Yes We Can!

And I don't mean that twisted ridiculous "yes we can.... backwards" thing....

I mean "Yes we can"... forward and, let's say: for all the uninsured children?!

PLEASE PLEASE VOTE

Truman Presidential Library

Independence, Missouri

Our 6th presidential library in our travels to do marathons in 50 states.


The grounds around the buildings were spacious and lovely... Sorry that we neglected to get any good photos.
Maples were at their finest in Missouri last weekend.



"All Americans... are entitled to ... good medical care."


Truman's oval office in the White House during his presidency




The visitor's center


The Truman home in Indendendence


One of the street banners in Independence, honoring and remembering the former president, who daily walked in his home town.



My favorite presidential libraries, so far, are Clinton in Little Rock and Eisenhower in Abilene.
The rose garden at the Carter library was lovely, but we were not in Atlanta when the buildings were open, so maybe next time.
Each place provides interesting insights into each our presidents and terms in office.

Kansas City Half Marathon

At the expo:

IMAGES ALONG THE KANSAS CITY HALF MARATHON RACE COURSE

















Volunteers along the course were GREAT. Water stops were good; traffic control on all the cross streets was exceptional. Weather was nearly ideal, ranging from quite brisk to a bit hot.
Kansas City is HILLY. The course was laid out in a pretty manageable route.. with downtown, neighborhoods, parks, etc.: INTERESTING RACE.

Read a good report about the marathon on Make It A Masterpiece.

BUT THEY RAN OUT OF HALF MARATHON MEDALS!!
The finish area was chaotic. Volunteers seemed uninformed.
We had to ASK about medals. The excuse was that they had an unexpected number of last minute sign ups. Well, 3 hours after the race began, I think they might have prepared the finish area volunteers.

I think they should have quickly volunteered and instructed us.
The tent for signing up for medals was some distance outside the finish area.
"Maybe in 3 weeks", someone said.

"If I don't have my medal, what picture can I post tonight on my blog?" I asked one gracious volunteer. "I can think of a couple of pictures!" she said.

Some marathoners did not get their finishers' shirts, which were piled along a fence. No one was handing them out.

Until the finish, IT WAS A GREAT AND ENJOYABLE RACE!!

75th Wedding Anniversary

Two people still in pretty good health celebrating 75 years of being together!!
A nice little dinner with family (including us) ... and a surprise party at the care center

You can read about the running events in our lives during the last three weeks on Make It a Masterpiece. Especially note the run for Myeloma Research.
Really, I will try to get back to blogging a bit.

Note what Don has to say about our bad experience with an expensive Toshiba laptop waranty on his Pea Gravel blog. No more Toshiba in this house!

It is autumn in Minnesota