Tuesday, October 27 through Friday, November 6, 2020: Flagstaff Appointments, Election, and Farewell Mary O'Dell

Tuesday morning, I dropped Barbara Coad off at the Flagstaff Airport. I then had an appointment with Maria Gillespie of Crest Insurance. I am changing my Medicare Supplemental provider to Blue Cross. On Wednesday, I had an a nail appointment at 66 Nail Spa in Williams. 

Thursday morning, the Williams Pickleball group started to play pickleball again in the Williams Rodeo barn. We have not been playing back in the barn since Covid-19 shutdown in late March.

That afternoon, I had an appointment with Kelsey to see Dr. Amstutz. This was her third appointment for acupuncture.

Dr. Amstutz added a laser treatment at the end of Kelsey's appointment that required sun glasses --- my movie star dog!

On an early walk with the dogs, we came across some local mule deer grazing on the Elephant Rocks Golf Course 8th green.

Later that morning, I found Kelsey curled up on our bed. Since her spinal injury several months ago, she has not been physically able to jump up on the bed.

It is so wonderful that the acupuncture treatments are getting Kelsey back to her usual self!

Several of my neighbors went to a Mike Pence Rally for President Trump at the Flagstaff Pullium Airport. Donna texted me a photo.

It is interesting living in a state that is being wooed by the political parties. Over the years, Arizona has been a Red State, but may become a Blue State. Prayers that this doesn't happen!!!

 

Saturday morning, the Williams Pickleball group once again played in the Rodeo Barn. That afternoon, I told Tom that I would like to take him to dinner --- to thank him for caring for Kelsey and Jamie when I was in Sedona. We decided to try the restaurant at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel.

One time in the summer, Tom and I were able to listen to Rick Remender at the Wild West Junction. He was playing there because his normal venue --- The Fred Harvey Restaurant --- was closed due to Covid-19. We really liked his country music. It was nice to see and hear Rick again!

The restaurant is cafeteria style. It is all you can eat, but with Covid-19 precautions, all the food is served on plates by restaurant employees. The beef tenderloin station served rare meat and it was very good. We also enjoyed the pasta station. The dessert was excellent --- caramel-apple blossom a la mode 😃😃😃 All-in-all, we were pleasantly surprised!

 

Sunday morning, Tom got a call from his sister Pat. Pat lives in Florida, but flew to Indiana the day before to see her mother. Mary O'Dell had been moved into a hospice facility. She died peacefully in her sleep at 4:20 a.m on November 1.  Mary was 94 years old.

Of course, the news of Mary's passing was difficult. Unfortunately, the quality of life for Tom's mother in the past few years was not ideal. The Covid-19 nursing home shutdown also made it impossible to visit her.

 

In the afternoon, Tom dropped me and the dogs in the Kaibab National Forest --- dry Holden Lake --- and we walked home.

Tom began coordinating plans for us to fly from Flagstaff to Indianapolis in order to see his family and attend his mother's funeral.

On Monday, Tom and I looked at my spa. There seems to be a very slow leak.

Tom took off a few panels to see if we could find the leak. No luck. At some point, I will call Summit Spa and have one of their employees look at the spa.

 

We will be flying to Indianapolis on Tuesday, November 3. It is Election Day, but we already cast our ballots.

I began to pack for our trip. The dogs will be boarded four nights at the Grand Canyon Railway Kennel. That afternoon, I had a delightful 90 minute massage appointment with Natanya.

Early Tuesday morning, I took the dogs to the Grand Canyon Railway Kennel.

Tom and I headed to Flagstaff. I dropped off my 46 year old Elna sewing machine at the Odegaard Sewing Center. I had hemmed Tom's emerald green bathrobe and the bobbin was now sticking. It has been five years since it was last serviced there. We had a 12:52 p.m. flight from Flagstaff to Phoenix.

We only had an hour layover in Phoenix. Most of the time was spent walking from one terminal --- past a second terminal --- to get to the third terminal for our flight to Indianapolis. Throughout the airports and on the airplanes, masks are required.

It is a pain, but what else can be done? We arrived in Indianapolis at about 8:15 p.m.

Fortunately, our hotel was only 15 minutes away. Tom had rented a car through Enterprise --- conveniently located in the terminal parking. We stopped at a local liquor store to get some wine and bourbon --- where we ran into Tom's sister and her son and daughter! Then, we went to a Burger King to pick up something to eat in our hotel room. We wanted to watch some of the 2020 Election results.

 

The next morning, I took an early walk near the hotel.

At about 10:30 a.m., we met Tom's sister and her son and daughter in the hotel lobby to head over to the Martinsville funeral home. Tom's sister Pat lives in Ft. Myers, Florida. So does her son, Matt. Pat's daughter, Christie, flew in from San Francisco.

 

Tom and I were last in Martinsville, Indiana, in October of 2018. Tom grew up in this city --- the home town of UCLA basketball legend John Wooden. We arrived at the funeral home around 11:00 a.m.

Tom's mother had prepaid for her funeral when her husband Wallace died over thirty years ago. It was an open casket funeral. I am not sure that I have ever been to an open casket funeral. The viewing began around noon. Since Covid-19, funeral attendance has not been very robust. The family members gathered in the lobby for a photo.

Except for this photo, masks were required throughout the service and inside the funeral home. Local Martinsville friends and extended family paid their respect for sweet Mary O'Dell.

Tom placed his 73 year old Teddy Bear in the coffin with his mother. Mary O'Dell gave that Teddy Bear back to Tom when we visited her in Ft. Myers in November 2017.

The funeral service began at 1:00 p.m. The pastor was a friend of Tom's nephew Nate.

Tom, who is now the family patriarch, expressed some very fine words.

It was a lovely service. Six pall bearers placed the coffin in the hearst.

The procession to the cemetery was a short ten minutes. The pall bearers placed Mary's coffin at the grave site. 

The family members sat down in chairs and listened to a few more remarks from the pastor. It was now time to pay our final respects.

Tom knew that his mother's parents were buried in that cemetery. I looked up and saw their grave site. Tom's niece and I place some flowers at their grave site. 

It was a sad day, but a beautiful celebration of Mary's life.

That afternoon, Tom received an e-mail that our Panama Canal Princess Cruise scheduled to depart Los Angeles on December 20 has been cancelled. Princess decided to cancel all of their cruises through the end of December. Frankly, I was not surprised.

 

Tom and I got back to our hotel at about 3:00 p.m. I took off to find a suitable place to walk. I found Clarks Creek, near the Plainfield High School.

I was not able to explore too long, but I did get to a nice view of the creek.

There was also the capture of a beautiful sunset over the high school.

Tom's nephew, Nate, suggested that we all meet for dinner at BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse in Avon.

Eight of us gathered at the front entrance of the restaurant at 5:30 p.m. The additional person was Nate and Kim's young son, Isiah. With Covid-19, parties of seven or more are not allowed to sit at one table. So, we were split up into two tables --- six feet apart. It was not ideal, but it worked.

 

That evening, the 2020 Election mess was evident. When we went to bed Tuesday night, Trump was going to be victorious. When we woke up the next morning, the tides had shifted to Joe Biden. It was incredible! Vote counting in swing states had been halted. Was this voter and ballot fraud lead by Democrat operatives?!? 

With all this election mess, I needed a good morning walk. I drove our rental car to the Plainfield High School and walked to Hummel Park.

In Hummel Park, there was a beautiful path called Blue Heron. I saw a red squirrel.

The Blue Heron path also took me by some large ponds.

When I got back to the hotel, Tom and I decided to get a bite to eat. We had lunch at the Coachman Restaurant & Lounge. The owners of the Coachman used to have a restaurant that Tom frequented when he was a manager at a roller bearing factory in Indianapolis.

The restaurant had a very nice atmosphere and the food was good. After lunch, we went on a "memory lane" ride. We drove by Tom's old Indianapolis factory and we drove by two homes that Tom and his family lived in. Both homes were in Plainfield.

That evening, all of the O'Dell family met at Nate and Kim's home for a barbecue. Masks and social distancing were not allowed! Nate barbecued chicken and pork ribs. Tom and I brought wine and a case of yuengling beer.

The company that brews yuengling beer is oldest brewing company in the United States. It is 191 years old. Until a few months ago, yuengling beer was not available in the west. A partnership with Molson Coors is making a western distribution a reality.

Christie enjoyed an IPA beer, while Kim, Pat, and I had wine.

We had dinner outdoors. The Indiana weather was perfect. Unseasonably warm! There was another beautiful sunset.

Friday morning, we said good-bye to Pat, Christie, and Matt. Our flight back to Dallas --- and then Flagstaff --- was not until 4:30 p.m. I took a 10:00 a.m. walk from the hotel to Hummel Park and back. Tom and I packed up the car and drove to downtown Indianapolis. I had read about the downtown Canal Walk.

It was a beautiful sunny day. The Canal Walk is not built up like the Austin River Walk, but it was a nice stroll.

Before heading to the airport, we had a late lunch at nearby Steak 'n Shake.

The dine-in option was not available, so we had our hamburgers and french fries on a picnic table adjacent to the parking lot. We dropped off the rental car at about 2:30 p.m. The flight from Indianapolis to Dallas/Fort Worth was only 1 1/2 hours. We had a 1 1/2 hour layover in Dallas, so we had some adult beverages and some Italian food at a restaurant near our gate. We landed in Flagstaff a little after 9:00 p.m. It was an easy drive home.