We received a call this evening that Lynn's brother has passed away! The guy was smart as a whip and I've known him since he was 24-25 years old. He went to work for Toyota (Lexus) as a Mechanical Engineer right out of college and stayed with them for over 35 years, then retired. But, he's one of those guys who doesn't know how to relax and as soon as he retired, he went back to school for an MBA, then started teaching college courses. His wife travels for her business and was in Colorado. They always stay in very close contact when she's traveling. She couldn't get ahold of him all day yesterday and was concerned, so she flew home today. She found him dead in their home. He's 62 years old and had no known illnesses. Non-smoker, non-drinker ... no clue what happened. We just got off the phone with her and the police and coroner just left the house and have removed his body. Of course, she's a basket case right now. Nobody contacted Lynn's mom as we wanted to wait until Lynn's brother could get there to be with mom and let her know personally. She's in her late 80's and healthy as an ox. This is going to devastate her. As soon as we got the news, we broke camp and rushed straight home. I'm about to try finding a flight to L.A. for tomorrow (or Saturday at the latest). We have some laundry and packing to do, as well as cancel a few upcoming doctor appointments, etc. I just backed in the driveway, plugged the motorhome in to the garage and we'll simply leave the refrigerator and freezer packed with food. We're not even gonna take the time to unload after a week of camping ... we'll just handle it when we get back home. Probably be gone about 2 weeks. This really sucks. Lynn's just devastated.

I really liked Ricky and we had a lot in common. I always enjoyed talking with him and getting the inside skinny on whatever projects he was working on. He could drive any factory car he wanted, but usually drove one of their hydrogen cars and really loved the thing. We cruised around in it a few times and it's pretty danged cool tbh.

Anyway, he was in Tampa for a conference a few years back and we took a couple pics. RIP Ricky, you will definitely be missed.

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