Surprise....

We are in Aspen! A couple of weeks ago I realized Dad was continuing to "pine" for our home in Aspen. Paul was not able to go home for the summer because of the high altitude and the lack of good hospice care; there are only a few caregivers who serve 600 square miles!

So after talking with Pam and a close friend Gregory, we decided that between the three of us, we could take Paul to Aspen for 1 week. We began making plans to take Paul Home. I rented an RV from Cruise America, we got all of Paul's medical ducks in a row and Pam in her amazing way, organized Paul's daily routine for travel. Gregory is a professional driver and has been helping to get Paul out of bed, so he would be our driver while Pam and I would tend to Paul. With the help of Kirk, T and John in Claremont, we managed to depart August 9th at 7:30 PM with Paul in a reclining bed that Gregory ingeniously devised using a blow up mattress and pump to raise and lower the head of the bed in the RV. It worked beautifully, making it easy for Paul to lie back and sleep, or sit up to drink his smoothies. We drove through the desert during the evening and arrived in Mesquite around 1:30AM, slept til 9:00AM and were on the road by noon after dealing with a blown fuse in the RV. We arrived in Aspen around 11:00 PM. Another good friend, Sam helped us get Paul out of the RV and into bed. Paul was HOME.

Saturday was spent resting, with Zorro his cat by his side much of the time. By Sunday afternoon Paul was surrounded by a gathering of his close Aspen friends, laughing, eating, drinking, sharing stories, making connections...he smiled happily, dozed off from time to time and had a lovely day.

Today he is resting comfortably and sleeping a lot. We hope to get him out of bed and into his wheelchair later so he can enjoy the rest of our home.

We will see what Tuesday and Wednesday bring, Thursday we leave to drive back to Claremont arriving by Friday afternoon.

So far this trip has been everything we could have hoped for.

Steph, Pam and Gregory