Trip Number One:  Summer 2016.  Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica Pier.

Trip Number Two:  Fall 2017.  The Mississippi River from Chicago to New Orleans.

Get ready for Trip Number Three!  Any guesses?

We’ve been discussing Trip Number Three for about nine months…since we got back from the last trip.  It’s always up to Patty, but she’s open to our suggestions…we got stuck pretty hard for a number of months on quite a natural choice (for us)…one involving food.

We talked basically from last October til early this spring about doing a road trip from Maine to Florida stopping in each state to try THE BEST PIE.  It was genius really.  Start with blueberry pie in Maine.  Have Boston Cream Pie in Massachusetts.  Apple Pie in New York….you get the idea…Peach Pie in Georgia…  This filled our pie-in-the-sky dreams for months.  Make pies.  Eat pies.

In February we scheduled a planning meeting at our local PIE Mecca to discuss…

and we brainstormed like the tech nerds at Apple™…Apple Pie, that is.

Actual archival footage of us discussing Trip Number Three:

You can see we have a lot in common with those folks in Cupertino, California…

But we also love dipping our toes into the past…you’ve seen us drive Route 66 and climb aboard a Steamboat on the mighty Mississippi’….What about maybe a train trip across the country?..or along the Pacific Coast?…or, of course, anything starting in Chicago?…because that’s become a theme of ours, let’s face it….

Fast forward to two months ago…Patty told us that she had a new idea…we should go to Washington, D.C. and be a part of National Pancreatic Cancer Advocacy Day.  And we usually listen to Patty…unless we’re near a buffet….then we ignore her and any thoughts we have about calorie counting.  Could we possibly go to DC by train?  There is an “overnighter” you can take complete w sleeper cars and a dining car from Florida to the nation’s capital….but sadly, we saw a picture of the bunkbeds and the dainty toilet positioned in the center of the cabin next to the “lucky” lower bunk inhabitant,  and we called our friends at Southwest Airlines.  (That sound you hear is AMTRAK pulling their sponsorship, sorry train-lovers!)

So we’re flying to the seat of our government to shake things up in June.  We’ll be on a plane in TWO WEEKS!  Our apparel committee is pulling all nighters!  Trudi is organizing our travel, and we have another planning meeting tomorrow..stay tuned for more updates and blog posts…because you know we love the attention…I mean the  support!  Ahem.

Mid June.  Trip Number Three.  Washington, D.C.

And what about Patty, our fearless leader?  How is she?

Her daughter Julia got married recently to the newest TEAM PATTY family member, Jamie.  And there is another new family member on the way.  Patty’s other daughter, Angela, and her husband Van are expecting Patty’s first grandchild.

Since our return Patty has continued with her twice monthly chemo without any stops until recently when she stopped treatment in order to gain strength prior to an open lung biopsy which she had about two weeks ago.

And what of the Sixtahs gang?  The sixtahs have been along for the ride…literally…many times.  Back in March Jane and I spent the day up at Moffitt with our girl, PV,  and I took some pix:

On our way to Tampa we listened to Gladys Knight and backed her up like the Pip-wannabes we are…and we were thrilled to see a Callaghan Tire truck as we drove north…a sign we were headed in the right direction we thought!  As you can see, Patty drove us to chemo..she’s pretty bada$$.   Jean and Patti have logged miles and hours up at Moffitt Cancer Spa and Resort as well…  We rub lotion on Patty’s hands.  We rub her head.  Trudi drops off magical soup after these chemo treatments every single time.  We make jokes and stretch the rules.  When they say only one person can go “back” with a patient to the chemo area they don’t mean us.

Back in April we celebrated our April Birthdays:  Trudi made us “Poop Emoji” cupcakes because, as you know, my nickname is “BM.”  That’s short for BLOGMASTER, I should add, in case there is any confusion.  And Poop Emojis are our Jam.  We love them almost as much as we love Trudi.

Later in April we met again because we love each other…and when we need a little extra love we call on each other…

Rule #223:  Never miss an opportunity to belt out a little Billy Joel….even when Jean is missing…I mean hiding.

We met again that month to grab dinner and celebrate Trudi’s birthday…Jane joined us late for a movie.  That was the day we thought we saw someone peering back at us from a cup of coffee…another sign…can you see it too?

THE END – but not really.

FUN FACT #147:  Patty’s spirit animal is The TARDIGRADE.

The latest in Chemo Fashion:

Musical notes:

(in case you wanna work on your “Pip” moves…)

**ELLEN Show:  Please contact us directly.  No need to contact our agents.  We don’t have any.  We’re available to meet Ellen at YOUR convenience and are really quite flexible on dates.  Call us.  No seriously.  Just call.