About the Ballards

Fourth chemo treatment is now behind me and I did even better than the last two times.  Hooray for that.  I really feel blessed to have done so well and pray I will continue to do so.  There will be two more treatments before I begin radiation therapy some time in early or mid April.  Will know more when that starts when I meet with the  Radiation Oncologist in early March.    I am thankful to have had several friends come to stay with me during infusion which really helps to pass the two hours I am there quickly. 

When arriving in Albuquerque in late August, we did not intend to be here more than a month to do our annual doctor appointments but circumstances dictated otherwise.  Since this has been home for Ron and me for many, many years, I said I would only write in the blog about once a month unless there was something interesting to write which so far there really has not been. Those reading this blog are mostly close friends and family; however, there may be those who would like to know a little about Ron and me, how we arrived in Albuquerque and what we do with our time when we are not traveling.  So, here goes.

I was born in California but grew up on the east coast in New Jersey and New York before heading back west to go to college in Arizona where I met my former husband.  He and I lived in Arizona, California and Michigan before arriving in Albuquerque in 1973 with our two children who were not of school age as yet.  My son and family now live in Virginia while my daughter and her family live in Texas.  Wish they were closer as we do not see them often enough.

Ron was born in Washington state and  other than his time in the Army in the 60’s spent his youth and young married life in South Dakota before taking a transfer in 1984 to Albuquerque bringing his wife and young son.   Ron’s son and his fiancée remain living and working in Albuquerque.   Ron and his son are close and enjoy getting together for guy breakfasts at local restaurants as schedules allow. 

In the 1980’s both Ron and I were divorced from our former spouses.  We were introduced in 1990 by a mutual friend, got married in 1998 and lived in a number of homes on both sides of town, bought our first used RV in 2006 (an old 1996 Newmar in case we did not like it) and looked out for my Mother here in Albuuqerque until her death at the end of 2014.   Ron’s Mom passed away earlier in 2014 leaving us both as the heads of our families since we are both first borns.   At that point, we decided it was time for us to realize our dream to live in our 2008 Tiffin RV and travel full time around the U.S. seeing all this beautiful country has to offer. 

My blog began in late April and tells about our travels this past year.