Did you know that there are at least 10 animals that hibernate in the winter? Here is the list I found: bears, hedgehogs, bats, prairie dogs, hamsters, skunks, ground squirrels, common poorwills (never heard of these), deer mice, and wood frogs. Now, these animals hibernate in the cold months. A name that could possibly be added to the list is Dudaks, more specifically Clara Dudak. I actually do like to hibernate in the winter – somewhere in southern Arizona, where it’s warm. You see, hibernation is the logical explanation for why it has been so long since I posted a blog. I’ve been hibernating——–that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Of course, I could just say that we haven’t been up to much, but that wouldn’t be totally accurate (that’s why hibernation is the most logical explanation). As I look in the rearview mirror of the last few months, I see some really special events that are mixed up with the daily routines of chores, medical appointments, and the risings and settings of the sun (amazing how busy you can be while hibernating 
)
The big summer event for the Dudak family (RAGBRAI) concluded the end of July, and we returned to Colorado and Kevin’s place to take a deep breath and do several loads of laundry 
. Rebecca had hopped in Doug, her faithful pickup truck, and headed back to Arizona and her family. We had no sooner gotten our laundry folded than we were blessed with a visit from some dear friends from Albuquerque and (more recently) Chandler AZ. They have kids in the Denver area and had come up to visit with them for a bit. Soooo glad that they were able to carve out a bit of time to spend with us on August 2 for dinner at Kevin’s place.
David and Ron worked together at Ross Aviation in Albuquerque for many years. They lived right around the corner from David’s parents in Albuquerque, and Ron would walk down to the Dudak house to help David when he had a major project (replacing dishwasher, replacing stove hood/vent). Ron and Mary Ann moved to Arizona several years ago, and they sort of adopted us when we started going to the Phoenix area during the winter months. They are the ones who introduced us to The Organ Stop Pizza place (if you are ever in the Phoenix area, you have GOT to go there!). When we were in Houston for David’s cancer treatments in 2017, they would send us care packages (think Mexican Train with the whistle and train sounds 
). We love these totally beautiful folks.
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The very next day, August 3, was an eventful day. First, David’s baby 1/2 ton gas truck had to tow Kevin’s grown up 3/4 ton diesel truck to a mechanic for repair on a major engine problem. Don’t know for sure, but I suspect that baby truck was doing a bit of quiet grunting, huffing and puffing as it pulled its big brother to the repair shop. Remember the story about the little train that could . . . . . . I think I can, I think I can, I think I can . . . . . . .
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While the truck train was enroute to the repair shop, Jay and son Zach Fellenstein, stopped by for a quick visit on their way home from a business related road trip. Father and son were traveling in the Fellenstein RV.
Jay is married to Kathy, one of David’s nieces. Flash back for a quick moment to 2014. David and I were able to spend some time with them in Puyallup WA when we made our very first long trip in a motor home (we were in Ark II, the Allegro Open Road). It was then and there that I was introduced to Rainier cherries from the tree in their front yard. First cherry I ever ate that I absolutely loved – and still do! They were wonderful hosts, and we had great fun on our visit. They moved from Washington state to Tennessee recently for Kathy’s work. We were sad to see them leave the Pacific Northwest.
Return to August 2018. Jay and Zach are at Kevin’s place in Colorado.
If you haven’t made the association yet, notice that the Fellenstein chariot has a Jeep in tow. This is a off roading, Jeeping family, just as they were in 2014 (remember the Jeep in the driveway in Puyallup?) Matter of fact, Jay’s business is Bigfoot Winch Ropes. If you are of the off roading persuasion and need good, strong ropes, check them out.
We were able to get a little visiting in before the Fellenstein fellows had to head out Saturday morning.
Bye, Jay and Zach! Thank you for stopping by!
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And the blessings continued with our next family visit . . . . . .
David grew up in a family with many cousins. When I married him way back when, I was enveloped in the embrace of a wonderful, loving, welcoming, large family. As soon as we became engaged, I was IN. No waiting period to get to know me was needed. I loved them all instantly. Even though we have long since moved away from Dudak/Nienaltowski family central in northeastern Ohio, we remain close to the family that is still living there. One of David’s cousins, Elaine (married to Larry), has 3 really great kids (well, they are adults, but still kids to us). One of the Elaine/Larry kids, Julie, was on a family trip to some of the western states with her husband David and their kids Wilson and Piper. As they drove westward, they would be passing thru Cheyenne, Wyoming, about 85 miles north of Kevin’s place. Julie had contacted Kevin a few weeks prior to their trip to see if there was any way he could meet them for a quick visit as they traveled west. (Kevin and Julie had gotten together for a cousin visit once before when she was in the Denver area on business.) Well, Kevin could not get away from work to meet them, but guess what??? We could. Get away, that is. Not from work, but from the various appointments and activities that seem to fill our calendar. Anyway, come Monday morning, August 6, David and I hopped in his faithful pickup truck (remember the little truck that could ?) and pointed north on I-25 to Cheyenne. We have driven that route many times because David has gone to the VA in Cheyenne. Plus, we had some work done on Ark III up there. So we even knew of a great local café to suggest as a meeting place for breakfast. Julie, David, and family arrived just a few moments after we did, and we sat and visited while enjoying our meal. It was absolutely great to get caught up. We had not seen Julie in a long time, although we had kept up on her family thru her Mom. Well, they had miles and miles to go before reaching their overnight stop. So the visit was limited to how long we could stretch out that last cup of coffee and bite of toast. Soon they had to get back on the road. But it was such a treat to be able to spend a bit of time with them.
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Less than a week later on August 12, we were on our way to Houston for appointments for David at MDA. Ark IV had been dropped off a few days earlier at a shop in Loveland CO for some warranty work, so we drove the car. Boy, it’s a long drive !! 1021 miles by car or 884 miles as the crow flies. Well, since we aren’t crows, and we could not hitch a ride on any crows, we were stuck with the 1021 miles. We stayed in our favorite Houston hotel, the Hampton Inn on Old Spanish Trail (or OST, as the locals call it), which is just a few minutes from MDA. When we’re in Houston, we always try to get together with my college friends who live there. It is so much fun to see them from time to time, and this visit was no exception. We met at Goode’s BBQ on Kirby (one of our ‘usual’ watering holes) and proceeded to get caught up on what we’d all been up to since our last visit.
The next day, Tuesday, August 14, the appointments started. I had a quick appt with a GI doc I had established while there in 2017. On Wednesday, David started with the usual blood test plus a CT scan to check the status of his lymph nodes (one of the indicators of the status of his CLL). Then he met with his breast cancer doc, Sharon Giordano.
She has a large number of male breast cancer patients, and we are very glad that David is one of them. Well, you know what I mean……….. Notice that David and I are wearing our MBCC t-shirts – Men Have Breasts Too. The shirts are part of the Male Breast Cancer Coalition’s effort to get the word out that men can get breast cancer. It still surprises us when someone says, “I didn’t know that men could get breast cancer.” Anyway, Dr. Giordano said ‘so far, so good’ regarding David’s recovery from his breast cancer treatment from 2017. Good words to hear. She said that she would coordinate with Dr. Ferrajoli, the leukemia doc, on a timetable for David’s next appointment.
We hung out at the hospital for another couple of hours until David’s appointment with his CLL doc, Allessandra Ferrajoli. She was the one who had ordered the CT scan as well as the usual blood test, so we were looking forward to hearing what these tests showed. Dr. Ferrajoli told David that his white blood cell counts were continuing to elevate – not unexpected, unfortunately – and that the CT showed the size of the lymph nodes to be larger than normal, but not alarmingly so. Come back in November.
Thursday morning, David had an early appointment with Dr. Pacha, the dermatologist who gives him a skin check every few months. The chronic lymphocytic leukemia puts him at higher risk for melanomas, so this regular skin check is an important part of his care protocols. The doc burned off a little something or other from David’s forehead and declared everything else ‘beauty marks.’ Hooray! We were now done with the doctor appointments for this trip.
If you read the 2017 blog posts that told of our experiences in Houston, you read about the saints and angels we encountered along the way. We had already slipped into the physical therapy department and said a quick hello to the angel physical therapists and saintly receptionists who had always made us feel so welcomed and cared for. David and I cannot say enough about the importance of these wonderful people in his recovery. We will be forever grateful to them.
One more saints and angels stop before leaving Houston. It was Thursday, early in the day. We could have headed north by lunchtime, but we had an important evening date with some lovely people who had been angels to us through much of 2017.
We spent a number of wonderful evenings in 2017 at Joan and Laura’s house, eating lovingly prepared dinners and enjoying their company. Mary, Laura’s sister/Joan’s daughter, was often there also. We spent many, many Sundays sitting in the pew right behind Joan and Laura at 9:00 am Mass at Corpus Christi Catholic Church. It was so good to feel like you were not a stranger, but a friend. And that feeling has only grown with time. We can’t imagine going to Houston and not spending time with these wonderful folks.
Friday morning, August 17, we headed north, aiming to arrive back in Colorado in time for Monday medical appointments. MDA appointments were already appearing on our schedule for November, so we would be back in just a few months.
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The week was filled with various appointments – PT’s, VA, and even Ark IV had an appointment. So our busy week passed quickly. But we had another blessing in store as we looked forward to a visit from some friends who dated back to our days in Chardon, Ohio. They have kids in the Denver area, and together we were able to figure out a day during their visit that worked for everyone. That day was Wednesday, Aug 29. Visit, eat, visit……………….. it was great.
Over the years, when we were able to make trips back to Ohio to visit David’s family, we would always spend a few days in the Chardon area near where we had lived for several years. Ed and Kathy had a great space next to their garage that was big enough for a motor home. We had a standing invitation to park there whenever we were in the area. They likewise had a standing invitation to stay with us when they traveled to Albuquerque to see Ed’s daughter Brenda, who attended the University of New Mexico. Unfortunately, we no longer have that standing invitation to stay at their place in Ohio when we are back to visit. You see, they sold the house and moved to Florida. Without even asking us !!!!!! Hmmmm 
. Ed and Kathy, did you guys put a rider in the house sale contract that allowed for us to plug into the garage whenever we’re in the old neighborhood??????
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Our next family/friend occasion had the wonderful sound of wedding bells echoing in our ears. This echo actually had its origins sometime in the 1988-1989 time frame in Albuquerque NM. This was when our oldest son Kevin started his sophomore year at St. Pius High School in Albuquerque. It was then and there that he met a guy named Erik. They became good friends, and that friendship has lasted thru schools, graduations, jobs, and moves over the last 30 or so years. Once the kids became friends, we met and became friends with Erik’s parents, Barry and Kathy. That friendship has remained throughout the years. They were in the same camping group with us for many years. While in college, Kevin worked for Barry and Kathy at their business. We were at their house, they were at our house. When Barry and Kathy sold their house and moved to Oklahoma, we went several years without seeing them. We stayed in touch thru mail and phone calls, and eventually they moved from Oklahoma to the Dallas area to be closer to their daughter and her family. Sadly, Barry passed away a couple of years ago. Meanwhile, Erik and Kevin continued to do things together when they could. They’ve gone to Formula One car racing events (which included a few days of boating around Lake Michigan on a boat belonging to one of Erik’s friends) and the Reno Air Races. Erik’s brother in law, Eri(c) (I know, I know, another Eric/k) was often part of the adventures, and the friend with the boat, Kenny, became part of the group. Erik has even ridden RAGBRAI as a member of the 3Dudaks bicycle team 4 times. Suffice it to say that the Helin family and the Dudak family have been connected for many years. Sooooooooo – when Erik announced that he was getting married, we were pleased to receive an invitation to the September 1 event in Toledo, OH. It would be our first time flying since David’s surgery and subsequent lymphedema problems. One of his physical therapists had cautioned him that flying might negatively affect his lymphedema, so we had some concerns (he ended up doing just fine, thank goodness!) But those wedding bells pulled us to the airport, onto the airplane, and to Detroit, where we rented a car and drove to the Toledo area and our hotel room. Turns out it was the same hotel where the mother of the groom was staying, along with some extended family members. We were so glad to see her ! She just doesn’t seem to have changed at all.
The rehearsal dinner was Friday night, and Kevin (being the Best Man) attended it. So we were left to our own devices. We walked around the very interesting area where the hotel was located and found a place for dinner. It was a nice evening, and we enjoyed ourselves.
The wedding was Saturday afternoon, and we were as gussied up as we get and sitting second row center to witness Erik and Wendy’s special moment. Then the party started (well the guests were partying while the family and wedding party were smiling and posing for pictures).
Then the wedding party joined the festivities. Kevin was pretty gussied up himself.
and of course ……….. the Bride and Groom.
The festivities outlasted us, and we headed back to the hotel and were probably sound asleep before the party ended. We had a marvelous time and were excited to be part of this special event.
Erik and Wendy invited the wedding party and family/friends to meet for brunch on Sunday morning. Before the brunch, we picked up Kevin at his hotel and the three of us went to Mass. Using MassTimes.com, we had found a Catholic Church not far from where the brunch was to be held. It was Saint Adalbert & Hedwig Parish. We knew nothing about it except that it was located conveniently and the Mass time worked well. Turns out it is a Polish parish, very beautiful and very old. The Mass was bilingual – English and Polish. Most of the songs were sung in Polish. We couldn’t even hum along, but we loved it.
Then it was off to brunch. Wendy and Erik had chosen Tony Packo’s Café. This restaurant was started by the son of Hungarian immigrants during the Great Depression. Tony Packo and his wife Rose came up with what became their signature sandwich, sausage with a spicy chili sauce on rye, which they could sell for 5 cents. Although in the Old Country there was no such thing as a Hungarian hot dog, there was now because that’s what Tony called his creation. Their sandwich and ice cream shop became such a popular local eatery that Tony and Rose were able to buy a building for their shop in 1935. Over the years, they have added on to that same building, which is still the home of Tony Packo’s today. In 1972, Burt Reynolds began the tradition of autographing a hot dog bun. Since then, many notable folks have eaten at Tony Packo’s and have likewise autographed their own hot dog bun. At some point, a real bun was replaced with a foam replica of a bun. If you ever watched the TV show MASH, the name Tony Packo’s might sound a bit familiar. Jamie Farr (who played the character Maxwell Klinger) was from Toledo. In various episodes over the years, Klinger would reference Packo’s Hungarian hot dogs and how wonderful they were. There were even a couple of episodes in which food would arrive from Packo’s. Both the Burt Reynolds and the Jamie Farr references to Packo’s pushed this locally popular eatery into the national spotlight. So we felt very trendy and ‘with it’ when we walked into this famous place to join family and friends for a delicious brunch. After we ate and said our goodbyes, it was off to Detroit and the airport to head back to Denver. Kevin rode with us as he had flown in for the wedding from St. Louis, where he had been on business the week prior to the wedding. We were on the same flight home, so it worked out really well. The week had taken its toll on Kevin, however. Being a Best Man is exhausting, especially if you were on the road for work the whole week before.
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I have been blessed to meet some wonderful ladies over the course of time who have become more dear to me than I could ever express. God did not give me biological sisters, but He gave me some wonderful heart sisters. One of those very special ladies is my friend Susan. We met at an ACTS retreat in 2010. She was on the team presenting the retreat, and I was one of the retreatants. I was drawn to her gentle spirit and kindness, and she has blessed me with her friendship. Well, guess what……. she has family in Denver (where have we heard that before ??). The timing of one of her trips up here to see her precious grand daughter (oh, and the mommy too) coincided with a time that David and I were in Colorado. Hooray!! So we fixed a date that she could tear herself away from that sweet baby 
and come spend a couple of hours with us at Kevin’s place . What a treat to get to see and visit with her. Thank you for coming, Susan!
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In the Fall of every year, our son Kevin throws a Fall Party. He invites his Mustang friends, his Rzr friends, his K of C friends, his work friends, his neighbors . . . . . it is a crazy and wonderful blend of folks that always seem to have a good time. Kevin’s Fall Party is a kind of tradition among his friends, and they look forward to it every year. This year, his Fall Party was on October 13. We helped him prepare by doing things around the house and the garage. Kevin refers to his Fall Party prep as his ‘Spring Cleaning.’ Plus I volunteered to make some cole slaw. The funny thing is that he never knows how many people will come. He might run out of food, or he might have leftovers for a long time. No matter how many folks come, it is always a good time, and this year was no exception. One of the guests was my nephew Michael, who lives in Aurora with his wife and 2 cutie pie daughters. He had just dropped his ladies off at the airport for a visit with his wife’s mom. So he was solo, and he dropped by after leaving DIA. The last time we saw Michael was New Year’s Day 2017, just a few days before David’s breast cancer diagnosis. Our son Eric and his wife Amanda and kids Austin and Lilly were here for a post Christmas holiday visit, so the cousins had a chance to meet and play. And play they did. It was like they had known each other always instead of just meeting. So now it is almost 2 years later, and I was so glad to see Michael again. We are hoping to get Michael and his beautiful family over sometime during the holidays while all of the Dudak kids and grandkids are here (that’s right, all in one place at the same time!! We are so excited 
.) Thanks very much, Michael, for going out of your way to come hang out for awhile.
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It is obvious that David and I have been abundantly blessed to be able to spend time with so many of our family members and dear friends over these last few months. Thank you for indulging me by letting me reminisce about their visits and share a little bit of them with you.
But there’s more to come. One exciting and fun visit and adventure calls for a blog all its own. You’ll have to wait until I post it (hopefully in the next few days). But I’ll give you a hint . . . .
California, Here I Come
and
FLY LOW, FLY FAST, TURN LEFT
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Dudaks Living Our Dream 