10/2/82 Met the Kimballs at their cabin and invited them to come with us to “Harold’s” for dinner. It is always fun to be with those people.
10/3/82 We thanked the Daveys kindly and took off for St. Paul. Trees still gorgeous on both sides of the highway. Sally home alone. A glad reunion.
10/4/82 Layna and Sally went shopping and I tagged along. My leg showing definite improvement. I can limp along without the cane - if I don’t go too far at a time.
10/5/82 Sally to work at 9:00 a.m. The men folks off for school. We took off for home. Decide to stop at Jernberg’s. Ann alone and much talk about her miseries. Road torn up north of Orr.
10/6/82 Had planned to go for a long walk to test my leg. Rain came at noon so called it off. However, my leg much better. Is it the pills? Or am I making a real recovery.
10/7/82 Joan stopped in for coffee and stayed a couple of hours. She invited us to be their guests at an evangelism service at their church. We accepted. A new experience. Paul Anderson came in p.m. to discuss the history of Koochiching county. The Society is publishing a book about early settlers -“one of whom we are which.” We agreed to tell our story. The cost of book $40. Looks like a racket.
10/8/82 To Diane Martin’s wedding. The church full of well-wishers. The priest full of advice. To Armstrongs for coffee while waiting for dinner. On to Legion Club along with about 300 others. Bill looking very much like the father of the bride. Surely a $2000 deal. Our Mando crew has come a long way. Our Canadian friends greeted us like long lost family. Very satisfying.
10/10/82 Robin and kids came about 3:00 p.m. and stayed for supper. Robin had them well in hand. It was an enjoyable time. Robin and I for a walk as far as the corner. I did well.
10/11/82 Ted and Rody for dinner. They are good company - and good eaters. They are vitally interested with the Ober Foundation. They left in a cold drizzly night. How many times did we do likewise - and God, how I would hate to do it again.
10/12/82 We received an invitation from Brad’s commanding officer to be in Seattle for the commissioning of the good ship Stark. We didn’t think much about it until we mentioned it to Jim Froehlich. He told us about a 2 for 1 deal offered by Republic. We are giving it some serious thot, even called Brad and Karen. We are almost committed.
10/13/82 Following a well-established pattern, I woke up during the night full of negative thoughts concerning our proposed trip to California. My prime concern was “How will my leg hold up?” I was foolish enough to tell Layna about it and spoiled her morning. (By noon I had reassured both her and myself.) We are going! To town to buy a few things. Dick and Joan picked us up and took us to a pot luck dinner at their church. It was followed by an evangelist who was not as rabid as some TV preachers. There was a faint odor of sulfur and brimstone in the church when he finished. We met many old friends, who welcomed us warmly.
10/14/82 Sunshine - first since Sept 21. A beautiful day (but windy). Buck took us to island in pontoon boat. We picked up a few things. The cover blew off of Starcraft. Buck re-covered it. Lake coming up fast. Now I have another worry.
10/15/82 Ruth Teeter came about 5:30. Much talk, mostly about Karen. We all love her. To Civil Service meeting at Rizzo’s. We need Tony!
10/16/82 Cloudy. Tommy Froehlich got caught riding his 3 wheeler on state roads. He was fined 18 hours of community work. He did his first two on the Don & Layna lawn. Cliff and Lou here for dinner. A good meal and good talk until the subject of “support group” came up. Lou, as always, very sure of her position, which was very negative. After they left, we agreed that the Moes are strong enough to be on their own and needed no outside help.
10/17/82 I tried to roll over in bed by pulling on the bed spring. When I pulled on it with my left arm, it went into violent tremors. Very frightening. I would have called the doctor if it wasn’t Sunday. Now what? Robin brought Sarah out at noon and she was here until 7:00 p.m. She is a honey.
10/18/82 To see Dr. Walter, told him about my trouble. He laughed it off saying I had twisted a nerve. We will see!
10/20/82 To Grandma’s Pantry with Buck and Dale. Good! They stopped in for a drink and some good conversation. They are good company.
10/21/82 Up at 4:15. Jim picked us up soon after. We were en-route for Seattle at 5:40. We had a good visit with Sally at Mpls airport. A smooth ride. We could see ground most of way. When I look down for 40,000 feet (and 500 mph) & visualize the 49 ers struggling over that wasteland. 12 miles a day was considered good progress. No one to meet us at airport. A new experience. We did all right. Did not lose our baggage, had lunch, took a taxi and arrived at Brad’s at 2:00 p.m. Had a nap. Brad home by 5:15. He looks good but bushed. No desire to go out. We sat and talked until midnight. He has his fair amount of problems.
10/22/82 We bravely caught a bus to go down town. We got off about a mile from our destination. We ducked into store front to keep from getting drowned. Then called a cab to take us to The Bone. A super store along the line of Daytons. We bought nothing.
10/23/82 Brad was appointed chauffeur for Congressman Shirley so we were on our own. Not for long. The wife of one of his shipmates offered to take us. We were a little early for the program so had choice of seats. The speaker was amidships and we were right below him. All very impressive. A tour of the ship later. My mind boggled with facts and figures. Our little Brad, in a small office of his own, plotted the course, whatever the destination. Back to our apartment by 1:00 p.m. where Omar Bygland picked us up. Off for lunch atop the Space Needle. What a breath taking view. The floor makes a complete revolution once an hour. A shelf about 6” wide, like a collar is right below the window. A perfect place to put my cane out of the way. When we got up to leave, I got a chill. The cane was gone! I called the waiter who said he would run it down - and did. We left the “Needle” and Omar took us for a tour which included the Boeing plant. He said he had 2000 draftsmen under him. A long way from Dahlberg’s $40 per month, and board and room. He drove us around through a million dollar row and on to his place, which wasn’t peanuts. Met his new wife - a beauty - and 24 year old son. Much talk about Dahlberg days. Grilled salmon for dinner. Yes, a long way and we were proud to hear him say that the two summers with us, 1940-41, were the best in his life.
10/24/82 A day with Brad, and it was good. He took us to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Not very clean but filling. Then drove mile after mile in this beautiful city. We wound up at Lincoln Park, about a mile west and I said, “Let’s sit down.” We got back in the car and hit for home. We had a good talk with Brad. He has his problems.
10/25/82 We made it to the Market without undue trouble via bus, wandered about for couple of hours then had fish and chips in well run French restaurant. We got the idea of a harbor cruise and walked to the wharf for information where we learned that the next boat would leave in an hour - 3:15. We found a clear bench and spent the time watching the world go by. Very interesting. The cruise took an hour. We were thrilled to see #31 and discover it was Brad’s ship, The Stark.
