Welcoming a New Year

Bonnie and I spent last night with our long time gourmet group. The dinner and festivities hosted by Jim and Kristie have become a wonderful tradition for our group. It was great spending the evening with friends and having such superb food and wine.
There's been a lot going on since my last report. In September Bonnie and I went to Germany to pick up my new BMW Z4. The unveiling at the BMW Welt outside Munich was incredible. After spending over half a day having her presented to us, touring their museum, doing a plant tour and snacking in their luxurious lounge, we took off for Fussen and Neuschwanstein, which was the inspiration for the Disneyland castle. We stayed at a little chalet on an Alpine lake. We had toured the castle years ago but I wanted to hike to a bridge and waterfalls above the castle that I hadn't done the last time. After that we drove through the Austrian Alps on the Grossglockner Hochalpinestrasse (high alpine road) to the tiny village of Heiligenblut. On the way the temperature got down to 46F and we had the top down but Bonnie asked me to turn down the heat because she was roasting. The Z4 is really set up for top down enjoyment with a heavy duty heater and seat heating in the seat and back.
Next we drove to Vienna where my college roommate is working for the International Atomic Energy Agency. After spending 3 days catching up and touring Vienna, we drove along the Danube to the charming little village of Chesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. The highlight of the week long driving trip was right at the end. As we were approaching Munich on our last night before Bonnie went home and we turned the car in for shipment to the US, I told Bonnie that my only regret was that I hadn't been able to drive on the unrestricted section of the autobahn after the break in period (kept under 4500rpm and 100mph for the first 1200 miles). She asked me how much longer we needed to drive to complete the break-in period and I told her about 2 hours. She said, "Let's forget planning a nice farewell dinner in Munich and just grab a bite at a McDonalds we saw and get back on the autobahn and get it done!" What a gal.
Well 2 hours later I found a big gap in traffic and as the odometer clicked over to 1200 miles I let her loose. Man those German roads are great. My new baby topped out at 157mph and it was smooth as glass. I didn't stay there too long as we were rapidly gaining on the pack ahead of us; just long enough for Bonnie to get a photo of the speedometer.
Since I had decided to go all out on the car purchase I didn't have them ship it home but had it sent to the BMW Performance Center in South Carolina. From there Vince our neighbor and I drove her home. The highlights of that trip were a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway with the top down at sunset and the temperature approaching freezing, driving the 318 turns over 11 miles of the "Tail of the Dragon" near the Smokey Mountains all in 2nd gear, spending a couple days in New Orleans and San Antonio, touring the Carlsbad Caverns, driving through the Mohave Desert and arriving home with just over 5000 miles after only 14 days of actual driving. It's a very comfortable car.
We had a wonderful holiday season. Both the girls were home from college and we had the biggest tree ever. My sisters and their families came to visit between the holidays which kept us busy showing them around and cooking for 15. It was fantastic seeing everyone together.
Hard to believe it's been a little over 3 years since I was first diagnosed. I get another MRI on January 3rd and expect to see both my doctors before mid-February. My new normal has stabilized and I'm at peace with that most of the time. The holidays have been just an additional reminder to enjoy life, family and friends. Carpe diem and drive with the top down!!