Reuniting with an Angel; Steep Grades??? Andouille! Vacuum Data...

Sunday night’s dinner aboard The Bus was with a very special guest. Catherine Chiesa lives nearby in Gurnee, IL, but by Divine intervention had attended one of Suzanne’s S.O.A.R! Workshops in The Villages last Spring. They kept in contact, and Catherine worked with Bev Garlipp to select the best venue for our Messages of Hope documentary viewing and the S.O.A.R! Workshop here in Chicagoland. Suzanne gave Catherine and her son a very evidential reading on Sunday, and she was able to join us for dinner. Catherine is an amazing and amazingly spiritual woman, and has worked with Ekhart Tolle, Gary Zukov, and many other luminaries in the spiritual community. She has more energy than most 20 year olds, and we are humbled and honored to have her helping and advising us here in the Evanston/Chicago area. 

This morning we were up early for a long bike ride on the Des Plaines River (DPR) Trail, a multi-use trail that follows that river for about 30 miles. We did 25 miles (out 12.5 and back 12.5) in the center section. It was often shaded, meandering through pretty flat areas, connecting parks, preserves, and communities along the river. Using underpasses, it avoids crossing major roads, so it’s a very safe route. Suzanne broke out in laughter at this sign (and several other similar signs) advising riders to exercise caution because of steep grades... after riding Colorado’s bike trails with 6%-8% grades and switchbacks, these were as flat as pancakes! It was still a hard ride, as it was quite warm and humid; we’re still acclimating to the humidity after 3 months out West.  

Suzanne felt sorry for me the other night when I was less than enthusiastic about my corn bread at the base restaurant, so last night she cooked up a batch of Cajun jambalaya with andouille sausage and shrimp. (For those who don't know Cajun cooking, Andouille is a French/Cajun style smoked sausage made with pork, pepper, onions, wine and spices; it is often very spicy. The French also use the word andouille as an insult, meaning an imbecile. I think it may be because the original French andouille was made with the pig's intestines and stomach; Louisiana Cajuns have apparently advanced far beyond their forbears from The Old Country.) Suzanne's jambalaya was delicious, and gave me a great “fix” of New Orleans home-style cooking. For a Pennsylvania girl, she can cook Southern pretty well.      ;-)  

My scientific experiment of the week was with the vacuum wine stopper for this bottle of Rodney Strong Merlot. I have determined with some degree of accuracy (isn’t that an open-ended statement?) that using this device at 8,500 feet takes 2.4 times the number of strokes as using it at our current elevation of 669 feet. How this information will help me in the future is yet to be determined. Of note, an opened bottle of wine can theoretically last for 2 weeks if the air is evacuated, but an opened bottle of wine aboard The Bus rarely lasts more than 3 days before it is totally consumed, so what’s the point of a 2 week survival window, so to speak?  It’s a mystery...