First - I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers, the emails and phone calls, and the support you have given Linda and me. It is impossible to answer every email, but I do want to say THANKS.

I had surgery August 30 to remove a large malignant tumor from my jaw / neck area and the tumor had grown to the size of a tennis ball in about two months. My surgeon, Dr. Michael Flynn, is one of the leading specialists in the country on that type of tumor and he skillfully removed it with .5 mm clearance into good tissue. The pathology report showed the cancer was contained and had not spread to other areas. Dr. Flynn said I was lucky the facial nerves were not involved or I would have lost the functions of my lower lip and tongue. Heck, it wasn't luck - I had a skilled surgeon and the prayers of hundreds of friends, many whom I have never met. Yes my friends, prayer does work and I want to thank each one of you and the LORD for pulling me through this ordeal.

The surgery and recovery room took seven hours and when I awoke my back had gone out on me with severe pain that hurt more than the surgery. I have had back pain off and on for years so this was nothing new. After assessing my situation Dr. Flynn released me from the hospital 30 hours after surgery with orders to go back to the motorhome and rest, drink clear liquids and let Linda, a registered nurse, take care of me. It is nice to have a doctor who understands our lifestyle and knows a self-contained RV is the best place to recover. A few days later I developed an infection (oral thrush) and with medication the infection is mostly gone now.

On Friday morning (Sept 7) I had a checkup and my next appointment is on September 18 with a radiation doctor to set up six weeks of daily radiation. We had planned and already paid to attend the Fall Escapade and the Escapees Indiana Chapter 51 Rally in Goshen, Indiana and guess what? The rally dates were September 8 - 17 - exactly the dates between my appointments. Hey, the LORD is Good.

The easy way would have been to sit in the motorhome and say "Oh, woe is me," but I have never liked the easy way and I prefer to live the good life. I was tired and not feeling the greatest, but it sure felt good to get behind the wheel of the motorhome and hit the road again. In northern Indiana we met Don and Gloria Martin and Rich and Diane Emond and we drove to the rally and parked together. We have so many friends here it will be hard meeting all of them and spending time together. Linda is teaching "pine needle basket" classes and helping with other craft classes and we're having a ball.

This is my third time to survive cancer and I don't know if cancer will get me in a year or if I will live to be an old man. That is in the hands of the LORD. But I do know every chance we get we will be on the road traveling fulltime and meeting and making friends everywhere we go. Life is good. I always tell everyone to have positive thoughts and push it to the limits or else just sit around and waste away.

Again, I want to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers and support. I can tell you first-hand that prayer works.