Uncategorized – Page 5 – The Adventures of Bill & Nancy

2021 Christmas Holiday Season (Including New Years)

Merry Christmas Everyone. Our Christmas Holiday season is being spent relatively local this year. Travel restrictions still keep us from visiting our family in Australia so we are just enjoying what we can where we are. We officially opened our Christmas Holiday Season by sending out our annual Christmas letter.

We have received many cards and emails again this year. It is always fun and interesting to read, and see in many cases, how people have changed or spent the year since we last heard from them. Always good to hear from friends and family.

On the 10th of December Nancy and I went downtown Tampa to enjoy the Tampa Symphony perform their Annual Christmas Concert Special at the Straz. A lovely evening. We spent the evening in town, had dinner at an excellent Moroccan Restaurant, enjoyed the symphony, had a night cap at an Irish Pub, and spent the night at a hotel downtown. We returned home Saturday morning.

So, now we are preparing to spend Christmas itself. We have attended dinners and parties in our neighborhood. Visited and greeted friends and neighbors all around where we live. Tune in later to see what we did for Christmas and New Years.

CHRISTMAS DAY – Again, Merry Christmas Everyone. We are snuggled into a quaint cabin in a ridge above Pigeon Forge, TN. Below us you can see all of the Pigeon Force city area as well as DollyWood.

We arrived here on the evening of 22 December after a scenic drive up though Florida, Georgia, and through The Great Smokey Mountain National Park from Cherokee, NC to Pigeon Forge, TN. The last leg, through the park, was sixty six miles at thirty five miles per hour but very scenic. All the leaves are gone so it’s a bit drab but still very impressive We did see a herd of Elk grazing in some of the lower pastures the park provides. As I mentioned, we arrived here in the evening of 22 Dec. I carried our stuff in from the car and Nancy unpacked the coolers and whatever needed unpacking. It was late so we drove down to Pigeon Forge to find food … you know, Hunting! We lucked out and found a very nice Brewpub (we like brewpubs) that served good food.

After a fulfilling dinner and a couple IPA’s we proceeded back to the cabin, unpacked and went to bed.

The 23rd was set aside for setting up for Christmas in our cabin and doing whatever we wanted. There was a very nice tree already here (with bunches of bright flashing lights) but Nancy still put our little tree up. I may be prejudice but I like ours better. I get photosensitive epilepsy from the flashing lights. Consequently we leave the big tree unplugged. It looks quite nice without the flashing lights. We do keep our little tree lit and shining on us throughout our time in the cabin.

After getting everything squared away at the cabin we decided to go back downtown and see what they have to offer. Pigeon Forge is much larger than one would expect and has an endless variety of shows, rides, restaurants, souvenir shops, museums, and whatever you can imagine. We drove around a bit and then parked and walked through an area called the Island. Interesting place. Best part was a huge fountain that performed to music. Comfortable chairs set up all around it so you could sit and watch and listen as long as you liked. We strolled, shopped, watched, and had a pleasant afternoon.

That wrapped up the twenty third. Christmas Eve morning found us enjoying home made cinnamon roles and coffee as we worked our way into a day of relaxation and meditation. Here are a few pictures of the cabin where we are staying and the view from our back patio.

Downtown Pigeon Force from our Cabin (Note the Ferris Wheel)

Last night we went to a Christmas Mass at a local Church. First packed service we have seen since the COVID stuff started. A long but nice service.

When we got home we called our family in Australia. Being way down under they were already well into Christmas day. We got to talk with all of them, joke about our presents, and had a very pleasant conversation. They are all doing well … Thanks for asking. We adjourned for the evening and turned in.

Christmas morning found Santa had come through and filled our stockings. Nancy cut some German Stolen, I made some coffee, and we set out to see what he had brought. A pleasant morning remembering Christmasses past, opening gifts, answering texts from all over, eating Stolen, and drinking coffee.

That was our Christmas Morning. This afternoon Nancy gave me some more pool lessons. Beat me at Cribbage and Gin several times, and we listened to bunches of Christmas music. Later Nancy will be serving one of my favorite dinners; Cornish Hen. After Dinner we will again call Australia to wish our son Andrew a Happy Birthday. More tomorrow.

Wow!! Who would believe it’s the 6th of January in a new year?? My only excuse is that my films got lost at the photo center and I had to wait for them to be found. I’m sticking to that one.

We did call Andrew on his Birthday. We had a nice chat. We also undecorated the cabin from what we had put up and went down to the Brew Pub we started at for dinner. We had a nice dinner, came back to the cabin, packed the car, and got ready for an early departure the next morning. Which we did.

The drive from Tennessee to Florida is kind of interesting and takes about ten hours to drive … if you don’t get stuck in a traffic jam. Which we did. About one hundred miles from home we encountered the transformation of I75 from an interstate highway to a parking lot. Traffic stopped or moved very slowly. We finally bailed off of the interstate and zig zagged across Florida to the west coast and came home that way. We got home only a couple hours later than we had planned. On the 28th we unpacked, Nancy washed, we repacked, did some errands, spent a few hours with some friends, and prepared for our New Year’s event which was meeting Nancy’s Brother Brian and his wife Deb in Miami and driving down to Key West to spend New years. We drove to Miami on the 29th and checked into a hotel near the airport. We were tired so we just walked to a nearby pizza place for dinner. It turned out to be quite interesting as it claimed to be an Italian Pizza Place, but was ran by a Cuban guy who had lived in Italy. He had some friends there from Venezuela. It was an interesting group, we had a pleasant dinner, had an interesting conversation, and went back to the hotel and turned in.

The next morning we picked up Brian and Deb at Miami International. Was an interesting event as there was no parking available so we would park at some curb until the police chased us off and we would move to a new spot. Thank goodness Brian and Deb we only about an hour late. We scooped them up and headed south to Key west. It was a ninety mile drive that took four hours! A bunch of people were joining us!

We checked into our hotel, which was on Duval Street, and walked towards downtown looking for dinner. We found some food at an upstairs place that over looked the street. Shared several appetizers.

We spent the rest of the evening exploring and turned in to rest up for the 31st.

The 31st we spent the day visiting local points of interest, local watering holes, and celebrating New Year’s Eve. Fun day, long, but fun.

We had a very good diner at a nice restaurant on Duval and continued the evening’s activities till about one or two. I think I crashed first.

New Year’s day was kinda mellow. The hotel provided a pleasant breakfast so we enjoyed a leisurely time having that. Then we walked about the pier watching the big Tarpon swim around. Stopped at an interesting place for a late lunch, then boarded a big Catamaran for a Sunset cruise. The cruise was great, the sunset spectacular.

That was it for New Year’s day. It was up and at them the next morning. Brian and Deb had an 8 PM flight out of Miami and there were rumors of bad traffic all the way there. Consequently we left early and encountered a little traffic but not bad. Because we got back to Miami early we decided to show Brian & Deb The Everglades National Park. It is Winter so there was not much activity. It was a nice drive and we did see a lot of birds.

We got them back to the airport in time for their flight and they were off. I did find an interesting advertisement.

This is the real thing. If you want to be treated for a hangover they inject fluids and vitamins and you are supposed to feel great immediately. None of us tried it but we did run into one guy who had and he said it worked great.

So that was out holiday season from Pre-Christmas to New Years. It is different each year and a chance to try and enjoy different things. Wish you all could’ve been along.

2021 Thanksgiving In Hayesville, NC

We decided we did not want to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas at home and we still can’t go to Australia so we decided to “Get Away” by renting a cabin for each of the holidays. For Thanksgiving we rented, through Airbnb a two bedroom cabin in Hayesville, North Carolina. We have never spent much time in the Smokies so we decided to give it a try.

It turned out really nice and while it was a long drive it was not really a trip. It was just getting there and back. Hayesville is about six hundred miles from where we live so we decided to drive it in one day. The drive was uneventful even though it went through Atlanta. The heaviest traffic was in the suburbs to the Northeast of Atlanta. Fortunately we made it with no problems and just a few colorful words by Bill regarding other “drivers”.

The cabin turned out to be really nice, quite remote and private … and nice and quiet. It had plenty of room for the two of us. Was very nicely furnished and provisioned. Nancy brought everything she would need to prepare one of her wonderful Thanksgiving dinners so we were all set. Interestingly enough the cabin did not have a TV and only a slow Satellite Internet link. We don’t really watch all that much TV and usually only use the internet for our email so that was no problem. The owners had left a number of board games, we brought a deck of cards and a cribbage board, and I brought an old laptop I had that still had a DVD player so we each picked out a couple movies from our library that we could watch in the evenings. We were never bored, enjoyed several old movies we had not seen in a long time, Nancy abused me at Yatzee, and I squeaked out a victory or two on the cribbage board.

Here are some pictures of the cabin.

On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we decided to drive up and see Great Smokey Mountain National park. We originally had a couple ways to get there but found that one way had been blocked by a landslide. We took a route that was west of where we were and it turned out to be quite a day. Part of the drive included a famous piece of road call “Tail of the Dragon” which features 380 curves in eleven miles. It is a favorite Summertime drive for Bikers and sports cars. We did it in our Subaru and it was still a ot of fun. I saw my tail lights a couple times. Great Smokey Mountain National Park is great but it was packed. The holiday weekend was clear and sunny so everyone took one last drive to the park. The park is just south of Gatlinburg and Knoxville so all the tourists from there came by. Sorry but no pictures. On the way home we stopped in Hayesville and had dinner at the Nocturnal Brew Pub. It was a great day. Saturday we just veged out. Played some cards, relaxed, packed a bit, and had leftover turkey for dinner. Sunday we drove home. Great trip.

For Christmas we have rented a Cabin in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee which is a little father north from where we spent Thanksgiving. My Christmas Holiday post will include things we do at home, ouir time at Pigeon Forge, and our trip to Key West for New Years.

SOUTH ISLAND – New Zealand – 2016

South Island is not like North island in some ways, the people are pretty much the same but the geography is different and it is farther to the south (or north as we would look at it). The southern tip of South Island has seals and is much like the Patagonian areas of South America, although not as close, it not that far away either.

The ferry we were on sailed across the Cook Straight and picked its way through the Islands on the north side of South Island to a small town called Picton. We disembarked and walked across the harbor to the car rental place and picked up our rental, drove to our hotel, checked in, and walked about enjoying a festival they were having near our hotel.

The next morning we went to church in a small chapel and headed west for the west coast of South Island. We passed a couple cellar Doors where local vineyards were selling wine but we didn’t stop. We made it to the west coast and drove out to Cape Foulwind (what a name!). Very rocky, nice light house, seals.

We drove back to the main road and proceeded south. The shore was rocky and the sea turbulent. Great views. A little farther down we came to “The Pancakes”. Thousands of thin layers of rock eroded by the sea forming interesting shapes, dramatic coves, and mysterious formations.

We walked around the gift shop a bit to kinda get our breath back, then got in the car, turned on the heater to dry out, and pressed on. First was a reindeer farm, then a glacier. We hiked out to the glacier but the fog was inso it was difficult to see it. If you wanted to walk out to it you had to hire a guide, wait till he had enough people to make a group and walk out with the guide. We chose to walk around the river and along it to where the glacier was.

A reindeer farm … These are all Does for breeding stock. They raise reindeer here like the raise Angus out west.

We left the glacier, drove across the river, and headed up into the mountains to a ski resort town named Queenstown. We lucked out and got this really nice two bedroom unit up on the hillside over looking the lake. The scenery was incredible, the room was terrific, but we only stayed one night. We did go down town and walk around, had some dinner, talked to some locals. Great day and evening.

Crossing the bridge. Nearly all the bridges are one lane so proper protocol and politeness are essential. Most teveryone honored the right of way signs. As you approached the bridge there was a sign indicating which direction had the right of way.

We left Queenstown and visited an old gold mining village near by. No pictures, just stores and stuff. We then proceeded out to Milford Sound. Milford Sound is a huge fyord that comes in from the ocean. We went on a half day long boat trip that took us all the way out to the sea and back. Incredible scenery. Water running off of the high sides, seals, boaters. I’m not going to label each one as most are self explanatory. Just flip through them and enjoy. We were not even sure we were going to go as the weather was forecasted to be rainy and foggy. We stayed in a small town about 20 miles inland and figured we would decide in the morning. the morning was marginal but promising so we took a chance. It turned out perfect. A wonderful day.

That was Milford sound. Took an entire day to see it but well worth the time and effort. Hope you didn’t get tired of the falls. They are all kinda the same but each unique in their own way.

From Milford Sound we decideed not to go all the way to the souther tip. Many miles and all it offered was seals and turbulent ocean .. we had seen that so we deided to head over to the east coast. So we did. Went through two interesting towns, Gore and Clinton, then got to Dunedin on the east coast. Most notable thing on the east coast was a beach covered with huge, round boulders. Some had split and were filled with an agate type material. Looked like dinasour eggs to me, or maybe Martian eggs … who knows? There’s a photo that explains them. We saw similar boulders in the British Virgin Islands (see post) so they do get around.

On the way north we saw several reindeer farms. The ones with the horns were the cash crop that went to the market … or that Santa bought.

Then we got to Christchurch. A lovely old city. The first books I read about New Zealand had the settlers landing in Christchurch and heading north to stake their ranches (Stations) for sheep. Christchurch was heavily damaged by a severe earthquake in 2011. 185 people were killed in the 6.2 Richter scale quake was so damaging because it struck in the same area a 7.1 quake struck in 2010. The city was struggling to recover and doing well. Impressive perseverance.

Christchurch … very modern progressive city. Very clean and safe

That’s New Zealand. A most interesting, diverse country. Highly recommend you go there if you ever have the chance. Great people. As I mentioned earlier. This was one of several trips we took during this time in Australia. Watch for future posts of the other trips. A peak? Okay … Melbourne down to the Great Ocean Hiway, up towards Adelaide, then up the Newell Highway to Toowoomba and on to Brisbane. or, Brisbane south to New castle, Sydney, and Melbourne. Lastly, Gold Coast North to Toowoomba, south along the granite belt then down to Tamborine Mountain. Stay tuned .. they are coming soon.

NEW ZEALAND – Jan 2016

Our first trip to the east side of of Australia was to visit our Son and his family who had just moved to Coomera (Just south of Brisbane) in late 2015. They had originally planned to move to Tasmania but had changed their minds at the last minute. Consequently, we had already made plans and bought airplane tickets to and from Melbourne with plans to take a Ferry to Tasmania, rent a car, and drive to where ever they had settled. Because they were in Coomera and we were already flying into Melbourne (which we could not change) we decided to see a little of eastern Australia before, during, and after our visit with our family. We were going there for the holidays (Christmas, Andy’s birthday, New Years. and my birthday) and had made arrangements to spend at least a couple months there. We flew in to Melbourne in early December, spent a few days there, then traveled in the area and eventually up to Coomera arriving just before Christmas.

After the holidays we decided to drive down the east coast of Australia to Sydney and on to Melbourne, leave our luggage there and take a two week trip to New Zealand, back to Melbourne and home. Eventually I will post each major segment of our time in Oz (Australia) but for now, and to keep the posts from getting way to long, I will post each segment separately. This post is our time in New Zealand. There will be two sub posts with this one. North Island and South Island.

A bit about New Zealand. I was never personally interested in going to NZ. I thought of it as stodgy old Brits, goats, sheep, and aboriginal people. I was very wrong. NZ is an amazing place with a tremendously diverse population, geography, and history. The indigenous people there are Maori (pronounced Mow ray) and are proud, hard working people who can tell you what boat their ancestors came to NZ on from Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa, or other South Pacific Island. They have reclaimed much of their land from early poachers through the courts and hard work. They are active in all levels of government and proud of their country. There may be some Aboriginals in NZ but very few. Most live in Australia.

The early settlers, or poachers, were Europeans who came to NZ and claimed large tracts of land and used the locals to farm it for them. They have seen the writing on the wall and are working with the government to reinstate original owners and pay local workers a fair wage. While they did bring progress, they are not entitled to colonization.

The geography of NZ is the most amazing. In two little islands you can find mountains, deserts, fertile farmland, forests, glaciers, thermal activity, swamps, and seacoasts. Their history is just as diverse.

We only had a couple weeks to spend in NZ so we moved quickly to cover both Islands. I have included maps depicting where we drove. I took pictures of things Nancy and I found interesting. Follow along and I encourage you to goggle or research anything or place I mention because my photos and commentary do not do the country justice.

We had no real itinerary. We stopped at the end of each day and started at the next morning. We had made no reservations so as we got to mid afternoon we would decide how much farther we were going, find a McDonalds that has WiFi, logged on to booking.com and found a place to stay a couple hours down the road. We would go out for dinner, talk about our next day and get some sleep. Breakfast was normally included, and we pressed on. Life is good!

Come on along!

NORTH ISLAND – New Zealand 2016

We had a very late flight leaving Melbourne so it was oh dawn thirty when we arrived in Wellington, North Island, New Zealand. We were lucky and the car rental place was open so we got our car and ventured forth onto North Island. Of the two Islands that make up New Zealand, North Island is the most populated and, for those of you who haven’t memorized all the capitols of the world, Wellington is the Federal Capitol of New Zealand.

Because it was so early nearly everything was closed, but because it was in the middle of their Summer, it was already daylight. We saw this big hill in the center of the city and we decided to drive up and see what we could see from it.

It was very windy, and as it was so early, quite cool. The days were all very pleasant and warm. We took a few pictures from the hill and then went down into the city and toured around a bit, spent the night there and left the next morning.

This is a Picture of a poster I found of the hill we were on in Wellington and the city behind it.

We left Wellington the next day and drove up though the center of North Island to Napier. We stopped several times along the way at points of interest.

Huka Falls. Lake Taupo drains north east through a layer of granite that resists being cut. The result is a dynamic drop in altitude through a narow cut causing this rush of water

This stop is at a vey large geothermal area much like Yellowstone National Park. There were a number of trails that wound around whatever was featured and we did most of them.

We diverted to the Kiwi capitol of the world. Most people think all the people from NZ are called “Kiwi’s” but that is not true. The indigenous people are call Maori’s and they actually come from the south pacific Islands like Tahiti, Samoa, and even Hawaii. Kiwi’s are the English settlers who came to New Zealand and took the land for themselves. Here are some pictures of real Kiwi’s.

This is a big hedge that surrounds a Kiwi orchard/grove/vineyard whatever

We left the Kiwi Capitol of the world and headed west to the ocean coast. We elected not to go all the way north to Auckland. It is a big city and we were not into big cities and it was so far out of the way we decided to skip it for now. You just have to choose what you are going to make an effort or spend time to see and everythng else will need to wait for the next trip.

So, we drove west to a town name Katikati. It is known as New Zealand’s Mural town and lives up to that name. There are over 70 buildings in town with murals on the side of them. The amazing thing is the quality of the art and history the murals depict. Here are some of them.

Okay … enough murals. We spent several hours walking the streets admiring the artwork and historical aspects of the murals. We even had a Latte in a nice little coffee house.

Moving right along, we next came to an area that featured Glow worms. Yep … just like it says … worms that glow. They live deep in caves and attract food by glowing … kinda like lightning bugs but these guys hang from the ceiling of a cave and don’t fly around. Here are some pictures of our tour of the Glow Worm Caves. Please keep in mind I have a little pocket camera and it does not do real well in the dark.

Okay then. From here we traveled west all the way to the South Ocean. (In Australia and New Zealand there is another ocean. They call it the South Ocean. It is actually the waters around the islands of Australia and New Zealand. Guess they can have their own ocean if they want to. They area is actually The Coral Sea and the Tasman Sea with the Coral Sea just reaching the northern part of NZ. When we got to the ocean we saw a sign for “The Three Sisters” so we headed over that way to have a look. Here is our journey all the way to Plymouth on the western coast of North Island where we spent the night.

The white stuff in the middle is the bottom of a water fall. As we drove along there would be a sign for a water fall so, if it was not too far away, we would park and walk out to see it. In late summer they all dry up so we wanted to take advantage of the season and see as many as we could.

When we left Plymouth the next morning it was quite foggy. We decided we wanted to see the tallest mountain in NZ so we cut inland to go past the east side of it. We actually drove up to the top of it (pictures later). From there we took the Forgotten Highway to the center of NZ, then cut south to catch the coast again. Check the map.

Here’s the story on the Forgotten Hghway:

Forgotten World Highway is one of the most scenic drives in New Zealand. This highly memorable driving journey is remote and mysterious to the extreme. This scenic route winds alongside the spectacular Tangarakau Gorge and passes through the 180-metre-long, single lane, Moki tunnel. It’s one of the most scenic drives in the world.

The route winds its way across some seriously crinkly landscape, through gorges, tunnels and dense forest. Built on colonial bridle paths formed in the late 19th century. The highway goes through some rugged, beautiful countryside. It climbs three saddles, including the Strathmore Saddle, the Whangamomona Saddle and the Tahora Saddle. If you’re up for a challenge, the Forgotten World Highway is a drive to remember. It’s a leisurely drive through numerous different types of environment.

The journey is so called due to the fact that it’s New Zealand’s oldest heritage trail. It includes some narrow sections. State Highway 43 has been ranked as one of the 10 worst roads in New Zealand by the Police. This bad record is because of the slippery gravel surface in the Tangarakau Gorge, however this is not scheduled to be sealed because of the low traffic volume.

From Lake Taupo we went south, higher into the mountains, where there was a large ski resort. Being the middle of summer there was no snow but we took the lifts up to the top and walked around a bit.

From here we drove South until we reached the ocean again and continued south back to Wellington. We spent another evening in Wellington enjoying the sites and town. We were not permitted to take our rental across to South Island so the morning that we left Wellington and North Island we turned it in and a guy gave us a ride to our ferry that was going to take us to South Island. Here are pictures of our trip along the coast to Wellington and some of the places we visited in Wellington. Very nice city. Clean, well kept, friendly people.

This completes the North Island. Hope you liked it. The South Island had much to offer as well. All different, all interesting. If you are interested, go to the South Island post. Bye now.

GERMANY/SWITZERLAND September 2021

With the EU announcing an easing of the entry restrictions due to COVID, Nancy and I decided to take a trip to Germany and Switzerland to enjoy the late Summer weather there, attend the WurstFest in Bad Durkheim, and do some hiking in the Swiss Alps. Along the way, while we were there, we would stop and see friends from our past. In early July we made airplane reservations and a number of hotel reservations based on where we thought we would be during our time there. The timing centered on the WurstFest which covered the weekends of 10 and 17 September. Our schedule was based on us attending the Wurst Fest the weekend of the 10th. With all that in mind we scheduled as much as we wanted to in advance leaving some wiggle room should our plans change while we were in Europe. Lastly, we alerted our friends in Germany, warning them of our impending arrival and desires to see them and perhaps share a dinner or something. Having done all that, the only thing left was to wait until the 7th of September and fly out.

As our departure drew near we were made aware of, by our airline, several COVID related issues we needed to take care of before we left. First, The Airline we were flying on wanted proof that we had our COVID-19 vaccinations. We were required to show we had once had COVID and were now naturally resistant or that we had the vaccination regimen required for resistance. We provided all that on line and soon we were ok’ed by the airline to fly. Then, three days before we departed we had to go to a German website and provide proof of our vaccinations or previous recovery as well as listing where we would be during our time in Germany. We did all that, again on line, and soon received a form approving our visit. A two week quarantine in Germany, upon our arrival, would be required if we did not have the approval forms. As we were going to be there for only three weeks, we did not want to spend the first two weeks locked in a hotel room. We were pleased we were able to complete everything in advance.

On Labor Day, 6 Sept, we checked out a rental car to get us to the airport, packed our bags, and did our last minute preparations to leave. On the 7th we drove to the airport, turned in our rental car, and boarded our flight to Newark, NJ and on to Frankfurt, Germany. The flights, connections and arrival processes all went fine with no delays or difficulties. We arrived in Frankfurt at 10 in the morning of the 8th of September, processed through Immigration and Customs, checked out a German Rental Car and our European Vacation was under way. We checked into our hotel, a Gasthauase in Enkenbach called the Kolb where we were to spend three nights. It is pleasant place with several rooms and great breakfasts and meals for lunch and dinner. We seldom or never stay at people’s homes. We just find the inconvenience we cause for both our hosts and ourselves to be not worth it. We find it better just to spend time with friends and stay in a hotel.

Our first stop was to see our neighbors from when we lived in Germany the last time we lived there. Manfred and Waltraud Helf lived next door to us for six years while I worked as a DoD consultant. They kind of adopted us and we were included in many of their community and family events. Many, many fond memories. Because we had not slept for 36 hours, were tired and in need of a shower and sleep, we just had cake and coffee with them and went to our hotel in the next village over. We checked in and walk to a nearby Turkish Restaurant we have enjoyed for years, had a light dinner and returned to our room. It was our intent to stay up until at least nine or ten but only made it to Seven before we crashed. Next thing I knew, Nancy was telling me it was Nine in the morning and we needed to go down for breakfast or miss out.

After a pleasant breakfast we decided to go to Kaiserslautern, the largest nearby city, and get German Telephone SIM cards for our phones which will give us phone service as well as texting and internet while we are here. There is a large electronics chain store (like Best Buy) called Saturn in Germany so we decided to try that. They had the cards but we needed our passports to register them. After driving back to the hotel and securing our passports we returned to Saturn, got the cards, and pressed on.

As we had spent many years living in this area we spent much of the day just driving around seeing what had changed, what was new, and how so many things had not changed. Between trips back and forth getting passports, stops at bakeries for coffee and a sweetie, and an afternoon beer, we managed to use up the day.

That evening we met the Helf’s and four of their friends at a sports bar for pizza, beer, wine, and schnapps … a fine evening it was. They have a group that meets there every Thursday for Pizza and we were fortunate enough to be invited. Over the years we have done many social things with the Helf’s so we already knew most of the people they were having dinner with. It was during this dinner that we found one of the events we came to Germany to enjoy was again cancelled this year. The Wurstfest in Bad Durkheim, a tradition in Germany for at least the last 600 years. (I put some pictures of one several years ago in this blog. The title is Germany Revisited.). Oh well, more time to practice relaxing!

A better night’s sleep and we were ready for our German breakfast which is usually a whole grain Brotchen ( Like a dinner role but fresh and a little bigger) with sliced cold cuts and fresh cheese. Nancy usually has the Muesli with yogurt followed by a small regular brotchen with a slice of cheese. Always with coffee. Our objective for this trip was to see friends and relax a little. We usually travel at a fast pace so this time we are practicing slowing down. That said, we spent the day cruising around again and part of the afternoon resting. We also took a long walk around the village we were staying in … very refreshing. The evening found us walking to a nearby Gasthaus for a dinner of Wiener Schnitzel, French Fries, and a salad. A ultimate traditional German Dinner.

Saturday morning found us traveling to the Deutches Wine Strasse (German Wine Street). We stopped in St Martins which is a beautiful little village that hosts a large number of Vintners selling their wines, restaurants, and lovely streets. We walked around for a while, stopped in at our favorite Vintner (Alte Schloss meaning Old Castle) and bought a couple bottles of our favorite wine to have later or take home. We also drove around the area a bit enjoying all the fields of grapes nearing maturity. The grapes were impressive as they hang in huge clusters along the bottom of the vines. Many of the fields are harvested by machines that “vacuum” the grapes from the vines causing no damage to the grapes or the vines. In hillier places like along the Mosel or Rhine Rivers the grapes are still hand picked.

We did stop in Bad Durkheim at the largest wine barrel in the world which normally anchors the Wurst Fest Event. There were many people there and we enjoyed a glass of wine next to the big barrel … which is actually a restaurant inside. After the stop there we traveled to a nearby small village where we spent the evening in a Bohemian type hotel, Hotel Vivo Vino (you can check it out on the internet if you don’t believe me).A very clean and nicely decorated room off of a center courtyard where they served dinner. We did have dinner there and enjoyed a delicious, well presented, meal which was followed by a good nights sleep.

The next day we headed cross country to get to Bernkastel Kues which is a good starting point if you want to enjoy some of the Mosel River. We had not had breakfast when we arrived so we proceeded to the nearest bakery and had a Latte and a sweet role (they still bake them fresh right on the premises here). As we always have done in the past we parked and walked through the scenic part of the town enjoying the people, shops, restaurants, and wine bars. We did stop at a wine shop that had an outside seat available and enjoyed a great glass of wine while watching the tourists. Realizing that our parking time was soon expiring and we still had some ways to go to our hotel, we finished up and drove on.

Driving along the Mosel is exceptionally scenic with endless things to see. There are fewer castles along the Mosel as there are along the Rhine but the Mosel is smaller, more quaint, and much more scenic. Nancy and I often came to the Mosel to ride our bikes along the river. We would park someplace and go either upriver (South) or downriver, eventually cross to the opposite side and ride back. Because the Mosel is smaller, there are frequent bridges you can use to cross. The Rhine however has a bridge in Koblenz, where the Rhine and Mosel converge and most other crossings must be made by ferry. Once the Mosel and Rhine converge, it is called the Rhine as it runs Northwest into the Netherlands, where is becomes the Wall River and continues to the Atlantic near Rotterdam. There is always a great deal of barge traffic on both the Mosel and the Rhine that is enabled by a very efficient lock system to keeps the waters deep enough to support the barges. There are also a number of tourist barges that provide either day tours or weeks on end of cruising the rivers while living on the boat in grand style. Today though we are just driving our rental down the Mosel enjoying the pleasant scenery.

Late afternoon found us arriving in Senheim where the Gasthaus Halfenstube is nestled up to the Mosel. Twenty plus years ago Nancy and I were stationed at Rhine Main Air Base in Frankfurt. While we were there Nancy booked a River Cruise on the Nile River in Egypt. While on the cruise we met and became friends with Erich and Ushe Klingon, who owned and operated a Gasthaus called the Halfenstube on the Mosel. We enjoyed our time with them on the cruise and when we parted, they extended an invitation for us to stop at their Gasthaus someday and enjoy some Mosel Hospitality. We did that and have going back to visit them ever since. A few years ago, their daughter Sylvia took over the business and has raised it to a higher level providing relaxation, sauna, massage, more rooms, wellness, and a heated swimming pool. We had a lively dinner with Erich and Ushe that first evening and had a lot of fun catching up.

The next day, after breakfast, Nancy and I drove down to Beilstein where a large Castle once dominated the Mosel. The town is picturesque and hosts many restaurants and hotels. It is also a stop for many of the tour boats that take thousands of people up and down these two rivers every year. We had just finished breakfast so we decided to make the climb to the castle. The reward for making it to the top is an awesome view of the villages, vineyards, and the Mosel. I’m pleased to report that the trip down from the castle is still easier than the trip up. We made it back to the car and proceeded to Cochem.

Beilstien Castle Standing above the Mosel

Cochem is a larger town with a complete castle that towers over the city, both have which have been here since the 1400’s. We found a parking space (Whew!) and strolled through Cochem. We had been here a number of times so it was just remembering all the good times we have had here. As a matter of fact, some 10 to 15 years ago we were guests at Sylvia (Ushi and Erich’s Daughter) and her Husband Volker’s wedding reception held in the beautiful castle. We did stop and have a refreshment, then finished our walk.

Returning to the Halfenstube in mid afternoon we relaxed with a very good piece of German Pastry and a glass of wine on their Mosel Terrace which sits right on the Mosel and you can sit there and watch the boat traffic and swans on the river and the bikers riding along it. We again had dinner with Erich and Ushe that evening , after which we went to their house where Erich shared some of the “Special “ wines he had saved over the years. Erich also grows grapes and we are featured picking the grapes for him one year in my “A Revisit To Germany” post at adventurzwithnancy.com

The next morning, after checking out of the Halfenstube and saying goodbye to everyone, we were off to Koblenz to see that city and start our tour of the Rhine. It was not too far to Koblenz so we arrived around noon and were able to check in to our hotel. It was downtown so we hauled our stuff in and walked through the old city to the “Deutch’s Eck” or, where the Mosel and the Rhine flow together. It turned out to be quite the walk and used up most of our afternoon. We had stopped for a coffee and a strudel late in the afternoon so we decided to skip dinner, had an early lights out and got a good night’s sleep.

The next morning was foggy and a bit of drizzle. We did not have a real long way to go so after a leisurely breakfast we packed up the car and headed out for Boppard, a whole 30 kilometers down the road. We stopped several times to look at and photograph castles and boats and we made it to the hotel around noon. Because it was a dreary day and the hotel (Park Hotel, Boppard) upgraded us to a room with a covered balcony, we elected to spend the day there, in the room, on the balcony, enjoying the scenery and playing cards. The afternoon went by quickly and we had a pleasant dinner in the hotel restaurant that evening. In the morning we just had coffee, packed up the car, and were off.

Our hotel for the next evening was on the North side of the Rhine and we were on the south side. Consequently, when we left our hotel we crossed on the first ferry we encountered. That was not a smart move because a few kilometers down the road was a huge construction site that had the road on that side of the river closed. Because of the closure, we had to take a ferry back to the side we were on when we started the day. No worries though … we had ample time and crossing on the ferry was both inexpensive and kind of fun. We continued to Bingen on the South side of the Rhine, then took a big ferry over to Rudesheim. Rudesheim is a very quaint big town famous being the home of Asbach brandy, restaurants, and tourists. We used to go there frequently just to enjoy the ambiance. So, we were going there today. Our hotel was just a couple kilometers up the road so we drove up to make sure the roadwas open, checked in, and drove back to Rudesheim. We wandered around looking in shops, had a glass of wine and a Rudesheimer Coffee, and drove back to the hotel later in the afternoon. We strolled around the little village our hotel,was in, spend some time sitting out front watching the river traffic, and eventually had dinner. Then off to bed.

The next day, Friday, 17 Sept, we had arranged to meet some friends for dinner in the city of Frankfurt. We left our hotel near Rudesheim and proceeded to Frankfurt and our hotel, a Marriott Residence, that was a new hotel in the old part of town. We were going to meet Uwe & Jutta Thoms for dinner. Jutta had worked at the Frankfurt Airport when we were stationed at Rhein Main AB in Frankfurt. The Airbase was actually located on the airport so we had a great deal of interaction with the Airport (Called Fraport). Jutta was an interpreter for the Fraport executives and would attend meetings to ensure everyone understood what was being discussed. Not so much the actual language but the nuances of intent that often are misunderstood. Anyhow, Nancy and I got to know Uwe (Jutta’s husband) and Jutta over the years we were there and always make a point of having dinner with them when we pass through Frankfurt. Uwe had a successful Legal Practice in Frankfurt. They are both retired now but Uwe still does some legal work in the village where they live.

We checked in to the hotel, wandered around the old part of Frankfort a while, had a bratwurst and a glass of wine and returned to the hotel. We met Uwe & Jutta and they took us to the oldest restaurant in Frankfurt. It has been operating since somewhere in the 1400’s. We had a delightful dinner and walked around the Romer Platz and down the Zeil talking about the city and life in general. A very pleasant evening.

Saturday morning Nancy and I did one of our favorite things. We walked the Zeil (A big pedestrian walkway through the retail center of Frankfurt). There are two markets in Frankfurt on Saturdays. One is underground and sells some of the best international foods you will find. Fresh fruit, vegetables, spices, seasonings, meats, mushrooms, you name it and they have it. An incredibly interesting market to walk through. The other market is in a .large lot and is more traditional with fruit, veggies, bakery, meats, and wines. We always finish up there for a bratwurst and a glass of wine. The wine place has just high tops set around outside with no chairs. You get your wine, find a table and stand there enjoying the weather, people and hustle. Germans typically share spaces at a table so it is not uncommon to be offered one side of the table or offer aside at yours. You meet the most interesting people doing that. Today we met Adam and Lee, two Americans actually, that lived and worked in Frankfurt. Nice couple.

This is the Zeil (Quite empty because it is early in the morning)

We drove back to Mehlingen that afternoon and took Manfred and Waltraud out for dinner. We went to a local Gastehaus for snitzel and fries, then went to the Helf’s garden Hutte for some evening socializing. Many Germans have small rooms beside their gardens where they spend time during the Summer when the houses are hot.Just the four of us. Another pleasant evening.

Sunday we were up and on our way to Switzerland. Our favorite place in Switzerland is Grindelwald. A medium sized community that is a haven for skiers in the winter and hikers in the Summer. We had reservations at our favorite hotel, the Hotel Gletschergarten. It has been in the Michel family for five generations and is ran by two very nice people (Greg and Gaby Michel). We have stayed there several times and always enjoy it.

We didn’t drive the entire way to Switzerland the first day. We stopped overnight in Freiburg on the edge of the Black Forest. The day was rainy so driving was no fun. We checked in to our hotel, got out our umbrellas, and walked downtown for a Latte and a slice of Black Forest Tort. That brightened up the day a bit and we returned to the hotel and vegged out until dinner. It was still raining at dinner time so we decided to eat at the hotel. The hotel did not serve full dinners but did have a short menu in their bar area. We each ordered a beer and a Flamkugen. Flamkugen is like a pizza but the dough is very thin and crispy, there is no tomato sauce, and usually has only one or two sparsely spread out toppings. There is some sort of white sauce on it (Cheese I think) but I’m not sure what that is. They are about the size of a small pizza so we each had one. We met a pair of gentlemen from Denmark. A father and his adult son. The son was a commercial airplane pilot and the Father worked with the Danish defense ministry. Interesting conversation and evening.

German Bakery … Black Forest Tort left front

So Monday we drove on to Grindelwald, checked in to the Gletschergarten, and walked downtown to see what had changed. Like so many small European cities, not much change. Mostly the same shops, restaurants, and equipment rental places. After strolling, looking, strolling, we decided it was late enough for dinner so we stopped at this place called “Oncle Tom’s Pizza” … and yes, we had eaten there before and yes, it is spelled with an “O”. We had a great pizza and a couple beers and called it an evening. The next morning we decided to ride the lift to what they call First. The lift is the ski lift in the winter so it goes all the way to the top of the mountain. There is a lake, a cliff walk, and a restaurant at the top. We did the cliff walk while it was exhilarating, it was foggy so you could not see very far. We did not walk out to the lake because it was fogged in and a two hour walk in cold weather. We enjoyed the cliff walk and had a latte at the restaurant to celebrate our joy. We then took the lift back down to the lowest stop and boarded our Trotti bikes for an exciting ride to the bottom! The Trotti bike is like a coaster with bigger tires. No pedals, no seat, just brakes and a platform to stand on. We had a beer to celebrate. Later we had dinner at the hotel. Dinners are difficult in Grindelwald in that you eat mostly at pizza places or hotels. The hotels all serve about the same thing for about the same price. So, we ate at our hotel, had a great dinner and turned in.

The next morning produced a great breakfast and a bus ride to the train station. We took the train from Grindelwald to Kliena Sheidegg at the top of the mountain. From there you could take another train to the Jungfrau and “The Top of Europe” or back down the other side of the mountain to Wengen. Wengen is a special town in that it does not allow automobiles or trucks. They have electric taxis and a few utility vehicles that they operate to support the city. We took the train to Wengen as we have been to the Eiger on previous trips. Once in Wengen we walked through the town, stopped for a beer, bought some souvenirs, and later, took a lift to the top of the mountain. Some years ago we took a lift from Grendelwald to the top of this mountain and hiked across the top to Kliena Sheidegg.

Following is a number of mountain pictures … I will caption only those that are unique.

From Grindelwald we had three days to get to our flight. We had to get a COVID test to get back into the US so that was our first priority. We had bought test kits that you performed yourself while being observed on the internet. The result showed up like a pregnancy test and if you were negative, they would send you the test result document you needed to get on an airplane going to the US.

We left Grindelwald and drove back to Freiburg in the Black Forest. There we again stayed at the Marriott and did our COVID tests from our room.

That got us cleared to fly back so all we had to do was make it to Frankfurt by Sunday morning. We left Freiburg the next morning and stopped for the night in Enkenbach because the Helf’s had asked us to stop by one lat time. That we did and Waltraud made a a superb homemade meal. That was followed by some wine, beer, and schnapps with some other friends that stopped by after dinner.

Saturday morning we got up and drove to Frankfurt and checked into the Steigenburger hotel at the airport. As soon as we were checked in we returned our trusted rental car.

We then wandered around the airport for a while. There are many things to do at the Frankfurt airport. Many restaurants, shopping, whatever. We wandered around for a while, had a pretzel and a beer, and took the shuttle back to the hotel. Next morning we got up, took the shuttle back to the airport and boarded our flight back to the US.

All in all a very pleasant trip. It was wonderful seeing friends from our time there again, and we always enjoy traveling and seeing and experiencing new things. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and blab … thanks for coming along.

P.S. I apologies for reasserting you to my blog but I must add two comments that I had intended but neglected to include.

Our original itinerary had included going to Spain for a couple days to visit Phil and Sarah Gardner. However, as we were planning our itinerary, Spain put a lock down on anyone entering the country. That, unfortunately resulted in us dropping any plans of going to Spain. Phil and Sarah are friends of ours who we met in Australia. They had retired and bought a home there and, through our affiliation with St Mary’s Catholic Church we came to know each other and kept in contact. Phil & Sarah eventually sold their house in Australia (A very difficult place to live if you are not Australian) and moved to Spain. Because Ryan Air flies to Spain from Germany we had intended to drop in on them and have dinner. We scratched all that with Spains lockdown not knowing it would last only a short time. The unfortunate result was that we did not go to Spain, we did not get to see Phil and Sarah. Sorry.
The second comment is more personal and involves only Nancy and I. We have been back home now for nearly three days. As we were enjoying a home dinner that Nancy planned and prepared, and I cooked on the grill, we commented to each other how it is almost surreal that we had been to Germany and Switzerland, saw all the friends we had, and now we were back home, having dinner, just as were were doing on the 5th of September. It feels like we never left home, yet we have all these new memories. Strange but pleasant.

Okay, I won’t add any more. Thanks for bearing with me.

The Pacific NorthWest Road Trip – July 2021

11 July 2021 – Tuesday morning we saddle up a Delta 737 and fly to Seattle to start our adventure in the NorthWest. We will rent a car in Seattle and eventually bring it back when we finish. Here’s a couple maps to show where we will be going. Other than Seattle we have no reservations anywhere so I’m not sure where the stops are … depends on what kind of day we are having.

That’s the plan. See you Tuesday evening in Seattle. Don’t forget your bathers … it’s hot out there!

13 July 2021 – OK!!! We made it to Seattle. After a nice evening in Tampa we caught an early flight out of Tampa and had an uneventful five hour flight to Seattle. Couple memories:

We got our car and drove to Downtown Seattle where we are staying in the shadow of the Space needle. We parked the car and decided to do some tourist stuff. Here’s our time at the Space Needle built in 1961 for the Seattle World’s Fair:

The Top of The Space Needle – It’s 552 feet tall

That was it for the day we arrived. As I mentioned in the caption we walked to our restaurant for dinner. I have found Seattle a bit disappointing in that it seems to be in decline. I have been to Seattle a number of times over the years. Starting in 1971 on the way to Viet Nam and a number of times over the years since. It used to be a very clean, vibrant city with a lot of hard working people who were friendly and were very proud of their city. I have not found much of that today. It reminded me of some third world country where they had some really interesting things they wanted tourists to see but didn’t take care of anything else. There are many, many attractions that are closed, including major ones like the Science Museum, and restaurants, and services. There is litter everywhere long the sidewalks and road sides. Sadly, it not just that the city doesn’t pick stuff up, the people who live here, and the tourists, just throw stuff because there are no garbage cans and they don’t want to carry it around. The roads, streets and walkways are in disrepair with little evidence of any attempts to fix them. Lastly, the architecture is very uninspiring. Nothing imaginative or creative … just big buildings with drab colors. Downtown has a few interesting buildings. Reminded me of Tashkent, Uzbekistan. They do have modern art pieces set up all over which makes you wonder about their priorities. Anyhow. Underwhelmed but I did like the Space Needle.

14 July 2021 – We got up at 1 AM to call our Grandson who was Five years old today. He was just finishing his family birthday party after dinner and was opening his presents. He lives in Australia so he had a 17 hour head start on us. We went back to bed and slept in till seven. Got up, had coffee, a mediocre breakfast provided by the hotel and decided to get going. First on our agenda was the Chihuly Glass Museum. As you will see and in the event you don’t know who he is, he is a famous Glass artist who has Glass on exhibit all over the world. We were introduced to his work By Brenda and Dave Gardner of Atlanta so I took a lot of pictures in the museum for Brenda (and all of you too of course) to enjoy. Here they are. there are several pictures with explanations on them:

That took up a good part of the morning and the other biggy we wanted to do was go down to the Harbor and see the Pike Street Market. To get there we took the Monorail that was also built for the Seattle World’s Fair and is still running. They were doing some major renovations to it but it did get us to where we were going.

That was our day in Seattle. The things we saw were impressive. Nothing very new but well done. I don’t see Seattle progressing very much. Rich people put up big things to get their names on the wall but I can’t see where anyone is caring for Seattle. If you do come here, make sure you know what you want to see. See you tomorrow in Spokane.

15 July 2021 – As promised, here we are in Spokane. A very different texture, vibe, and culture. Spokane lives out in the prairies of Eastern Washington and is snuggled up against the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains. It is an old city but appears to be well kept. Again, many closed businesses and activities but many people out and about. We are staying in the University section of Spokane right next to the Spokane River. You can almost throw a rock from here into Idaho. Because we are in the university area there are many young people which gives the area a lot of energy … always fun to be around. We did walk downtown after dinner to stretch our car cramped legs and while it is old, it is very well kept, clean, and there are people out and about. Not nearly so many tourists, families on vacation, tour buses, etc but people are out and about.

Before I get into our trip over here, here are couple alibi pictures from yesterday that I thought important to add to the Seattle setting.

The First Is A view Of The Space Needle Where You Can See The Restaurant on Top … You Need To Be Quite a Ways Away From the Needle To See The Top

Okay … The trip Here. We left the hotel after a little breakfast and getting the car out of parking. Driving out of town was not too bad, mostly because everyone was coming into town. Anyhow, the first twenty miles or so were city driving, then a couple of the suburbs. The suburbs appear to have the money. Fancy decorations along the road, sculptures, decorative walls so they don’t have to listen to the traffic … and no trash.

Then we finally got to US 2 which is the Hiway we elected to cross Washington on. If you read my blog on our trip last Summer; we followed US2 from Duluth, Minnesota to Glacier National Park. I-90 runs from Spokane to Seattle but we decided to take a more scenic route. Twenty years ago I traveled from McCord AFB in Seattle to Fairchild AFB in Spokane to talk to some of the Air Traffic Controllers I was responsible for. I spent the afternoon and evening with them and drove back the next day. Anyhow, I found the geography of Washington to be extremely diverse and very interesting and I have been telling Nancy I wanted her to see it. Today she did.

As soon as we were clear of the Seattle Metropolitan area we were in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Not as big or rugged as the rockies but very nice to look at. Here are some pictures of the Cascades.

We drove out of the Cascades and came to a town named Leavenworth. This is an authentic Bavarian Town that really goes out of its way to be Bavarian. They were having a festival there so we stopped and walked around.

Yup .. There’s A Bavarian Dude Now! “Guten Tag Herr Rumpel”

We did pause to have a couple Lattes and some German bakery. Quite good! From there, Washington turned agricultural. First Fruit Farms, Then Huge Wheat Fields, then Smaller Farms and then back into the tress. The land became much drier and rocky. From Leavenworth to Spokane, about two hundred miles, is like driving in New Mexico or Western Texas.

Ok .. That was today. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. We are leaving Spokane and driving over to Couer d’Alene, Idaho, then South to Boise via the National Forests. No Wheat fields tomorrow … many trees though!

By the way … did you notice what I brought back into my photo’s that I didn’t have the first couple days? Any guesses? Tell you tomorrow. Good Night.

16 June 2021 – (This is actually the 17th but the hotel’s Internet blew up last night so I didn’t get to post yesterday. So I will pretend it’s yesterday until I get caught up today. Then it will be today!!) Made it to Boise, Idaho. Long day but many interesting things to see along the way. As I did earlier, I have a couple alibi’s from the 16th and our stay in Spokane.

A Tower in A Park We Walked by After Dinner. Don’t Know What it, or The Wire Thing Behind it Is … Looked Interesting Though!

So This Morning we got up and got on our way. We had a long way, on curvy roads and a lot of little towns to get past. We were going to do more in Couer d’Alaine but it turns out it is just another goochy city on a big lake that rich people park their boats at. The lake is beautiful but lined side to side with marinas. Then there were many more farms than I expected. Big farms, lots of wheat fields, and many cattle. We did get up onto the high Plains which is very different than the plains of Kansas.

Morning On The Road, Spokane, WA towards Couer d”Alaine Idaho

We suddenly came to a big decline and it wound down into a large city. Two Actually. Lewiston and Clarkston co-located on the confluence of the Salmon River and the Snake River. Both towns were named after Lewis and Clark … you can guess which is which. The Salmon River flowed into the area and we followed it upstream for most of the rest of the day.

View of Clarkston and Lewiston On The Snake River

We came to a turnoff to Devils Canyon on The Snake River. It was eight miles over a pass on a dirt road .. so we gave it a go (I’m driving a rental)

We didn’t make it to the Snake or Devils Canyon. The road became much rougher and finally a sign that only ATVs were allowed. So we went back. The rest of the way to McCall was routine. More farms, Cattle, horses. At McCall we took US 55 straight South to Boise .. More lakes, tourists, and traffic. Boise must have been in a level five evacuation …everyone and his cousin were heading to the mountains with their boats and campers .. then we remembered it was Friday night … WEEKEND!!

And we made it to Boise. It was well after six when we arrived. Checked into our hotel, went and had dinner, did some planning for tomorrow, and went to bed. Long Day.

17 July 2021 – A much shorter day with a big high. We had an easy start and headed East to Mountain Home, then South to Elko, Nevada. A very picturesque drive, including through a Native American Reservation. We we swarmed by grasshoppers at one point, and drove by a lake at 6,200 feet elevation. Most of the day was spent above 5000 feet. Very High Plains.

Here we are in Elko, Nevada. I did find a carwash and got the grasshoppers off. Spending the night here and hading South to Eureka, then West to Sparks where we will prepare to see Reno.

Oh!!! One last thing … my question that I asked you about what was not in the first couple days and has been in since?? My windshield … and so much of it. We have a little Honda Civic rental and the windshield is steeply sloped causing all sorts of reflections … as you have seen. No apologies though .. That’s the way it is when you travel … Hmmm.

18 July 2021 – Team Bill & Nancy are now in Sparks, Nevada, just a stones throw from Reno. As a matter of fact, we get here earlier than we had expected so we spent the afternoon exploring Reno. However, as before, I have an Alibi from our stay in Elco, NV, then some thoughts, then Reno, NV.

We Had Dinner At A Nice Italian Restaurant in Elco. Across the Street we Saw This muriel. It is quite Good and Conveys A Peaceful, Western Feeling … Don’t You Think?

We left Elco, NV after a brief breakfast. The road South was all High Mountain Plains, a few fields, some farms, and some mountains. It was mostly at or above five thousand feet. Nothing new so no pictures. W drove south about a hundred miles and got to Eureka, NV. Eureka claims to be the friendliest town and the most lonesome road in America. I’m not sure about the friendliest town but here was the sign for the highway.

We followed HWY 50 Due West for about two hundred miles to get to Sparks where we are staying tonight. While the terrain yielded nothing new or interesting, we did encounter some interesting sites (some of which were terrain)

There is a very big wild fire burning in california and the smoke is obscuring everything around here. Very bad for photos.

After we checked in to our hotel we went to reno. We went downtown, to the River Walk, and a couple other places.

We found Reno to be rather underwhelming. Not much to see, not much to do (unless you wanted to gamble and all the Casinos are filled with smoke). It is interesting, we met interesting people, and had a nice time. The smoke was getting thicker.

Don’t know what impact the fires will have on our itinerary tomorrow. We plan to drive around Lake Tahoe and see what is there.

An interesting factoid about Highway 50 is that it follows the original route of the Pony Express. We didn’t see any riders but some of their dust was still hanging in the air.

19 July 2021 – We have made it to West Reno … That’s about 12 miles West of where we stayed last night but at least its farther West. However, we did drive about 200 miles today. We left Sparks, went west on I80, took I580 South to Carson City, got back on US50 West which took along lake Tahoe all the way to the Souther tip of the lake to a small town called South Tahoe. Somewhere along the way we had drifted into California so we took California Hiway 89 North all the way back to near Reno, following the West side of Lake Tahoe. We again caught I580 which took us to where we currently are. Basically we drove around Lake Tahoe. All that confusing enough? Bottom line is that Lake Tahoe is a beautiful Lake and the villages, settlements, developments, and commercial enterprises around it are well maintained, well presented, and it all made for a great day. We did come to one realization though … actually it is a big DUH! Traveling in the Summertime in high tourist interest areas is crazy. Most of America is on vacation, many of them have not been out for two years because of the COVID, many of them have pockets full of money because they haven’y been able to go anywhere and the government sends them money every so often, so they are all out, with all their kids, and dogs, enjoying the good life. It is such a big Duh for us because we have hardly ever traveled in the US during the Summer. We did go to our home in Colorado in the Summer but stayed away from tourist areas. Now, we suddenly realize, Summer vacation is back in full swing for most of America. Some people still wear masks, some stores ask you to wear a mask if you are not vaccinated, and some places over which the government has control, requires masks all the time (thanks Fuachi!) even though the CDC does not require masks.

Enough soap box stuff. We had a wonderful day, saw a lot of interesting things and are ready to press on to the West tomorrow. We did have our doubts as when we got up this morning there was a lot of smoke from the Tamarac Fires south of Lake Tahoe and some of the other fires burning out here in the West. It was so thick you could not see the foothills. We nearly cancelled the trip but decided to go and see what we could. We went over a Pass just outside of Carson City and when we came out of it, the weather was clear. Apparently all the smoke stayed on the east side of the range we passed. Carson City is about one third of the way down the East side of Lake Tahoe. So here we go:

Smoke Driving South From Reno to Carson City

We were then on US50 (I tell you these names for the people who follow the routes on their maps) We get out first look at Lake Tahoe, stop at a scenic points, and go through some villages. Lake Tahoe is a high mountain lake and sets at about 6000 feet. The highest we made it today was going over Mt Ross Pass at 8400 feet.

We stopped for lunch at this Deli/Store/Bathroom kind of place and used all that it offered. We split a delicious Italian Sandwich, a bag of chips and we both had our very own goochi California soft drinks. It was a nice break to be out of the car for a while and relax and watch all the people.

After our pleasant lunch we diverted away from the lake because the traffic was getting so heavy it was basically stand still. We decided to follow the Truckee River as it left Lake Tahoe. There were a couple of rafting companies that put people on rafts in Lake Tahoe and picked them up five or ten miles down stream. It looked like bumper rafts. There were so many of them and they were all having a good time.

As we drove on we came upon Squaw Valley! Squaw Valley was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. They are the first Olympic Games That Nancy and I remember thanks to “Wide World Of Sports”. We both had a chuckle when we saw the sign and the name. Naturally we drove in just to have a look. Here’s a picture I got from the internet from the 1960 Olympics:

Look At The Snow and Snow Sculpture! February 1960

Here are some pictures we took today:

Same Place, Same Sign, No Snow – July 2021

Well, that was exciting .. for us anyhow. The rest of the drive home was good. We drove all the way out to Truckee, then back in to the lake. We followed the lake until we got close to Reno. Highest we got was going over Mt Rose:

Ok .. That’s it for Reno and Lake Tahoe. Highly recommend visiting but maybe in September or so … After Summer Holidays and Before the Snow. Of course, you can always come here snow skiing but the locals tell us the place is packed with people all Winter long. Take your pick.

Tomorrow we head west towards the Pacific Ocean. We plan to see the Lassen Volcanic National Park and spend the evening at Redding. See you there.

20 July 2021 – We made it to Redding, California famous for … not sure. We chose Redding because it was as far as we thought we would want to travel and we were about right. Had a nice day driving across California and driving through all the National Forests. Beautiful country. I’m not a big fan of California but I must recognize it is well maintained, and clean highways. The parks are well kept, and everything seems to be working. We were nearly diverted off of our planned route by a huge forest fire called the Dixie Fire. Fortunately we turned North just before we got to it and missed any problems with it. Several major roads were closed and there was smoke everywhere. Not a lot of pictures from along the way. Mostly mountains, streams, trees, etc which you have seen a lot of already. A few interesting shots and then we got to Lassen National Park. Took some pictures there. SO here we go:

Welcome To California … Just A Few Miles West of Reno

We found out way into Lassen National Park curious regarding what we would see. Turns out it is a Volcanic area with hot springs, boiling mud, and volcanic craters.

21 July 2021 – We got a very early start today because parts of US 101 along the Pacific coast were closed while the hiway department cleared rockslides. Timing was important as we had to be near the closed section when it opened from noon to three for traffic to pass North.

We traveled through yet another mountain chain, again nice lakes, many trees, beautiful scenery. The area was not real high, 500 feet to 4000 feet but went up and down several times so it took us nearly three hours to go 150 miles. The area is very dry. Here are some shots from that part:

Eventually we got to Hiway 101 in Arcata and turned North. This was our first sight of the Pacific Ocean on this trip. From here we saw Redwoods, Elk, and grand views of the Pacific. We are now in Brookings, Oregon for the night.

To Close Out The day here are a few shots from behind out hotel. Incredible shore line.

See you all tomorrow as we head North through Oregon.

22 July, 2021 – Here we are in Newport, Oregon. Something I have not mentioned much about lately is the weather. Other than some occasional smoke from forest fires, morning haze, and low clouds, it has been pretty clear. The temps have ranged from the 90’s in Seattle and Spokane. tp the 70’s and 80’s in Reno, to the 110’s in Reddington, to the low 60’s and 50’s along the coast of Oregon. Good thing we packed a lot of clothes!! We had a great day today. Traveled about 200 miles North along US 101 right on the Pacific Coast. So many beautiful trees, beaches, hills and valleys. Very scenic with little towns along the way all claiming to have the best Clam Chowder. Not many captions on the picture tonight. They are mostly along the coast at various viewpoints or pull offs that we went into or that I shot as we passed by. Have a look:

These Tsunami Warning Signs Were In Every Low Area With A Corresponding Sign Saying You Are Leaving It Once You Go Up

That’s it for today. Many trees, many rocks, much ocean … great stuff to see. Tomorrow is the remainder of Oregon and some of Washington.

We just found out our trip was being abbreviated as we need to divert to Denver to conduct some business there. Consequently, tomorrow will be a full day then Saturday will be a short one getting us to Seattle Airport.

Looking forward to seeing the rest of Oregon and some of the Washington Coast with you tomorrow.

23 July 2021 – Our Last stop on our vacation/tour of the Northwest is in Montesano, Washington. Montesano is a small, unassuming town, nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Greater State of Washington. Lumber, and fishing (including mussels) seems to be the big trades here. The people are aloof but cordial, the town old, but taken care of. Mostly hard working blue collar people here. We are staying in a local hotel that is clean and neat, offers a full breakfast, and is concerned about their guests.

The trip here from where we stayed in Oregon last night was pleasant with no big surprises. We had a beautiful, sunshine day with the temps starting at 55 and going all the way up to 75. Mostly dramatic coastline, many trees, and we even got into some dairy farming country. I didn’t take any pictures of cows, crops, pr farms. I did take shots along the way of the areas we found interesting. Again, captions are not necessary as they are general scenery pictures. Just flip through them and enjoy. I do comment on things that are unique.

A Lighthouse Near where We Spent the Night

A couple comments about my photos. I again apologize for all the reflections. The car we have has a very low and sloped windshield which reflects everywhere. Plus you sit much lower than the RV so you can’t shoot over the railings. Mia Copa!!

There were many turnoffs and vista points but we did not take them all. After a while, every landscape, regardless of how brash taking it is in real, looks the same in a photograph. Lastly here are a few pictures from Montesano as Nancy an I took a walk after dinner.

That concludes our 2,600 mile trip around the NorthWestern part of America. Beautiful country, well deserving of many visitors.

There were many, many people out during our travels. As I mentioned, hotels were all pretty well booked up, campgrounds had No Vacancy signs out, and there were many RVs camped in parking lots “Boondoggling”. America is out regardless of what the politicians have to say. Many wear masks, many don’t. Most people feel like it’s their choice and no one judges them for it. Way it should be.

Thanks for coming along. Tomorrow we get to Seattle, leave Sunday morning, fly to Denver, have dinner with some friends from Heritage Pines who are in Denver babysitting their Grandchildren (actually the grandchildren are watching them), going to Colorado Springs and having dinner with a colleague from my AF days, then on to Fairplay and home..

SOUTH FLORIDA GETAWAY – May 2021

19 MAY 2021 – We are on our way. We left home this morning and headed South. Our goal is to see Marco Island and return to Naples, FL to spend the night.

We made it to Marco Island with just one stop half way down for an emergency Latte and a couple Glazed Chocolate Munchkins. The trip went well. This trip I am using a different camera. If you recall, my camera failed while we were on our trip to the Outer Banks. My cell phone was also acting up so instead of buying a new camera I just bought a newer, better iPhone to use as a phone and a camera. So far it seems to be working.

Marco Island is the most expensive place in the United States. You can google that if you don’t believe me and I’m not sure what criteria they used to claim that but it is. Now, having been there, I believe it truly is. Many, many big residential developments with fancy fronts and expensive golf courses. Then, once you get towards the beaches, hundreds of condominiums, short, tall, new, old, and all expensive. The Island is very nice and I would recommend staying there to anyone who is looking for a nice place to spend the week at a beach resort. Here are some pictures from there: … However, first are some exciting photo’s from the trip down:

Streaking Along on the I275 Bridge Between Tampa & St Petersburg

OK .. Now the pictures from Marco Island:

So we finished up our day at a hotel in Naples. Had a nice swimming pool and they served drinks and meals right from the edge of the pool … we stayed till we turned in. Nice day … nice evening. Naples is more city like than Marco Island and offers more of a variety of things to do. I think we may go back there some day. Marco Island is nice but mostly just beach stuff.

20 May 2021 – So here’s what we plan to do today:

We will drive on US 41 which is called the Tamiami Trail and is the original Alligator Alley. We may make some diversions as we find places of interest. Once we get to the East side of Florida we will drive South to get into the Everglades National Park. We have been there a couple times before but always enjoy it. Once we leave the park we are going North to the hotel we have reserved in Ft Lauderdale (Plantation, FL actually).

Okay … we did it. Here’s some pictures from along the way. First we diverted South to a place called Chokoloskee (easy for you to say!) which was one of the earliest settlements along the Everglades and was the original county seat for Collier County until Naples took over.

The place survives on fishing, both commercial and tourist, as well as airboat rides and tours. Nice, but only to visit.

We drove on into the Big Cypress National Preserve. More Everglades and Native American Villages. You normally can pay a fee and tour the villages but the COVID has hit our Native Americans very hard so they are all closed up. We did see many alligators along the way.

We Are Stopping Farther On Where They Have a Board Walk With Info on It

The Park was next:

That was it for Everglades national Park. We kept looking for some of those nasty Burmese Pythons but didn’t see any. The Everglades are interesting as they look like a huge sea of grass with these Islands they call Hammocks all over it. There trees grow and animals flourish. Definitely recommend it.

21 May 2021 – We spent the night in Ft Lauderdale and headed home this morning. Interesting scenes along the way. We followed the backroads and saw much of the sugar and orange industry.

We made it home safely and have unpacked. ring to think of our next adventure. Stay tuned and Thanks for coming along.

EAST COAST ROAD TRIP (ECRT) – APRIL 2021 (Outer Banks or Bust!).

Nancy and I finally have both of our COVID immunizations, we have finished up some of our Spring chores, so we are taking a break and are going to RV up to the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina and follow the Appalachians back South to Florida. We haven’t figured all of the route out yet but that’s what makes it fun. Here’s a map of what we have planned so far (the blue line). I’ll update it as we make progress. We are leaving Friday (9 Apr) morning. We have decided not to use the interstate system at all so our travels will be on regular highways. We are going east from here and catching US17 and following it North until we turn East for OBX.

FRIDAY, 9 APRIL, 2021 – We are on our way. We got an early start this morning. Yesterday afternoon I hooked the Jeep up to the RV and parked the RV by the clubhouse in our neighborhood. We decided to take our bikes along this trip so we have those attached to the back end of the Jeep.

The RV, The Jeep, and The Bikes … All ready to Go Early This Morning (That’s The East Where The Sun Is Coming Up}

After I got the RV to the parking lot we moved all our clothes, food, and travel accessories from the house to the RV. Nancy had all the food lined up so we just took it out of the kitchen at home and put it in the fridge of the RV.

This morning we got up, closed up the house, had a cup of coffee, walked over to the RV, fired ‘er up and departed for OBX. As I mentioned we are taking the scenic route. Country roads, small towns, many lakes in Florida, and no Interstate Highway.

Florida has some very pretty or picturesque scenes separated by a lot of nothing. Traveling across Florida you will most likely see more pine trees than anywhere else in the Universe. We made pretty good time, didn’t mind stopping for the many traffic lights in Brooksville, Ocala, Orange City, or Jacksonville. Its all part of the nature of Florida. We turned North on US 17 at Pierson, Florida turning left off of FLA Hwy 40. The interesting thing about traveling through Florida is that you always see interesting things. I’m not going to have as many pictures in this Blog as I usually do. I think I sometimes overdo it. So here are a few of my favorites:

Horse Ranches … They Raise Many Race Horses Here In Central Florida

We made it to our campground just across the Georgia Border. We had a gourmet dinner of Hot Dogs and Mac & Cheese and are now getting ready to hit the sack. We arrived here early enough to take a little walk after getting set up and found the place had some nice cabins you can stay at if you want to spend the night at a KOA but don’t have a camper.

Here’s A Nice Little Cabin with a Grill, Fireplace, and table Outside on A Nice Deck

That’s it for today. This is the first campground we have stayed at that offers a free breakfast so we are going to give that a go tomorrow morning. We have only a little over 100 miles to drive to Savannah tomorrow which is where we will be staying the next two nights. Consequently, we will have a leisurely start. See You Tomorrow!

Saturday & Sunday, 10, & 11 April, 2021 – We made it to Savannah and made it through the weekend. It’s Sunday evening and we are wrapping it up for the end of the weekend and Savannah. I will break our trip up here, our Saturday out, and Sunday into three different parts.

The trip up was uneventful and didn’t take very long. We only travel a little over 110 miles and we were at our Savannah campground. We set everything up. Looked over what there was to do and decided to go downtown along the river … the Savannah River. But first a couple shots from our trip up from Jacksonville. A comment here. We have traveled North and South through Georgia many times on both I-75 and I-95. Both are crowded, littered with pieces of tires, junk, stalled cars, and trash. Passing through Georgia is one of my more unfavorite things to do. Taking US 17 north to Savannah was a very pleasant surprise. The road sides were well kept, trash picked up, grass and weeds mowed, and everything looked tidy. This is more than I can say for US17 in Florida but it too was not real bad. So, here are a few pictures from ur trip up:

A Very Large American Flag … Patriotism Runs Big In The South

As I mentioned, we settled in and decided to drive downtown Savannah. They have a famous riverside walk and we decided to see it.

A Paddle Boat … Does Dinner Paddle Boat Tours … People were Lined up for Hundreds of Yards

We had dinner on the Riverwalk and made it home safely. Here’s a shoutout to John & Kathy Lohman from Aiken, GA … two very interesting and pleasant people we met downtown. This morning we had a slow start. We were up, had a couple coffees, showered, and got ready for church. Savannah Host’s the Basilica of St John The Baptist and we decided we wanted to attend our Sunday mass there. It is a very impressive church, had an awesome choir, and we enjoyed it completely. After all … It is Sunday. Not knowing how long it would take to get there or how difficult it would be to find parking we left early and got there early, including a parking place. there was a little coffee shop right across the street so we each had a small Latte before Mass.

After Church we decided to drive out to Tybee Island. It’s about 12 miles out of Savannah on the coast, surrounded by marshes. Along the way is Fort Polaski and Tybee Island is at the end of the road. Tybee Island is very commercial and is like every other coastal resort town up and down the eastern seaboard … still a fun place to visit. Ft Polaski was the first Confederate Fort to fall to the Union. It is quite well restored and is a National Monument (for now). Many of the photos are explained so I won’t repeat what the signs say.

Many Docks and Homes Along the Waterways Out to The Sea

Then we made it out to Tybee Island itself. A rather large community but there mostly for the tourist trade. Many shops, cafe, bars, etc.

So that was Savannah and the surrounding area. We found it both interesting and enjoyable. Tomorrow morning we depart for Charleston. Another short drive but we are staying there only one night so what we see tomorrow after our arrival is what we will see. See you there!

Monday, 12 April, 2021 – *** Before you start … I just added a few more pictures to Ft Pulaski if it was interesting … they had dropped out during the transfer so I put them in tonight. If you have had enough of Ft Polaski, Press on ***

It’s Monday …. instead of going to work, we continued our road trip … It’s GREAT to be retired!! The drive from Savannah to Charleston was short but a little frustrating. Quite a bit of traffic and a couple construction sites. Fortunately we were not in a hurry so we got here when we got here. We set up our little area and and discussed whether we wanted to go downtown or not. Charleston is a much larger city than Savannah so the interesting spots are spread out all over the city. Finally we decided to just drive into town and drive around to see what was there. Interesting place. Big Southern Money, Big Southern Homes (the old Carriage Houses sell for far more than you can imagine). The waterfront is interesting and they have a lovely park at the Battery (the land defensive point for Charleston against attacks from sea). Then there is Ft Sumpter and other forts that were key players in both the Revolutionary war and the Civil War. Anyhow, none of the statue killer brigade had made it here yet so the park, city, and area is well kept, well presented, and very interesting from both a cultural and a historical aspect. Bad for you, my camera konked out so I only have a few photos to share today. If you really want to see Charleston … come on down .. they welcome everyone. Just hurry before some dimwits decide to tear it down. Here are my pictures:

Tomorrow we continue North to Myrtle Beach, SC where we will be spending two nights. If you read my book, you will know we spent the Summer of 1980 there while I went to a training class. Fond memories all around. See you there!

Tuesday, 13 April 2021 – First … there are no more pictures of Ft Polaski … whew. Next, we had a nice drive from Charleston to Myrtle Beach. Our first impression … IT HAS REALLY CHANGED A LOT SINCE WE WERE HERE 40 YEARS AGO!!!!. Anyhow, the trip up here … like the policeman says “nothing to see here folks, move along”. The drive was pretty much the same as in Florida and Georgia. A few pictures of interesting (to me at least) things along the way:

View From The Command Seat Departing The Campground in Savannah

We made it to Myrtle Beach a little after noon … Checked in. We are staying in one of two HUGE campgrounds on the Atlantic coast in Myrtle Beach. We have not done much today. Set up, then care of some local chores, etc. Then we took a walk on the beach, had an afternoon toddy, made dinner (an excellent blend of Pasta Salad, Spinach Salad, and grilled Chicken), did the dishes, and sat by the fire for a while before turning in. I recently added a new gas campfire to our equipment. Many places won’t allow campfires. Most will not allow bringing in firewood but charge two arms and one leg for theirs, and have crappy fireplaces away from where you want to sit. So, we got a really nice gas campfire that we set right next to where we are sitting by the RV, does not burn our precious wood, and is very nice. Tried it out for the first time tonight and the general consensus is that we like it … just like Mikey! Photo’s:

That was out arrival and first day in Myrtle Beach. Bunch of stuff to do tomorrow so stand by for some really exciting stuff. Meanwhile, I’m headed for the sack. See you tomorrow.

Wednesday, 14 April 2021 – Great day in Myrtle Beach. Didn’t have to start real early or real quick so we enjoyed a couple coffees and discussed our plans for the day. Decided to start the day off with a bike ride. Our bikes have not seen much use in the past years so it was an adventure for all four of us (Nancy and I and the two bikes). We had brought them along just for a morning like today. I unloaded them, made sure the tires were still properly inflated, made sure nothing had been misaligned or broke while clinging to the back end of our Jeep … all was good and off we went. Like I mentioned, the Campground we were at, Ocean Lakes, is HUGE. Many, many RV sites, condo’s to rent, houses, to rent, tent sites, just about anything you can imagine. If you don’t believe me just Google Ocean Lakes RV in Myrtle beach … but make sure you are using something with a big screen.

Anyhow, we had a very nice bike ride … about two hours. Here are some pictures of our ride and the Camp.

The Rec Center … All This Stuff is Part of The Campground … not Next to it but Integrated Into The Layout for All The Campers … and No One Else

That was fun … so we decided to take the Jeep out, it needed gas, and look up an interesting Miniature GolF Course we saw on the way in. We got the gas and found the course. here it is:

Glowing from her victory at golf Nancy then wanted to drive around town a bit … just to see what we remember and what it was like. We drove all the way to the Northern end of Myrtle Beach through the “Business Section” … restaurants, mini golf, bars, rentals etc. Then we drove down Ocean Avenue where alll the Condos and Motels are stacked up against the ocean. We walked out to the beach at one place just to see it … just like at the campground. we stopped at a bar there for a beer and met an interesting gentleman who had served for 14 years as a West Virginia Legislator, had worked on the Congressional Staff in Washington DC and was interesting to talk with. The Honorable Ron Thompson Jr. He now lives near Myrtle Beach … interesting fellow. Always good to meet interesting people.

A couple beach and Ocean Ave shots:

Nancy and I then continued our tour of Myrtle Beach. Drove through Where Myrtle Beach Air Force Base once was. They have done good things with the area. Having had a full day we decided to have an early dinner. We had Pizza at a Local Place … great Pizza, Nice Evening:

That was it for Myrtle Beach … it was great to see the place again. Still amazed how a little ole 40 years can make such a difference. Happy we stopped there. Moving on towards the Outer Banks. Too long to do in one day, we are stopping in a little campsite just west of Fairfield, North Carolina on the North Shore of Lake Mattamuskeet. See You There.

Thursday, 15 April, 2021 – Posting this on the 16th as there was no WiFi and very little Cell service last night. Anyhow … The trip was good. Saw a lot of interesting things. Never realized the Eastern shores of North Carolina had so many BIG farms. Very impressive with deep black soil and many, many grain silos so farming must be good. Here are some pictures of the trip up.

We made it to Osprey Nest Campground and were greeted by it’s owner and Chief Operating Officer. A nice lady who makes me look young but is much sweeter than I am. Nancy and I picked out our site, had dinner, walked around a bit, watched some Canadian Geese that had stopped by for the evening. Great stay.

Friday, 16 April, 2021 – Up early, couple’a cups of Joe, hook up the Jeep, say Thanks and Farewell to our Hostess, and off we go. Not a long trip today but wanted to see the Southern Part of the Outer Banks and just have today to do it. Spending two days up on the Northern end. The drive up went well … many more farms, inlets, rivers, bridges, swamps, a herd of Deer, etc so just a couple of pictures from the trip up:

Sorry about the Deere things … I thought we needed a little humor. We got to the campground, checked in, set up, and decided to drive to the Southern end of the Outer Banks … at least as far as you can go in a car. Interesting. Here’s a few scenes:

The Light Keepers Home At The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

That Wraps up today and gets me up to date with my posts. Tomorrow we have a short ride up to Kill Devil Hills where we will spend two nights. Close by will be Kitty Hawk, wild horses, and who know what else. See you there.

17 April, Bright and Early Saturday Morning – OMG!!!!! I forgot two REALLY important things yesterday!!!! First of all, as many of you may know, or maybe not …. The Outer Banks have been a hot bed of Intergalactic activity dating back to recordings on ice tablets. Recently the US Navy released a photo and admitted they spotted a “For Real” UFO hovering (no, not vacuuming) over a Navy warship. Well, to get to the point, yesterday, we spotted an alien ship that had landed and was trying to look inconspicuous amongst local homes … don’t believe me? Picture Below!!

Bet you believe me now! We didn’t go in … it could’ve been a trap to capture earthlings and do spiriments on them.

What’s the other things you ask? Today is Mary Alice’s Birthday … Happy Birthday Mary Alice.

Now we finally get to the actual day of 17 April. Mary Alice has informed me that she celebrated her birthday on the 11th, which she claims is her birthday. Being an Officer and a Gentleman I am inclined to defer to her claim vice carrying on about when it might actually be. Therefore, my birthday wishes were six days late but none the less carry heartfelt good wishes from both Nancy and myself.

The drive from the Southern end of the Outer Banks to the the Northern areas where we are now revealed nothing new or interesting. We did pass The Bodie Lighthouse on Bodie Island but it does look much like the Cape Hatteras one (That’s what happen when you paint them all the same color. Judge for yourself … Here’s the Bodie Lighthouse:

The rest of the way was sand dunes, sea oats, T-Shirt Shops, Parks, bridges, restaurants, bars, rentals homes (The BIG Ones), and Circle K’s. Consequently, I didn’t take any pictures. Don’t despair though … once we arrived in Kill Devil Hills, where we are staying for two nights, we drifted over to Kitty Hawk and toured the site of the first powered flight in history. Wilbur and Orville Wright flew their airplane on Dec 17, 1903 for a total of 59 seconds setting up the world for putting people on the Moon and beyond. We spent several hours there walking around looking at everything. It is very well done and interesting. Here are some Photos. Most everything is explained on the photo’s so I’m not going to caption many of them. If there was interesting info on a large picture I took a picture of just that info so you could read it. Enjoy:

And that was Kitty Hawk and the Dawning of The Aviation Age. We both enjoyed it a great deal. We walked to all the different site so we spent a fair amount of time there. Well worth it.

Following that we drove around a bit looking at the beach houses and other local stuff … nothing particularly exciting. We had Dinner at our favorite Australian Restaurant, Outback, and are now snuggled into our RV. It is cool here, temps running in the 50’s and low 60’s but the sun is out through the day which helps. There is a stiff breeze from the ocean that does not help.

Tomorrow is a leisurely start. Nancy has told me she is taking me to breakfast somewhere, then we are driving up to the farthest Northern Point we can drive to see the wild horses. I’ll share what we find. Till Then …

Sunday, 18 April, 2021 – Nice Day!! After a leisurely coffee we decided to find some breakfast. We decided to go to Dunk’n and have a Latte and maybe a dozen Munchies … However, there is a little place along the road here just before the campground that looked interesting so we decided to give it a try. It turned out to be very nice, pleasant and well ran.

A Sunny Morning … We Sat Outside on A Screened In Porch

That took care of breakfast … I was ready for a nap but Nancy wanted to press on to see the wild horses in the Northernmost part of the Island. The horses are left over from Spanish explorers some time back. They were nearly gone when a group of people formed an organization to protect them. They now live in an area called the Carrituck Banks Estuarine Reserve. They run wild and are difficult to spot because much of the area is private property where they, but not you, are allowed to roam and the rest of it is wild trees and brush. It is only when they come out to the beaches or are in open ares in the Reserve where people are allowed to hike can you see them. The pavement ends near a town named Corolla, just past a town named Duck. To go be on foot, aboard a tour vehicle doing a wild horse tour, or a four wheel drive vehicle. The going is on the beach in deep sand so Toyotas can’t make it .. just kidding … I pull them out all the time with our Jeep.

The drive from our campsite to Corolla is about 50 miles and had some new scenery but a lot of the old. Big houses dominate the Outer Banks and Nancy and I were discussing how jammed up all these little roads must be in mid Summer when all these big places are filled with people. Here are some photos from the drive up.

Trees, Scrubby Trees, Instead of Sand Dunes

We arrived at Corolla and checked on a horse sighting tour but were told they were sold out. We thought maybe they were able to find more than we could but that was not to be so off we went. We drove off the end of the pavement and onto the beach. After a couple miles during which we were meeting and passing other Jeeps and 4WD vehicles we noticed a couple with their bicycles looking over the dune. Nancy noticed a horse was standing on the other side. We parked the Jeep and scrambled over to where they were and Nancy saw the horse. There were four or five horses right on the other side of the dune, They were just hanging out letting us take pictures of them. Then This guy came along and chased us all off telling us we were trespassing on private property. He didn’t say anything to the horses. Here are some photos of the beach and the horses.

It’s kinda sad about the horses and getting to see them. I understand private property and I understand big parks but the people in the Hummer Tour paid ~$50 each to see horses and all they got was some stories from the driver. I’m happy the tour we checked on was booked up and we got to see them on our own.

From Corolla we drove back and stopped at a light house, took some pictures of some big houses, stopped at a bar that was all stained glass, and got back to the camper early in the afternoon. We worked out some plans for the next few days of travel and went out for dinner at Dare Devil’s Pizza. Good place if you are in the area and have a hankering for pizza.

Coming Into Carrituck Beach … Light House In Background

Then we drove the rest of the way back to the Camper.

That pretty well wrapped up our day. Getting an early start tomorrow hoping to make it to Fayetteville, NC for an overnighter. Hope to be in Sumter by Tuesday.

We enjoyed the Outer Banks. Were amazed at all the huge homes so close to an Ocean that knocks them down freely every so often. Many interesting things to see and do. My recommendation is go in the shoulder season. Winter everything is closed and in Summer you are in gridlock most of the time. See you in Fayetteville.

19 April, 2021, Monday – We made it to Fayetteville without any trouble and in a leisurely manner. Nothing new along the way .. same houses, trees, cars, fields, and roadside oddities that we have seen along the way … consequently, no new pictures. As a matter of fact the next couple days we will be spending with friends and taking a day off to beat up some golf balls so there won’t be any entries or pictures until we leave here for our next destination. That’s right, I’m taking a little break and will be back in a couple days. I’ll tell you about our time here and our next destination at that time. So, take a break, “Smoke’em if you’ve got’ed” and we will see you in a couple days. Here’s a couple pictures from the drive from Kill Devil Hills to Fayetteville.

This was a Drawbridge We Had to Stop and Wait For

22 April 2021, Thursday – Welcome back and hope you all are doing well. Here’s the story from the last couple days. We left Fayetteville in the morning of the 20th and drove South to Sumter, South Carolina. We had a campsite reserved there at Shaw AFB for two nights. While we were there we planned to see our friends, Steve & Gay Nelson, and play some golf at Shaw. I’m please to say we were able to do both. On Tuesday, the 20th, we arrived at Shaw, set up our RV and drove the Jeep over to the Nelsons. For those of you who read my book you know I once worked for Steve, he and Gay are good friends of ours, and we see them every now and then. For those of you who have not read my book; I once worked for Steve, he and Gay are good friends of ours, and we see them every now and then.

We arrived in mid afternoon and spent several hours catching up on topics such as mutual friends, relatives, kids, world events, etc. They took us for a drive and showed us a park where there are all sorts of birds and plants. The local Garden Club, which Gay belongs to, has areas where they grow special plants to acquaint people with local flora … very nice and very interesting.. We were going to go out for dinner but the restaurant where they wanted to take us was closed on Tuesday so Gay had a meal prepared … Chicken Cacciatore … excellent Chicken Cacciatore as a matter of fact. So we had dinner with them and left to go back to the camper. They have a lovely home but we prefer not to impose on people’s hospitality when we drop by.

On Wednesday, which was very appropriately named cuz it was really windy, we played 18 holes at the Shaw AFB Golf Course. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Air Force bases you should know that the golf course is put in first, then the O’Club, then the runway. Very civilized you know. Anyhow, Nancy and I had a great time playing the course and even got decent scores; although Nancy beat me again. The wind increased all afternoon and was a fierce blow by the time we finished.

That reminds me of a joke: Three old guys went out to play golf one day. They were tee’ing up when the first guy said, “It sure is windy today!” So the second guy looked up startled and said “Wednesday!!! … I thought it was Thursday!” The Third guy looked around and said … “Hey, I’m thirsty too, let’s go get a beer!!”

After we finished our windy, Wednesday golf game we came back to the camper and cleaned up, rested for a while, and went back over to the Nelson’s as they were going to take us to their favorite new restaurant. Turns out it is a brew pub, a three story brew pub, and is a very nice place. We had a couple beers and compared our days, then went cross the street and ate at a locally famous Burger Joint that features Baseball stars from the Sumter area … good food, nice setting, great evening.

That takes care of Wednesday, our time at Sumter, and our stay at Shaw AFB. I took no pictures while we were in Sumter.

This morning we got up and traveled all day to get to Marble, North Carolina … it’s near Murphy if you are not familiar with it. It was a long day and a long drive but quite interesting. We had been traveling the coastal area since we left home so everything was quite flat and most of the trees were pines. As we traveled West today the terrain began to climb and began to get hilly. More and more hardwood trees were visible and everything was looking different. Another change that occurred was that because we were traveling Northwest and climbing to higher elevations, the Spring blossoming of the trees and their leaves was still just starting where, in the South, it was nearly finished. Here are some pictures from along the way.

Tomorrow we don’t have to travel as far. We are going to Spring City TN to visit Boomer and Kelly Henry. Boomer and I worked together in Germany when I was there as a contractor and the four of us had many enjoyable times together. We have not seen the Henry’s since we left Germany in 2012 so we are looking forward to seeing hem. More on that tomorrow.

**** Our Just Updated Our travel Map At The Top Of This Post ****

Friday, 23 April, 2021 – We had a nice trip from Marble, NC up Spring City, TN. It is interesting in that we went through this same general area on our Bay of Fundy trip in the Fall. Then, all the trees were loosing their leaves so they were all sorts of different Fall colors … very beautiful. Now, it’s early Spring and they are all getting their leaves so they are all different shades of Green … also very beautiful. I took some pictures but not sure if they are that visible. Let’s see:

Leaving Marble, NV … Blue Ridge Mountains Ahaed

So that was the trip here. We Spent yesterday afternoon and evening with the Henry’s at their home on the Lake Chickamauga and ordered in dinner. Played some pool, caught up on old times, old friends, and old memories … always good to friends from the past … and make new friends too but more on that in my next book.

24 April, 2021, Saturday – Somewhere in the middle of the night it started raining and it is still raining this morning. Looks like it is one of those all day soakers. We have no set agenda for the day … maybe get some supplies and mosey back over to the Henry’s for a little while. Tomorrow morning we depart for the Florida Panhandle and Ft Walton Beach and Panama City. We lived there for six years. I had assignments in both places. We are stopping in Montgomery, Alabama for the night as going all the way to FL is farther than we want to travel in a day. We are staying in a “Resort” campground in Spring City .. mostly a Marina and a Hotel but they had two or three campsites and we were lucky enough to get one. Nice people … I guess that’s the most important thing so we are good with all that. Spring City is a very small town that is spread out between a major highway and the lake. Not a lot of culture but plenty of character. Enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you down the road.

25 April 2021, Sunday – We made it to Montgomery with no problems and time to spare. We crossed into the Central Time Zone so we picked up an hour. Because the trip from Spring City to Montgomery was long, we decided to use the Interstate system. All went well. Nothing new for pictures. The terrain went from mountains to rolling hills, and now we are in the flat lowlands of Alabama which extend all the way to the coast. We also went from hardwood trees of all different kinds to pine trees … all one kind.

When we got set up here we decided to try and find the house we lived in for a year while I going to school here … after all, it’s only been 28 years! We did find it and it was in good shape. We were disappointed to find that our favorite Mexican restaurant has turned into an African Braids and Barber shop … I think the owners changed as well. We did find another Mexican Restaurant and it was very good so we are turning in with full tummies.

Tomorrow we proceed to Ft Walton Beach. More when we get there.

26 April 2021, Monday – Just like magic … Here we are in Ft Walton Beach, Florida. Back in Florida, back in the land of Sunshine, and back in the land of no more masks!!! I Love Gov DeSantis … what a Leader. Anyhow … We made the short trip down in good time and no problems. I mentioned yesterday that the terrain was all pines but there actually are many other trees … just mostly pines. From mid Alabama down the land looks like the Gulf once was that high … and I suppose it was. A great deal of sand, rolling hills, and not much elevation. Perhaps someday the Gulf will take it back … hopefully not during my tour of duty here on earth. We went mostly on Rt 331 which in some places is a four lane highway and other places its barely 2 lanes wide. We have been traveling through the South for many years and it appears there is an effort to spruce it up a bit. The ditches are clean, the old towns are neat and orderly. The buildings are old but painted and cared for. You do see some run down buildings or areas but I guess that happens everywhere. I took some pictures on the way down. They are mostly buildings and trees so I’m not going to label all of them … just the ones that are meaningful. Here we go …

Then we were in Florida … The Panhandle is not very wide so we only had a few miles to get to Ft Walton.

So here we are. We are in a very nice campground, small but new … Boutique? Anyhow, I’ll take some pictures. We are meeting one of Nancy’s previous employers. Sherri Montalto, and her late husband Sam, owned and operated Pandora’s for many years on Santa Rosa Island. It was a great place to eat and Nancy enjoyed working there for Sam and Sherri. Nancy was their bookkeeper. See you tomorrow.

28 April 2021, Wednesday – It is Wednesday evening and we have concluding our visits with friends in the area. It has been a fun two and half days, we saw some people we had not seen for a while, had a good rest and please we stopped by here at Ft Walton. As I mentioned, Monday evening we had dinner with Nancy’s previous boss. Sherri brought her Mom and her Mom’s friend David and we all had a delightful dinner at a place called Ali’s in Ft Walton along Hwy 98. We had a pleasant evening catching up and talking about our lives today. It was good to see Sherri again and it was nice to see she was doing well.

On Wednesday, the 27th, we played the golf course at Hurburt Field … Gator Lakes Golf Course. Lots of water, alligators, and ample opportunity to loose balls. Again, we had a nice time … again, Nancy beat me, but it was fun. The weather was pleasant and we enjoyed the day. That evening (last Night) we had dinner with Doug and Meg Ammon. Doug and Meg were stationed at Reine Main in Frankfurt when we were there. Doug is an Air Force Dentist. We had dinner at The Magnolia House in Ft Walton and again, had a very pleasant evening catching up with our lives.

Today we drove over to Destin, FL and Met Stan and Marcia Bently. Nancy was the accountant for a carpet company in Panama City when I was stationed there and Stan worked there as well. We got to be good friends with the two of them and had a great many good times with them while we lived in Panama City. Today, we had lunch with them at LuLu’s, which I’m sure you know, is a chain of restaurants owned by Jimmy Buffet’s sister. Again, a very pleasant day.

So here we are, Wednesday evening, all our visits completed, and we are ready to turn in for the evening. Tomorrow morning we pull stakes and head East to Perry, Florida via Hwy 98 through Panama City, Mexico Beach, Apalachicola, and on to Perry. Our stay here was most enjoyable. It is good to be back in Florida where it is warm, sunny, and friendly. Here are some pictures of our stay.

See You on The road tomorrow.

30 April, 2021, Friday – Several things here. First, I have made the last update to the map of our trek at the front of this Blog. Second, that means we are home. Yesterday, as I mentioned earlier, we drove from Ft Walton to Perry, FL. We went through Destin, Panama City Beach, Panama City, Mexico Beach, Port St Joe, Apilatchicola, East Point, and a whole bunch of little towns named after Saints (No, not New Orleans Saints, real saints!). The drive was scenic, it was a pleasant day, so, even though we drove a long way, lost an hour getting into the Eastern Time Zone, it was a good day. Last night we stayed at a nice KOA in Perry, FL. Perry is just a small Town where Hwy 19 and 98 separate, or come together depending which way you are traveling. Today we drove the rest of the way home and were home at noon. We spent this afternoon cleaning out the RV and went out for dinner at Coyote Roho #4 which is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.

One of the most interesting parts of the trip was seeing all the damage that remains in the Panama City area from the hurricane they had there a few years back. Tyndall AFB was nearly destroyed, thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed, and acres and acres of trees were blown over or just snapped off.

So, here are some pictures. First, a few more shots from the Destin area. Then Panama City. Then random pictures along the rest of the way.

The White Sands of Panama City/Ft Walton Beach

That ends the trip. About 1750 miles and 21 days. Met a lot of nice people, saw many old friends, had a good time. Thanks for coming along.

MOTHER’S DAY WEEKEND IN TRINIDAD – MAY 2016

In May, 2016, Nancy’s Brother Dean invited us to visit him in Trinidad. He works as an Independent IT Consultant and had a job working in Trinidad for several months. He knows we like to travel so he invited us down. We have never been to Trinidad so, and thought it would be nice to visit Dean, so we accepted.

Dean had been working there for several months so he was well attuned to the rhythm of Trinidad. He had reserved rooms for us at the Hyatt along the sea so we were all set. We arrived on Friday evening from Miami and were ready to spend an interesting weekend in Trinidad. Dean had a full weekend planned for us. We spent Friday evening at our hotel catching up with Dean, his family, his job, our family, our activities, lotsa drinks, good evening … No Jet Lag. Later we went Liming but only for a short while.

So Saturday Dean had a full day tour of Trinidad booked. He had a friend who ran a tour service who took us all over the Island. I’m not going to give you a history or geography lesson on Trinidad … if you are interested just Google “Trinidad” and you will be enlightened. The first place we went is to the Northern Shore. Exposed to the sea and all it provides, the Northern shore was very impressive. Rugged, scenic, beautiful. All At one time. Here are some pictures of the trip there through the capitol, Port of Spain, and the Northern Shore.

Nancy Along The Sea Wall By Our Hotel (In The Background0

We continued our tour of the north shore … saw some incredible cloud formations and made it back to town. That night, late, we went out to a turtle sanctuary where some naturalists were taking care of leatherback turtles that were coming ashore to lay eggs. I’ll show you the pictures then tell you a little about it.

The Sun Was Setting .. A Beautiful Scene

The eggs hatch some time later. The Baby Turtles eat the eggs that don’t hatch until they are strong enough to dig their way out of the nest. They then take a GPS bearing of where they are and head to the sea. Incredibly, they return to the same spot some 25 years later after swimming the oceans all over the globe. It was a very unique experience. The Turtles are so gentle and quiet. The bad side is that thieves come and steal the babies as they crawl out to the sea … sell them. The Naturalists try to protect them until they can get to the sea.

The next Day was Mother’s Day and, as always, Nancy and I try to make these special days special.

Nancy With Her Mother’s day Gifts. Andy and Candy Always Send Something and I try to Do Something As Well. I did the Wrapping!

So That afternoon, Dean was working but his guide took us around the rest of the island and treated us to a shark sandwich. After that we took him on a tour of an amazing highly migrations of red birds.

A Condo Development Outside of Port of Spain

That ended the bird tour. We had an incredible sunset that evening, we went back to the hotel, got up the next morning and flew home. Great weekend in a Great little place. Here’s the Sunset.

That’s Our Mother’s Day Weekend In Trinidad. Thank You Dean for inviting us down and sharing your weekend and Paradise with us. Always a fun time.

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