San Antonio

Sometimes we stay a little longer in a place than we should and we get bored with it.  This wasn't the case in San Antonio.  We could have easily stayed a week and not run out of things to do.  This place sure has grown since we left straight from Brad's last baseball game, U-Haul trailer packed to the gills, in May of 1994.  There was a lot of construction on the roads, but we still got to see old friends and even make it down to the famous river walk for lunch one day.  We'll have to go back, because there are too many people and too many things we missed.  Here are some pictures:

5663 Misty Glen - The first house we ever owned.  We bought this place by the skin of our teeth in 1989 and sold it in 1994.  The old neighborhood is holding up really well.  Several of our old neighbors are still there.  We surprised the neighbor across the street working in his yard.  It's not everyday somebody walks out of the past from 20 years ago and says "hey, remember us?"

So...we had to do it again.  We rented this house on Stockade for a year before we bought the one on Misty Glen.  The next door neighbors, Greg and Maria, were still there.  Surprise!  They actually remembered us, probably because of our cute little baby boy Brad at the time.

Dad, Brad and me at the house on Stockade in 1988.  Nice shorts!

A view of the Riverwalk.  It goes on for miles.

Dinner with great friends Jean and Louis.  They haven't changed a bit.

Dinner with Dave and Wendy.  Dave and I worked together at Misawa Air Base, Japan.

Paul and Renee have been good friends since they moved to town about 1990.  Paul and I worked together for years at the Air Force Recruiting Service.  They never left.  Among many things, they're competitive BBQers and RVers.  They treated us to some great grilled fajitas and hours of reminiscing.

North to Alaska

Dear Readers,
As all 2.7 readers of this blog know, Laurie and have set the goal of getting the Alaska sticker on our RV map this summer.  So far so good.  We departed Florida immediately after the cruise (after a requisite 2 day stop at the Ho Hum in Carabelle) bound first for Arkansas, then down through Texas.  Along the way, we camped at a really nice Corps of Engineer park outside Montgomery to see Jeff and Peggy.  They're finishing up Air War College this summer and headed back to DC.  We spent a few weeks in Little Rock visiting Laurie's family, but we took a side trip of a little over a week during that time to see Music City, Nashville, TN.  After celebrating Mother's Day, we started our journey in earnest.  We finally stopped in Dallas, one place we've bypassed a couple times.  While there I stopped in and jammed with Paul Morton, a fellow veteran I served with at Little Rock Air Force Base who was also the drummer in a garage band I was in briefly back in the 80's.  He's awesome, me, not so much!  We also toured the Dealy Plaza museum and the botanical garden.  There's too much to do in a town that size to even scratch the surface.  After Dallas, it's on to San Antonio.

Laurie took this view from our windshield at the Ho Hum RV Park in Carabelle, FL.  It's very tranquil having your own waterfront estate, even if it is just for a couple days.  We stop here routinely now.

After the Ho Hum, it was an easy day's drive to Montgomery to see Jeff and Peggy.  

On our side trip to Nashville, we were able to take in a couple tours of historic mansions.  This one is Belle Meade, owned by a Nashville race horse breeder named Harding.

We also toured the Country Music Hall of Fame, yeehaw.  

President Andrew Jackson retired to and died at The Hermitage, just outside Nashville.  Here's Laurie at the back gate.

The Hermitage is fairly modest by today's standards, but back in the 1820's I'm sure it was quite grand.  Huge white pillars, no toilets.

A panorama of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden.  Very pretty, but it was getting hot out.  I know, it's Texas.

Growing their own plants at the botanical garden.

I took this photo standing a few feet from where President Kennedy was killed.  The brick building behind the oak is the former Texas Schoolbook Depository building.  The trees were much smaller 50 years ago.

Dealy Plaza.  That red pickup is right where the fatal shot occurred.

Hanging with fellow veteran Paul Morton

Florida Winter 2015-16

Well, another great Florida winter has come and gone and I'm waaaayyyy behind on updating the blog.  We started the winter at MacDill as usual, first in the annex but then moving into the sandpit.  The park was in utter turmoil because of an electrical power upgrade taking far too long and many spots weren't open for the season. The big event while we were at MacDill was selling our sailboat we'd owned for 8 years, the Laurie Lee.  It was truly strange watching her leave the dock with her new owner at the helm, but I wasn't getting enough use out of her to justify the cost and effort.  Without a boat to tie us to the dock at MacDill, we left for the season just prior to Christmas to spend it with Mom and the boys in Sebring.  We were in Key West for New Year's Eve again this year, which is getting to be a pretty cool tradition.  After Key West, we spent a couple weeks on Key Largo at John Pennekamp State Park and a commercial park.  We really enjoyed that, something different.  While we were in Key Largo, Keith, Abby and Madison came down from Miami for a visit.  We then moved up the coast just a bit and stayed in Lake Worth, then Jupiter Florida.  Jupiter was a significant find.  We stayed at Jonathan Dickinson State Park for 2 weeks and it was great.  Keith and Abby came to see us again and brought friends this time.  There was a lot to see in the area, the weather was great, the camping spot was huge, and Jupiter has a great music scene.  After that, we went up and stayed near Mom at Wekiva Falls campground for a week.   Then back down to Key West for a week just in the car this time to celebrate Laurie's birthday.  We then went up to Bushnell, FL for a couple weeks and stayed at Paradise Oaks with our friends Fred and Loretta.  We were also able to visit Larry and Teresa at their new home in the Villages.  The next big trip was storing the RV for a couple weeks in Sebring while we took off on a cruise with friends John and Phyllis.  In the personal development arena, I got a haircut (big deal) and enrolled in a doctoral program (back to school).  As the time of this writing, we're camped near our house at Highlands Hammock State Park.  The plan for this summer is Alaska.  Since we finished the lower 48 state map, it only makes sense, right?  Here are a few pictures from the winter:

The Laurie Lee under new ownership, bound for Clearwater, FL.

Poolside at Point of View RV Park in Key Largo.  Nice!

Sunset in the Keys.  Gilbert's Resort, Key Largo.

Keith, Abby, and Madison

I threw a karaoke party at Seascapes for old time's sake.  Here are the girls jamming in a group sing.

Intrepid travelers touring Dominica.

Great friends John and Phyllis.  We cruised to the Bahamas, St. Thomas, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba aboard the Royal Princess.  10 days in paradise!

Jupiter Light House

Blowing Rocks Preserve on Jupiter Island.  You don't often see limestone like this on the east coast.

Laurie learning to play the dulcimer at Ft Zachary Taylor on Key West.  We visited on a day when they had civil war reenactors on the grounds.

Contemplating getting a trim.  I posted this photo on FaceBook and asked my friends if I should cut it or keep it.  The results were mixed.  I got a hair cut.  It's a lot easier to deal with and it's amazing how differently people talk to me.  When I was in Kindergarten, they taught me you can't judge a book by its cover.  Wrong.

Home Again

Well, we've come full circle.  We're back at the Ho Hum where we started this summer's road trip 2 1/2 months ago.  After Sedona, we did 3 days on the road spending just one night then moving on.  We overnighted in Grants, NM, Amarillo, TX, and Checotah, OK before arriving back in Little Rock for time with Laurie's family and a reunion with my old military buddies at Little Rock AFB, my first assignment.  On our way to the Gulf Coast, we stopped in Hattiesburg, MS and stayed at the Paul B. Johnson State Park.  Hattiesburg is a nice town and the park was beautiful, set on a lake.  We head back to MacDill for our 4th winter.  We think we are, anyway.  They're renovating the electrical power and are not yet ready for the influx of us snow birds.  We might have to stay somewhere else for a month until they finish, but regardless we're back in the Sunshine State just as they start to report the first snows of fall up north.

Lots of gray hairs on us, 30 years after most of us served together.

Sedona, AZ

We have not been "everywhere."  Even in a 30 year military career being stationed across the country, and 3 years full time doing nothing but sight seeing, we still haven't even come close to "seeing it all."  I was talking to a fellow RVer at our most recent stay, just outside Sedona, AZ.  She'd been RVing full time with her husband, also a military retiree, for 6 years.  I made a comment about not knowing when we'd ever grow tired of the lifestyle and come off the road.  She said she wasn't sure either, because there's so much to see.  She also mentioned talking to someone once that was trading in the gypsy lifestyle for the more conventional world.  That person claimed in 3 years of RVing, they'd "seen it all."  Poppycock.  Whatever you have to tell yourself, but I don't care who you are, please don't tell me you've seen everything this great country has to offer.

So, that leads me to this post.  We'd heard rave reviews of Sedona, and we missed seeing it the last time we were out west in 2013.  After Las Vegas, we made sure to drop south of I-40 just a bit so we could check out this much acclaimed destination.  We've seen a lot, so our bar is set pretty high.  I have to say that the area lived up to its reputation.  It's one of those gorgeous red rock areas we have out west, perhaps a place they would have declared a national park under other circumstances.  As it stands, it's a very conscientiously developed town in the middle of a natural paradise.  They did a great job making sure dwellings and buildings merged with the landscape.  We had a good time and intend to return so we can spend more time checking out the outlying communities.  Arizona is awesome.

One of the local Sedona residents

A typical view from Main Street Sedona.  The red rock formations are really spectacular.

Castle Rock, I think?  There were too many beautiful formations to remember.

Good Bye Charlie

Well, most of my blog entries are about nice places and pretty pictures.  This one is just about misery.  Our little buddy, constant companion and mascot was diagnosed with kidney disease earlier this year.  The only treatment they offered were surgeries like kidney transplants, or a "kidney friendly" diet.  He wouldn't eat the kidney friendly food.  Over the past few months his weight dropped, and his appetite and energy level slowly dropped to zero.  When he quit drinking water and showed no interest in his morning walk, we knew it was time to drop the denial and take him to the vet in Las Vegas.  I haven't cried that hard since my father died.  For a little dog, Charlie had a ton of personality.  Those of you who have had a shoe stolen by him know what I'm talking about.  We had him since 2007, but he was a daily fixture in our lives since I retired in 2012.  He was always there, always happy to see us, always coming up with some new neurotic behavior to make us laugh and shrug.  I held him tightly in my arms when the Vet put him down and I bawled like a baby.  We will really miss that dog.  Here are some pictures from his better days.

He was a little heart breaker as a puppy.  How can you not love this guy?

Awkward teenage years.  Yes, he'd help himself to whoever's bed he wanted to lay on.  

Our first summer in the RV.  

Happy as a clam hanging out by a stream in the mountains somewhere.  Anywhere.  Charlie in his prime.

I hope this video works.  Charlie was a huge licker, part of his...charm.

Las Vegas

Well, I would not advise driving all the way from Yosemite to Las Vegas, but I did it.  I must have been reading the map wrong, because I thought I was half way there by noon, but we didn't arrive until after 7pm.  Oh well, all's well that ends.  We stayed 3 nights at the RV park at Circus Circus Casino.  Didn't gamble a dime.  We did see 2 good shows though, and took advantage of the Nellis AFB commissary and ticket office.  We saw a La Reve - The Dream, which was one of those very well done Cirque du Soleil kind of shows.  Google it, too hard to explain.  We also saw a classic rock revival show featuring members of Heart, Survivor and a few other bands.  No pictures this stop, not too much scenery to shoot on The Strip.