception of one man who had an orange juice. The server again brought one ticket for all of us. We thought we would split the bill and tip equally among those attending. One man complained. He did NOT have the orange juice and didn't feel he should pay for that. Really. The orange juice cost between 12 people was negligible. We were all quietly amused. 

In 1988 we were ready for a road trip that didn't have anything to do with a GWRRA event. July 29-Aug 5 we took a ride to Nashville, Tennessee with Phyllis & Dave Ayers. I had been being treated for heel spurs. My feet were wrapped in that elastic tap stuff to support them. I was hobbling around. But we did have a good trip. It was over my birthday. 

The Pennsylvania State Rally in 1988 was held Sep 10-1 in Intercourse, Pennsylvania. We went with Phyllis & Dave Ayers and Fred Myers. You get a pin for each Rally you attend. Some states did a bar with the states name and a bar could hang from this for each of their rallies you attended. Obtaining that Intercourse bar was a BIG draw for this rally. Being among the Amish is an interesting experience. They don't allow pictures and you really, really, really want to take a picture. Intercourse is set in the middle of their beautiful farms. They were harvesting. The food is amazing. Simple, home-cooked fair set on a long table family style not matter who you are dining with. It was a great weekend. 

1988_Sept MD Chapter F Ride

1988_Dec MD Chapter F Christmas Party, Montgomery Village MD our home

We attended Wingless Weekend in Virginia in February 1989. We had given Kathy and Earl Banton silly gifts at one of our functions. This rally they reciprocated with fun and silly gifts for us. 

Delaware is a very tiny state. There are fewer people and it take people to put on a rally. So, Bob Crowl, the Delaware Stake Director, opted for a Hobo Stew each year as their state event and fund raiser. This was held in May 1989 at Lums Pond, Delaware. Everyone brings a can of vegetables and it all goes into a huge cauldron. You eat at picnic tables out of the cans the veggies came in. Great fun.

In May 1989 we held our Maryland State Picnic at Gathland State Park, This year we actually had a Chapter Banner. Left to Right: Bevy & Fred Myers, Claude in the background, and Dave & Phyllis Ayers. The Banner was made by one of our Chapter F members. We would now proudly carry it and hang it at all rally's we attended. 

This is our core group we loved traveling with June 2-4, 1989 at the Region B Rally which was held in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Left to Right: Sandi, Phyllis, Dave, Bevy, Fred and Claude with our Chapter F Banner.

I determined it was my turn to plan a Chapter F ride. I chose Hershey, Pennsylvania as our destination. In June 1989 we took this ride. We visited Hershey Rose Garden. They gave us a huge discount on our entrance fee. Once inside, we understood why. They had a storm and all the roses were gone. We also visited Hershey plant for their tour. Left to Right: Claude, Sandi, Phyllis, Dave, Gary Fluke, Bevy and Fred.

Cumberland, Maryland is located in Alleghany County. They had their 200th Anniversary Parade in August 1989. They invited GWRRA to participate in the parade. It was a nice invitation. The crowd was really nice to us. The problem is that a parade moved very, very slowly. That kind of driving is hard on a motorcycle. They are built to be cruising down the highway. To ride stop and go very slowly for an hour or two is not their friend. We enjoyed participating but learned we would not ride in many parades after this.

1989_Oct VA Rally in the Valley, Roanoke VA

1990_0520 MD State Picnic, Penn-Mar State Park

1990_0616 Region B Rally, Winchester VA

1990_Aug MD Chapter F Campout, Gettysburg PA

1990_Aug Wing Ding XII, Knoxville TN

1990_Oct MD Staff Meeting, Gaithersburg MD

1990_Oct NJ State Rally, Somerset NJ

1991_Jan Winterthing, Timonium MD

By May 1991 it was time for Maryland to step it up a bit. We would move from the picnic to a full-blown rally. We used the Holiday Inn in Gaithersburg, Maryland as our venue. My office was near there and used it as staging area for a bike parade through Gaithersburg and Montgomery Village. This picture was staging for the parade. The man on the bike was affectionately known as "The Plain Brown Wrapper". He always carried with him an industrial size roll of shrink wrap. When someone left their bike, he would pull out that roll of shrink wrap and wrap their bike up in it. Hence his name. He was a character from Pennsylvania and we loved him dearly.

We also started holding our own winter event. Claude named it Winterthing. It caught on quickly. We did our thing in January each year. Kathy and Earl Banton did Virginia's Wingless Weekend in February. This was taken at our January 1992 Winterthing II. Standing at the table in a purple t-shirt and black vest is our son, Jake Christensen. Jake traveled to many rallies with us. Behind the table left to right are Bevy, Fred, Sandi and Claude.

1992_July Vintage Motorcycle Days, Westerville OH

1992_Oct Harrisburg PA

Claude received several plaques and thank you's at the end of 1992. He would become a National Director in 1993. He had been Chapter F Assistant Director, Chapter F Director, Maryland Assistant State Director, Maryland State Director, and Regional B Assistant Director.

1993_Feb Wingless Weekend VA

1993 Claude purchased a new Gold Wing. This was bigger than the first one. We learned some lessons with the first bike. Claude bought lots of chrome items to add to it. Turns out all that chrome needed to be polished regularly. Some guys are into this and spend many hours of their lives detailing their bikes. Claude knew he wanted some chrome features but not nearly as many as he did with the first bike. We did add lights. I was all about lights to help us show up on the highway. Drivers look for cars. They do not look for motorcycles. Lights help a bit with making that safer. This was our new Honda Goldwing 1500. Yes, a custom seat and a sound system were the first additions. 

In May of 1993 we had the bike pinstriped at a early rally. They did a very tasteful job. We were very happy with it. 

In June 1993 Claude was appointed as the GWRRA National Director of Leadership Training. This was a brand new division and Claude would be the creator of it. This was a big deal and Claude was stellar at creating and promoting this new program for GWRRA. It would have him travel many miles via airplane instead of bike. Eventually he would have a staff that included assistants and a reporter to keep a history of what they did. 

He created the Horizon's program. This was to train the leaders of chapters and stated and regional. It was a weekend program and was very well received. I remember distinctly Claude telling people in each session that GWRRA was not the most important thing on their list. They had families and faith and work that needed to be high on their list of priorities. Audible gasps were heard the first time he said that and I was present. To some, GWRRA was their religion. Claude wanted to be sure they had a balanced life and that GWRRA was a part of it. This picture is one of the trainings he did. Claude is center front. 

Wing World was the magazine for GWRRA. It was published and mailed monthly. In Aug of 1993, an article about Claude's appointment as National Director of Leadership Training was printed in the magazine.

This was the National Staff. To our belief and the belief of many others, this was the pinnacle of GWRRA. The founders of GWRRA were Shirley Garcia and Paul Hildebrand. They formed GWRRA in their home when they were married. They would later divorce but they both still lead GWRRA. Back Row: Roger Losornio, Paul Hildebrand, Ed Price, Pete Woodruff, Claude Christensen. Bottom Row: Shirley Garcia and . These were all good friends who worked well together. 

1994_Jan Winterthing III, Sheraton Fontainebleau, Ocean City MD

We traveled to Nova Scotia in February 1994 for Claude to teach a Leadership Training to the GWRRA directors in the Maritime Provinces. We were given a stained glass are replica of the ship on the British half-penny. This ship was Sir Francis Drakes Golden Hind. Amazing gift. A memory from this trip was picking up our rental car at the airport. Claude got in it to drive. As he drove he said, "I don't know what this is but I'm doing 100!". We drove the coast of Nova Scotia before going to our meeting. One of the members took us after the evening meeting to watch the Tidal Bore coming from the Bay of Fundy toward Halifax, Nova Scotia. Cool! Our first Tidal Bore.

1995_Mar Region C Workshop

1995_Jun Americade, Lake George NY

1993-1995 GWRRA, Service as National Training Director

1996 Region M Workshop, Lawrence KS

1997_Jan National Ops Meeting, Billings MT

In July 1997, Wing Ding XIX was held in Billings, Montana. This was a special one for us. Jake, our son, drove from Utah to Billings with Claude. Jake would sing the Canadian and American National Anthems at Opening Ceremonies. This is Jake with the Canadian Mounted Police. So great to hear him sing. Once Claude was National Director, he was given a golf cart to get around to all he would have to do. He loved driving the golf carts. 

October 11, 1997 we attended the Regional H Rally in Shreveport, Louisiana. I grew up in Louisiana. Born and raised a Southern girl. My parents were living in Blanchard, Louisiana at the time. It as great to go to this rally and take my parents to some of it. 

1998_0630 National Ops Meeting, Huntsville AL

There are so many more memories. We enjoyed our time riding the bike and serving in GWRRA. It was lots of work with lots of opportunity for growth. We made treasured friends. Grateful we had this as part of our life journey.