After 41 days on the road we are 'home'. We are now in Renton spending some time with our Granddaughter Sofia. When we first set out on our cross country trip Sofia was still in the hospital. It is so good to be able to hold her in her home setting.
Chrisi, Sofia and I spent Thursday shopping at Target while Swil Kanim enjoyed a relaxing day at the RV park. I think he was very glad to just sit and do nothing for a change.
I enjoyed just bonding with Sofia. Swil Kanim and I bought Sofia some cute little moccasins at the Film Awards and they fit Sofia perfectly. They were absolutely adorable on her little feet.
Also, the little booties that I crocheted while on the road were even cuter than I imagined on her.
Chrisi LOVED them and wants more in different colors.
We will be staying here until Sunday and then heading to Mt Vernon to attend THE WHIZ.
Our good friend Suzann is the director and also our friend Lindsey and her daughter Adia are part of the cast. We are excited to see this production which is getting very good reviews.
So, now that our trip has come to an end, we can't believe how fast it went. But, we are sure we will be heading back across the country soon. Our journey has just begun!

Day 39 and 40 - Monday and Tuesday

We are on our way back 'home' and just going through the motions of driving.

Monday we didn't get too far before we pulled over at a truck stop in the afternoon and wound up staying there all night instead of driving on. I managed to either catch a bug or eat some bad food so I was not feeling well. I slept all afternoon and all night and we woke up early this morning (Tuesday) and headed back on the road. We stopped in Medford OR to get our rig checked out. The check engine light has been flashing on and off so we got that check out and got an oil and lube job. Swil Kanim's allergies attacked him at about the same time that I was attacked by whatever bug I have. We are glad that the 'bugs' decided to get us AFTER all the performances.

A funny thing happened on Sunday that I thought I would share. We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant and talked about our whole trip and all the wonderful things that had happened. It seemed like wherever we went there was some significant event that happened. After lunch we opened our fortune cookies. Mine said: "Keep up the good work. You soon will be rewarded financially." I started laughing and asked Swil Kanim about his. His said: "You will be unusually succesful in an entertainment career."

We both looked at each other and just broke out in laughter. Swil Kanim said "Well, its all a part of this journey!" One Blessing after another, one confirmation after another!

We are now in Eugene OR at an RV park and we are trying to recover from our bugs so that we can be healthy when we go see our little granddaughter Sofia.

We can't wait!

The sunset photos are from our view at the RV park in Pacifica CA.

The RV was getting worked on today so we snapped a picture of it on the lift.

And the fortune cookie picture is blurry but I had to try to capture the moment!

Day 37 and 38 - Sat and Sun

Saturday was a great eventful day. We attended the reception luncheon for the filmmakers, actors, directors and performers. It was a great luncheon and we re-connected with people we hadn't seen since last year. A lot goes into the planning of the film festival and film awards and Michael Smith and his wife Cynthia and daughter Mytia go above and beyond in their work and efforts to put this event together. They have been doing this for over 30 years....God Bless their efforts!!

After the luncheon Swil Kanim and I left to get to the soundcheck. We were parked about a block from the restaurant and as we were leaving we saw a crowd of people with signs and police cars heading toward us on the street. We couldnt continue forward as they took over the whole street and they were coming straight at us. As they got closer we found that we were right in the middle of a protest on the ban on gay/same sex marriage. We couldnt do anything but sit right in the middle of it as they surrounded our RV. We gave them the 'thumbs up' signal which made them erupt in cheers. The 'parade' seemed to go on forever. Bailey was barking at them and they were all coming up to my window to pet him. Finally after what seemed like 30 minutes (but probably more like 5 minutes) the parade ended. We slowly drove around all the police cars and made our way out. WHEW!!

We then arrived at the Palace of Fine Arts for the soundcheck and got our merchandise table setup and got our CD burner setup to print out more CD's. Gene arrived just in time for the soundcheck. He brought a gift for us which was a beautiful wood flute. He said we needed to have one in our RV. I LOVE IT!

So Gene and Swil Kanim hadn't discussed what they were going to do for their performance so they found a dressing room and sat down to figure it out. I decided to not sit in on their creative process. I would rather be in the audience and not know what to expect. I am glad I made that decision!

The awards show started at about 6:30pm and Swil Kanim and Gene were scheduled to be the first performers. After introducing a few films and acknowledging supporters, Swil Kanim and Gene were introduced. Gene came out wearing his regalia and Swil Kanim in his usual attire.

They started their performance and the audience fell silent. Swil Kanim spoke of his struggles of 20 years ago and being an angry abusive man. I have posted the video I shot with my cell phone which captured the performance. We will be getting the better footage that was filmed by the Film Institute later but I will post what I have for now.

The response from their performance was amazing. During the intermission we had many people at our vendor table commenting and thanking Swil Kanim for his words and Gene's story.

I was standing in line to get a snack and Jerry Jacobsen from FOX Entertainment Diversity Development was standing in front of me and we started talking about Swil Kanim's performance. He loved the performance and was expecting Swil Kanim's usual humor and was pleasantly surprised to see the serious side of him. He had contacted me about three years ago about getting Swil Kanim to perform for his colleagues at FOX but scheduling got in the way.

He said he was very interested in making it happen and wanted me to send him some videos of Swil Kanim performing. It was good to re-connect with him and maybe we can get our schedules worked out this time.

The awards show went on into the night and ended at about 11pm. I saw some great performers and really loved CRYSTAL SHAWANDA and her song YOU CAN LET GO NOW.

She has a beautiful voice and that song is a real tear jerker! I believe she won best musical video for that same song.

After the awards were over we all decided not to attend the after party. We were all just too worn out. We took Gene along with Mike Pierce and his wife to their hotel and then headed back to our RV spot.

Today we are just going to take it easy, watch some football, take a walk on the beach and wind down. Gene got a round trip airline ticket so he wont be joining us on the trip back. We were a little dissappointed not to have him along....we have such a great time when he comes along.

Our cross country trip is coming to an end and we are just basking in the glow of all that occurred. We are so Blessed. Although home is where we park it, we are looking forward to getting back to Washington state. I am really missing my daughter and needing to hug that little grandbaby of mine.