Terri Hendrickson, September 7, 1952 to January 3, 2005
Lorri's sister. We will miss her.
The year started off on a sad note when we learned in the wee hours of January 3 that Lorri's sister, Terri, passed away the night before. She had been in a hospital in Bullhead City, Arizona, and was being treated for cancer and pneumonia but her death was nevertheless sudden and unexpected. We drove out there on Tuesday, January 4th, getting a room at the five-star Best Western Colorado River Resort Motel (just kidding about the "five-star" and "resort" part) in Needles, which is in California, just across the Colorado River from Golden Shores, AZ, Terri's hometown.
Terri's daughter Jody, and her boyfriend Chas arrived at about the same time. The next day, Jody and Lorri made the necessary arrangements. There was to be a service Friday afternoon in Needles and also Saturday morning at the VFW in Golden Shores. Jody and Chas went back to Huntington Beach to get their kids and Lorri and I awaited the arrival of Lorri's parents and sister who flew to Las Vegas, rented a car and arrived late Thursday afternoon.
To pass the time on Thursday, Lorri and I drove up to Oatman, Arizona, an old mining town along old Route 66, about 20 miles from Needles. In this part of the country, once you get a few miles from a town, you're in the middle of nowhere. This photo was taken on the road to Oatman. I got a kick out of the "open range" sign. Duh. I suppose "open range" means you might run into a cow or something, but we didn't see any.
(Note: these images are 640x480 resolution. If you click on any of them, you can view a 1280x960 version)
We did, however, see some desert brush along the side of the road decorated for Christmas, sort of like Christmas trees. Here is one:
The main drag in Oatman, which I suppose used to be a busy cross-country artery (Rout 66), is now a lazy tourist trap with a large population of "wild" burros, escapees from old miners when there used to be old miners around the area. Burros that nuzzle up to strangers begging for carrots (which can be purchased a the local shops) can't really be called "wild", I don't think. Here is a family of burros:
All the burros were not this pinto or painted version. They were also your standard grey, brown, buff and all the other mangy burro colors. We parked outside the world-famous Oatman Museum and Gift Shop pictured below:
Well, later Thursday Lorri's parents and Lynn arrived. Jody, Chas and the kids got back from Huntington Beach. After the service on Friday afternoon, we all got together for some consoling and reminiscing in the lobby of the Best Western and ordered out for pizza and other nutritional stuff. The kids had fun swimming in the adjoining indoor pool and spa (I told you it was a resort!). Here Lorri and her mom are munching on some tasty Dominoes pizza pie.
The photo below shows Chas and Jody. Chas was catching some of the action on video. Actually, he was catching a lot of the action on video.
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Lorri's parents, Jack and Delores and Lynn:
The next morning, Saturday, there was a memorial at the VFW in Golden Shores. It was conducted by the officers of the ladies auxiliary and well-attended by Terri's and Ted's (Terri's partner) family and friends. Below are Caitlyn (Jodi's daughter) and Sage (Chas' daughter) in front of the stage and flowers at the VFW.
Terri's long-time partner Ted and Terri's parents:
Here, Cambria, Sage and Caitlyn are posing in front of the juke box at the VFW.
The weather had been bad all week. Southern California had been deluged with rain and the prospect was for more rain, wind and generally nasty weather. Saturday morning however, turned out to be fairly nice.
This photo was taken in front of the VFW. Because of the weather, we all decided it would be best to get where we were going rather than be caught in Needles with no way to escape. Before Lorri and I got back to San Diego we hit high winds and cascading rains going over the Cajon Pass on I-15. Despite a malfunctioning wiper blade, we made it home OK. Lynn and mom and dad got back to Las Vegas in plenty of time to go out for dinner and gaming on The Strip on Saturday night. The next day their flights home were fine. Lynn back to San Diego and mom and dad to St. Louis. Jody, Chas and the kids hit the same weather we did but got home safe and sound too.