I'm never going to survive this man!!!!

That really was my thought for a while. Looking back on my life, I had led a very routine, orderly existence. Pretty well going to be and getting up the same time each day, eating meals about the same time, watching favorite TV shows on certain nights, etc. I can remember staying up late one week-night to watch a Montreal Canadian/Chicago Blackhawk hockey final that ran into overtime, and being exhausted the next day at work because of the two hours shortage of sleep (all in my head of course I realize now).

And now my life is one of constant change, meals when they are grabbed, sometimes missed all together, and nights with little or no sleep at all. Dick never stopped until the job was finished - and if it took you into the next day's work, so be it. That's how we put together the first class at the Motel school. I would go by his office after working with Dr. Kuhn and we would start preparing the complete lesson, the test papers, the slides for the presentation, and setting the whole thing so that Dick and Verne could conduct the class the next day. We did this for the two weeks of the class.


But we did settle into our little studio apartment on the hill and together were very happy.
And Katrina and I got to know each other better and start the foundation of our friendship. The above trip to Disneyland was a case in point on how Dick operated though. We had worked our usual day on a Friday and that evening driven with Katrina down to one of the Motel 6's close to Disneyland. We took Katrina out to dinner and then settled her in a room and Dick and I headed for the office to straighten out a major mess with the books. Not only had the manager not been able to balance his books in something like five or six days, but he had made no deposits either. We had to go back to when he WAS in balance and reconstruct the week's business from there, arriving at the end of each day's balanced report with an amount he needed for the deposit. He pulled the money from cupboards, under the counter and the refrigerator!. And interesting night - and it was the NIGHT. We got the whole mess sorted something like 6am, just in time to freshen up, nap for about an hour and then take Katrina out to breakfast and on to a day at Disneyland!
Being the CEO of Motel 6 did have its perks though. Motel 6 opened a motel in Hawaii, so of course Dick had to go and set up the opening and install the managers, etc. I was able to get the time off and accompany him and we spent four days and three nights that were wonderful. Actually the first and fourth day were taken up with travel, and the second day we devoted to business, but the one free day, we rented a motorcycle and drove around the island of Oahu. This was in 1967 and the road wasn't complete around the island - there was a portion that basically ran along the beach/rocky area. The whole day turned out to be one big adventure. First we stopped at a beach, changed into bathing suits and tried to swim in the water - BUT we soon learned why Hawaii is popular for surfing. The waves were HUGE and strong. We both went in the water, were sucked out and then tossed back on the beach. Ah well, maybe we had better look for calmer waters, so still wet and with our clothes bundled, we continued, coming to where the road just ran out. We thought we could see where it started again, so decided we could make it. Bouncing, slipping, splashing our way - when suddenly the bike goes one way, we go another and our clothes go flying. Now we and the bike were wet and muddy, along with our clothes. We made it to a calmer beach which fortunately had a shower area, so we were able to get ourselves cleaned up and continued on our trip, past the vast pineapple fields (I always thought they grew on trees!!!) and back to the motel. Most of the trip was done in our bathing suits waiting for our clothes to dry. Both Dick and I are fortunate to have olive skins which do not burn as easy, but we both had too much sun that day and were not feeling our greatest the next day. On the plane going home, Dick suddenly said he wasn't feeling too good and was going to the bathroom. He had no sooner left his seat, when I heard a crash and I jumped up to see two attendants looking at the space behind the last seat and the galley/rest room area. I ran back, took one look at Dick passed out on the floor and promptly passed out myself and landed on top of him! You can't say I'm not the sympathetic type!

Yes Life was different - nothing was the same, all routine had gone out the window, I learned to adapt to no sleep and at times no food, but I loved it (once I got over the shock) and loved the man. Life was good...............