Snowing in Our Happy Place

Do you recognize this? This is a sculpture from the Sarasota Sculpture Park that we saw on Saturday. Why no pictures of Disney? Because it has been raining. However, today was totally gorgeous around 72 degrees and sunny with no humidity. I wore a sweatshirt all day and was comfortable.

We arrived at MGM Studios at noon. We headed for their new show, "Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show" with cars, motorcycles and jet skis doing extreme things. Mel's little brain was a-whirr and his eyes were a-sparkle. Lord knows what he is cooking up now. However, it was a really good show.

Then, we easily toured through the oldies but goodies. "The Tower of Terror 4" was my pick for best ride but Mel liked "Rock and Roller Coaster" the best.

We wrapped up the day by attending "The Osbourne Family Spectacle of Lights" lighting ceremony with real snow-okay with the help of a snow-making machine. There were over a million lights and displays in the Streets of America section of the park. It was awesome. If that doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, nothing will.

On our way out of the park, I bought a Mickey camera belt bag. Now, I will be able to easily carry my camera to take pictures of the great shows and exhibits.

When we got to the RV, I finally settled us in. I put fresh flowers in a vase, which is sitting on our steering wheel table. On the computer table, I put the misting bowl and pictures. I hung the "Oh, the Places You Will Go" ornament. Time to dig out the matching mugs.

While I nested, Mel talked to the car guys at Car Night. Some things never change.

Another Rainy Day in Orlando

But this photo was taken at a rest stop on our Saturday drive.

Last night's pizza treat attacked me in the middle of the night so I had a pretty sleepless night. Ouch! Since it was storming in the morning, Mel let me sleep in and I would have enjoyed that, if I had felt better.

Once I recuperated, we headed off to AMC 20 for several movies. First, we saw "Walk the Line" with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. Their singing amazed me. Johnny Cash had a rough life, some of which was the result of bad choices. He was lucky June stuck with him. The parallels between Johnny's and Joaquin's losses of their brothers really resonated with me.

Then we saw "Yours, Mine and Ours" with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo-lots of eye candy for Mel and me. Of the three movies, this was Mel's favorite. He thought it was cute.

After to movies, we left the theater in search of food. The cold front had come in, which moderated the humidity and left behind a beautiful sunny 70 evening. We found a place for sandwiches as I wasn't ready for a full meal. Then, we window-shopped through Downtown Disney. I found some Christmas toy ideas for the grandkids and bought a new charm for my Zoppini bracelet-a double charm with Mickey and Minnie. I couldn't resist it. After shopping, we sat in the plaza and listened to Christmas tunes in the Big Band-style. The music was provided by a high school band. I couldn't believe how good they were.

We headed back to the theater for "Shopgirl" with Steve Martin and Claire Danes-interesting and dramatic-not your typical Steve Martin comedy.

Tomorrow, we are having breakfast at the campground's Trails End Restaurant. They have a terrific buffet and is one of the cheaper Disney choices. We will power up for our day at MGM Studios, one of our favorites with shows, rides and a great parade.

Farewell Tampa

It was a rainy day in central Florida. We woke up to rain, drove in rain, stopped in rain and arrived to Orlando in rain. Did I mention that it rained today? We drove from Tampa to Orlando separately, Mel in the RV and me in the Jeep. It makes it easier when checking in at Disney.

We checked into Fort Wilderness at 2 p.m. It was raining hard and Mel had a tough time pulling the RV into our new home for the next twelve days.

As soon as we set up, off we went to the Magic Kingdom. It took some convincing for Mel to carry a poncho but given the 100% humidity factor I felt we should err on the side of caution.

We took the boat to the Magic Kingdom. Then we picked up our annual passes and entered the park. It was very overcast and heavy with dark clouds but no rain.

To our surprise, we arrived just as the Disney parade was beginning. What a great kickoff to our stay. Once the parade was over, the crowd began to dissipate. So we headed to the Philharmagic 3-D Show-too cute. We then headed to the Haunted Mansion. After that, it was time for a snack-how about a funnel cake? Yum!

Mel decided that we should try Splash Mountain. We couldn't believe it. We walked right on. Quickly, I donned my poncho but the seat was already wet. Yuck!

We headed to Thunder Mountain but it was shut down because of thunder and lightening. So we started to head for the exit, but a cast member said the evening parade was about to start. We kept on walking but when we reached Main Street, the music started, the lights dimmed and there was the parade.

We watched about half the parade, when the rain started. We headed for the exit for real this time. We ran for the dock and the sky opened up. We were 2nd in line for the boat so we were able to get seats inside. By the time, we reached the shore of Fort Wilderness, the rain had stopped. We dropped by Crockett's Tavern for a pizza. Then we walked home before the rain started again.

Tomorrow we are in for more of the same so it may be a movie day. Oh yes, it was around 75 degrees so I guess it wasn't too bad.

 

Touring Tampa

Bears Win! We started out our day in a traffic jam. Crowds of Buccaneer fans were winding their way to the football stadium on our side of town. We were trying to get to my sister's. I felt great pride in our Illinois license plate. I don't think they are hostile here.

Carol, Bill and Chip wanted to take us to a Chicago-style hot dog stand, called Mel's. In anticipation of our luncheon, Mel wore his Mel's Drive-in Hawaiin shirt. We waited until the game started then made our way to the Busch Gardens area. Out of respect for each family's loyalties, we did not listen to the game on the radio but the game was on at Mel's and the Bears were leading.

After lunch, we drove into Tampa's downtown and convention areas. Then, we went to Ybor City, the historic Cuban section of town, now Tampa's New Orleans-style Bourbon St. From there, we went to Davis Island, where brother-in-law, Bill, practiced dentistry for 40 years. Our finale was a drive down Bay Shore Drive.

We visited with Carol, Bill and Chip, then said our final goodbyes for this visit.

Tomorrow, we move to Disney World for a twelve day stay. As Mel says, "We are on our way home."

 

The Sunshine Skyway

Saturday, November 26th was another perfect day. We had plans to travel to Sarasota and wanted to get an early start. However, Mel discovered that our bathroom sink was clogged. He headed off to Home Depot, while I showered and dressed for the day. Thank goodness, Mel knows how to fix anything. He efficiently repaired the sink and then got ready for our day.

We took I275 from Tampa to St. Petersburg and then the Sunshine Skyway across Tampa Bay to Bradenton. We found our way onto Longboat Key hoping to find a beachside restaurant. But again, it was condo after condo after condo. We exited to Sarasota. What a beautiful city! It was sparkling in the sun and water. I pretty much fell in love. They have a sculpture park along the waterfront that was spectacular, but we just couldn't find that perfect lunch place and ended up at Bennigans.

Coming off of Longboat Key, we drove through a darling shopping area, called St. Armand's Circle. It was all decorated for Christmas. Mel gave me a choice, St. Armand's Circle or the Ringling Art Museum, Ringling's home and the Circus Museum. I chose St. Armand's Circle. The circle is something like a cross between Long Grove and Door County with Michigan Avenue prices. Of course, there were several outdoor cafes and wonderful lunch places. Oh well, you can't win them all. But it was fun anyway.

We wrapped up the day by visiting Carol and family before Susan, Conor and John left for home. Reid and Will left on Friday night because Will was playing in his baseball league's championship game on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. We were so fortunate to be able to spend time with all the Kelleys.

 

A Day At The Beach

On Friday, after Thanksgiving, while the rest of the world shopped, Mel and I headed to Clearwater, FL to spend the day on the white sand beaches of the Gulf Coast. We sat there just people watching. There was one family, who planted a decorated Christmas tree in the sand and proceeded to take pictures of their two darling children for their annual Christmas card. Young people were romping around playing football, baseball and frisbee, just wearing themselves out in the sand and surf. Mostly, people were sunning themselves and just relaxing. It was just a lovely day.

We had lunch at the Palm Pavilion Bar and Grill, sitting on the veranda while watching the world go by. The bar has been a part of the Clearwater ambience, since 1928. These are the kind of places that we love to stumble upon as we wander about.

We spent the rest of the day driving along the Sun Coast of Florida, ending at a county-owned park, called Fort Desoto. The development along the coast is incredible as it is sad. There used to be miles of free open beaches, but now there are miles upon miles of condominiums and a few resorts. We were assured that there is plenty of public access but you have to know where to look as they are not heavily advertised. We give credit to the state and county park systems throughout the state that appear to be the only ones trying to save natural forests and sand beaches. I am not anti-development but a little bit of growth management wouldn't hurt, but it is too late for this part of Florida.

 

The Country Celebrated With Me

My 60th Birthday and Thanksgiving, of course. We trust that everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving with lots of loving family and friends and turkey. If you look closely at my necklace, you will see that I am bedecked in a lovely turkey & pearl necklace, bestowed upon me by my niece, Susan. Her three boys, Conor (12), Will (10), and John (8), started the day by running in the annual Turkey Trot, a 6 mile race at 6 a.m. She found the necklace at a stand there and felt it appropriately descriptive of me. Hhm!!!

At 1 p.m., we assembled around the table to give thanks and then we fed those starving little boys. We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, topped off with several pies and a pumpkin cake with six candles, one for each decade. Yikes!

Later that evening, Mel and I went to see "Pride and Prejudice" with Keira Knightly. It was a wonderfully executed, though Mel thought it was too artsy-fartsy, if you know what he means.

 

Forward To Tampa

Here is a picture of our rig for those of you who may be wondering what we are living in and the Jeep we are towing.

After Ocala, we headed to Tampa about mid-afternoon. I had called ahead to Bay Bayou RV Resort to secure a site for the next six days. The wind was blowing at 25 mph. Mel said that if we hadn't been so close to Tampa that we would have pulled over for the night. Our ride into the Tampa area was harrowing, plus we got lost trying to find the campsite. So we arrived quite exhausted and a little dizzy from the effects of the wind blowing us around.

After a nice rest, we traveled to my sister's just to say hello and visit for a while. Once back to the campsite, Mel was so happy just to be planted for a while.

We slept in on Wednesday, November 23rd. Once ready to go, I checked the AMC website so we could find a movie close by. Not too far away, in Oldsmar, FL, I found the Woodlands AMC 20. We saw "The Ice Harvest" that was a crime comedy with John Cusack & Billy Bob Thornton. The theater was very nice as is the neighborhood that we are living in. It's feeling homey to us.

After the movie, we found an automatic car wash. The poor Jeep was totally filthy from the two days of rain. The sand and mud were like glue. After the car wash, we found a hand car wash, since the car didn't look much different. The Jeep looks much better now but Mel intends to wax it before the next rain. So the car had $21.00 worth of washes in ten minutes. Ouch!

In the evening, we joined my sister, Carol, my brother-in-law, Bill, and their family for a ham dinner. It was great having a home-cooked meal with my nephews, Chip (Bill) & Chuck, and niece, Susan and her three boys, Connor (12), Will (10) and John (8). Later, in the evening, Susan's husband, Reid, joined us from his day of business in Fort Myers, FL.

Mel enjoyed his phone call to the Car Night guys, who had gathered at Jimmy's. He wants to know after years of pizza on Car Night how is it that Ronny was makin pepper & egg sandwiches. He feels the guys waited until he was out of town and then everything changes. "Don't cry for Mel, Argentina!"

Don Garlitz' Drag Racing Museum

This is Don Garlitz' Swamp Rat No. 1 that he built and raced in 1955.

At Ocala, Fl, we toured the Garlitz' Auto Museum that traces 50 years of drag racing. The museum houses many of Don's racers as well as race cars of top drag racers in the sport. Also, it is loaded with many racing artifacts. Adjacent to the museum, there is another building with a 100 antique automobiles.

Mel was in heaven! 

Morning at Cross Creek

Here is the table were Majorie Kinnan Rawlings wrote her wonderful books, "The Yearling" and "Cross Creek" and many others.

After two days of rain, we finally had a beautiful day on Tuesday, November 22nd. It was cool but sunny and we took off to do some touring. Of course, we got lost along the way. I managed to get us going down a road just about of width of the RV and a dead-end one to boot. Fortunately, at the end of this torturously winding road, there was a tiny cul-de-sac. Luckily, Mel was able to turn our big rig & tow around and we were off to Ms. Rawling's lovely Florida hide-away.

We were able to tour her lovely citrus grove, filled with orange, tangerine and grapefruit trees. Two volunteers, dressed in 1930's garb, were tending the Florida clapboard-style home. We enjoyed roaming through the house, viewing furniture reminiscent of our grandparents. It was a delightful outing.

From Cross Creek, we headed to Ocala, FL.

Ahh! The Sun Returneth

It rained hard all through the night in Tallahasee, even Mel slept in. Once we were showered and dressed, we decided we needed supplies. There was a Publix (Jewel/Dominicks) across from the campgrounds. The staff were so friendly. Mel stopped to look at car magazines so I went on with my list. As I walked back to him, with my arms full, I was offered a cart.

Thanks, but I have a husband with a cart somewhere in the store.

Is he wearing a Hawaiin shirt?

That would be him!

He went that-a-way.

Off I went and then I heard,

Ma'am, here he comes.

I turned around and there he was, looking sheepish, as people turned to see what was going on. You see, for Florida, it is cold. I think they were wondering who the nut was in the Hawaiin shirt. But it made for a fun, friendly shopping trip.

It was pouring rain as we left the store with no umbrella. For some reason, Mel noticed that a Great Clips was next door. He took the groceries into the rain, while I got my haircut-it was no Vidal Sasson but the operator was friendly. We find this to be true that people are friendly and helpful most everywhere we go. It makes for a nice trip.

From Tallahassee, we headed to the Suwanee River for lunch at a restaurant on the river. This had been suggested by a man at the gas station in Appalachicola. Mel was getting antsy to stop as we passed Old Town on the Suwanee. We got to the bridge and there was the restaurant-boarded up for about 20 years.

So we sucked it up and headed to Gainesville. We got into a giant traffic jam. When we could, we got onto I75 to look for a restaurant. We found a great restaurant, called "Rafferty's." This was about 3 p.m.-a little past lunch. However, while we ate, the sun came out. That cheered us up quite a bit.

We headed north on I75 to our campgrounds. We are staying at Travellers' Inn. While signing in, I heard the squawk of a large bird. I commented that it must be the Thanksgiving turkey. The campsite hosts broke out laughing. It seems they have exotic birds on site. How was I to know?

Tomorrow, we head to Cross Creek, FL, the home of author, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Then, Mel wants to see the Don Garlitz Car Museum in Ocala, FL. Maybe we will make it to Tampa but we might be pushing it.

Rain, Rain Go Away, Nancy & Mel Want to Play

We spent the night in Panama City Beach, FL last night. It was storming when we awoke so we stayed in bed to watch CBS Sunday Morning, the theme was food for Thanksgiving. Still the rain came. We showered, dressed & had breakfast. The rain did not let up. Poor Mel had to step into the swamp outside our door with water over his shoes to unhook us. When he came back in, he was drenched and had to change his clothes before we could take off. Yes, I do have ponchos and umbrellas but Mel decided to play macho man. What can I say?

Son Brian had given us a beautiful book on the most scenic drives in America. Panama City was the starting point for the drive, scenic Hwy. 98, which took us along the Gulf coast, lots of forests and state parks and salt water marshes. We stopped in Appalachicola for gas. There was a cafe on the corner and it was 1:30 p.m.ET. I wanted to stop but Mel wanted a beach place. Oops! That was the last of civilization until we reached Tallahasee around 4:00 p.m. We drove right into the capital to find an Olive Garden. Good thing we had breakfast because it was a long wait for lunch.

Now we are camped in the Tallahasse RV Park. Kevin, our campground host, is a bloke from Austrailia. He told us his son lives in Kalamazoo, MI and he visited Chicago during a blizzard. Why would anyone live there? was his comment.

No pictures today. There would have only been raindrops. However, Kevin said that they were so dry that he was happy for the rain even though it is cold-65 degrees.

Tomorrow, we are taking Hwy. 27 to Dixie County to have lunch on the Suwanee River-How I Love Ya', How I Love Ya'. Then we will head over to Gainesville to spend the night.

Sand In Our Shoes

No, it isn't snow, it is powdered sugar sand on the Emerald Coast of the Florida panhandle.

We feel like we are finally on "the trip" as we have been running away from bad weather for the past week. We left Pensacola, the home of the Blue Angels, and drove Hwy. 98 along the Gulf coast, enjoying the blue sky and emerald green water.

We stopped in Destin, FL, a place we would highly recommend for a Florida beach vacation. The beaches are beautiful and the resorts are fabulous. We ate at a darling beach bar, named "The Back Porch" that Mel wanted to move into and be a beach bum. They had great seafood and ambience. The photo is of the beach outside of the restaurant.

We continued our journey by dipping down to Hwy. 30A to see the stunning villages of Watercolor, Sea Grove and Seaside. Don't you love the names? The architecture was so unique. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get photos because we didn't stop along the way. What we didn't realize was that we were on top of Panama City Beach, our destination, and we would have been able to stop along the way. We need a better map!

So we are camped at Raccoon River Campgrounds, nestled among the Florida pines. The campsite is a children's paradise with a treehouse, heated pools, playgrounds and even a Indiana Jones-like planked bridge across the Raccoon River.

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is on ABC so I will sign off for now.

Birmingham, AL-The Magic City

Birmingham was dubbed the Magic City in 1871 when it experienced a spectacular growth, early in the industrial age. Large deposits of iron, limestone and coal, found in Red Mountain, attacted iron and steel mills as well as the railroads. The city was named after Birmingham, England and also, is known as the "Pittsburgh of the South." We fell in love with this jewel of a place.

On Wednesday, November 16th, we started our adventure in Irondale, AL, a small town NE of Birmingham. Our quest was to dine at the Irondale Cafe, home of the Whistle Stop Cafe, from Fannie Flagg's book, "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe." A local policeman preceded us through the door. I started up the conversation by asking Officer Norman what was good to eat. After asking us where we were from, Officer Norman told us that he had stayed in Skokie, IL, while he attended special police training at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Then, the fun began. I followed Officer Norman through the line, ordering what he ordered, except for the fried okra. I substituted fried green tomatoes, after all that was what I came there for. The whole time we were chatting about the town.

Except for us, everyone appeared to be local so we were soaking up the ambience as well as the food. Mel had country ham and potato casserole. I had a quarter smoked chicken, fried green tomatoes, old-fashioned green beans and ham, and corn bread muffin-real southern cooking. We both took diet Cokes, in glass bottles of yore. We couldn't open the bottles-no twist off caps. Also, we hadn't paid for the meal as we had no check. Finally, a waitress appeared and opened our Cokes and filled out a check while we told her what we were eating.

Mel got in line to pay the check and Officer Norman was in front of him. They chatted some more while I looked at the movie memorabilia, including posters of Kathy Bates and other stars from the movie. When I joined them, Mel informed me since I am a book lover that Officer Norman was taking us somewhere special.

We followed him out of the restaurant, walking behind him, looking at each other and wondering where he was taking us. When we reached the end of the block, there was a used book store, The Doggone Bookstore, but it was closed. Suddenly, from across the street, we heard a hearty hello. Officer Norman introduced us to Voris, the store owner. He opened up the store for us and I began browsing while the men made jokes about each other and the town. Voris said that he was surprised that I'd be in the company of the likes of Officer Norman. Then Voris showed me a shelf of books by Alabama authors, including Harper Lee, Pam Grafton, Linda Howard and Fannie Flagg. So I bought two Fannie Flagg books, "Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man" and "Welcome to the World, Baby Girl" as well as a Linda Howard book, though I am not much of a romance fan.

After our fun lunch in Irondale, we headed into Birmingham to tour Vulcan Park, the home of the largest cast iron statue in the world, depicting "Vulcan," the Grecian god of the forge. The statue was created for the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, MO then brought to Birmingham as a mascot for the industrial-age city. The park is the site of a museum that beautifully outlines the history of the city. As did most cities, Birmingham suffered great losses during the Great Depression, but was a manufacturing giant during World War II. In the 60's, between the advent of the Environmental Protection Act and the Civil Rights Movement, Birmingham earned a big black eye. However, the city reinvented itself as a huge medical research and hospital complex connected with the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Everywhere we looked new medical research facilities are being constructed as Birmingham appears to be on the cutting edge of medicine and dentistry.

Our next stop was the Sloss Furnaces, a national historic landmark, an example of an Industrial Revolution factory, housing the only remaining 20th century blast furnace-according to their brochure. Mel was in pig-iron heaven, loving all the huge old rusting machines. He made me crawl down into coal delivery tunnels and slog through puddles along the rail. I just thought it was spooky but I agreed since he went to the bookstore with me. Fair is fair. Fortunately, there was a brutal cold wind blowing so we cut the outside tour short.

Our campsite hostess warned us to watch our timing so we wouldn't hit rush hour. But we were able to drive up and down the nearly deserted streets of downtown Birmingham, viewing the Civil Rights memorials and churches with ease. We never figured out what time rush hour happened but then we are from Chicago.

At 6:45 p.m., Leonard arrived. What a great meeting that was! You wouldn't have believed that it's been 44 years since we've seen each other. We toured Leonard through the RV, then climbed into his 2006 Mercedes SUV and headed back to Birmingham for the Dreamland Barbeque Cafe, an off campus joint with the best barbeque ribs ever. We ate and talked until we noticed that the bar stools had been placed up on the bar at 11:00 p.m. Leonard drove us back to the RV, then joined us to look at family pictures. It was a lovely day in Birmingham.

We were up early on November 17th and on our way to Mobile, AL, still seeking warm weather. We arrived at 2:00 p.m. and stayed at Ace's RV Park on Moffett Avenue on the outskirts of Mobile. It was a small RV park run by scary Mr. McNasty. He made Mel read all of his rules, walk to the site for inspection and gave me a price list for any damages that we might incur. While he made us feel uncomfortable, we had to agree that it was one clean quiet place. Once we set up camp, we left to do some sightseeing.

We found the Mobile Art Museum and Botanical Gardens. The park that houses these building suffered a lot of tree damage, the only Hurricane Katrina damage that we've seen so far. We did see a number of modular homes being trailered down by FEMA trucks through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennesee and Alabama. The local TV stations are asking for food, clothing and toy donations for Thanksgiving and Christmas. There is still dire need here-at least 53,000 people are still homeless.

After the park, we toured the grounds of Spring Hill College, the alma mater of brother-in-law, Bill, Leonard and my two nephews, Chip and Chuck. Then it was off to the movies. I took Mel to see Zathura, a charming children's sci-fi movie for anyone whose inner child is thriving.

This morning, we de-camped, hooked up the Jeep and headed for Best Buy to return the power adaptor that we bought in Bowling Green, KY. Now, we have an inverter but I didn't really get to use it because Mel decided that we really needed to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. While we both enjoyed the movie, it was hard to follow if you hadn't read the book. The computer graphics were terrific as were the actors. The Harry Potter movie series is getting darker and darker but then so are the books.

From the movie, we headed to Pensacola, FL. I called ahead to a KOA on the Gulf coast. Once settled in, we dined at the Crazy Horse Cafe on Hwy. 98 that was suggested by our KOA hostess. What a meal we had! We cannot continue to eat like this but on the other hand we are very good about not snacking (sorry Ed, Karen & Vince) between meals. I ordered fried catfish, baked sweet potato & green beans. Mel ordered chicken parmesan with pasta. We both had dessert, coconut cake for me and cinnamon spice cake for Mel. All of this was home-made. Oh my! Yum!

Tommorow we are driving along the Gulf Coast, Hwy 98, from Pensacola to Panama City. We will lunch in Destin and tour Seaside, a Victorian village on the coast.

More later.

Van on the Run!

We arrived at our Birmingham, AL campsite at 2:00 p.m. We have set up for the night and detached the Jeep so we can explore the countryside. It is overcast but 76 with 65% humidity. I know our Chicago friends feel sorry for us suffering in this heat wave.

The weather in KY chased us away at 7:00 a.m. We are hoping that we are far enough south to escape the tornados.

Tomorrow, we tour Birmingham highlights. It will be our first bit of sightseeing on this trip. I plan to read the brochures that we gathered at the camp office so I can plot out our excursion.

It's 9:45 p.m. Those who are familiar with us will not be surprised to hear that we found a local movie theater. We saw "Derailed" with Jennifer Anniston and Clive Owen. We know the critics didn't care for it but we liked it and it had a nice plot twist. It is definitely a renter for those of you who avoid the theater.

I just got off the phone with a long time family friend, Leonard Mueninghoff. He and his wife, Heidi, live here in Birmingham. We are meeting for dinner tomorrow night. We haven't seen each other for 40 years so this could be scary. Len was a student at St. Louis University Dental School with my brother-in-law. My family "adopted" Len and he joined us for holiday dinners for a few years. That goodwill has paid off big time as we will meet and greet tomorrow evening.

Can you believe this? We are under a tornado watch tonight. We can run but we cannot hide. The tempature is supposed to drop to 40 tomorrow morning--should we survive the winds tonight. Yikes!

And Away We Go!

On November 14th, at 4:15 a.m., we pulled out of Deerfield, IL to begin our RV adventure. By noon, we were in Louisville, KY, where we dined at the Buckhead Mountain Grill on the Indiana side of the river. We arrived at Bowling Green, KY at 2:00 p.m. We stopped at Best Buy to purchase an adapter so I can power the computer and cell phone with battery power. Then we stopped for gas before setting up camp at KOA.

Since it had started to rain, it was good to get off the road, set up early, give ourselves time to reorganize and relax a bit. We have been working so hard to prepare for the road. Now that we are on it, we can take time to recoup.

We laughed at ourselves as we tried to locate needed items. After all the months of planning, we had to tweak our storage of quickly accessible resources, such as maps, guide books, etc. We will get better at all this as we go along.

Weather is thwarting our plans. We are under a tornado watch-not the best feeling when one is sitting in a rolling tin can. We planned to tour the Corvette factory tomorrow morning and maybe the Mammoth Caves in the afternoon, then we were moving to Nashville, TN. However, all evening, they have been posting severe weather warnings for tomorrow. So we will decide early tomorrow whether we will stay put here at the KOA to ride out the predicted storm or if we will make a run for the deep South of Alabama or Georgia. So goodbye to my tour of the Smokey Mountains, but safety first.

Still working on photos, but I will get there eventually. So long for now.

Farewell Party

Hi Everyone,

I am still learning how to use all this new technology that I have. It is still magic to me. I plan to add selected pictures to this blog but I have to learn how to do it. So watch for that.

On Sunday, November 6th, seventy of our closest family and friends joined us for a farewell party at Chicago Northwest Hotel and Conference Center. Mel and I felt quite honored that so many folks changed previously made plans to attend our party. Either they love us or cannot wait to see us go--maybe both. We have wonderful picture memories that our best man (25 years ago), Jimmy, and our grandsons, Ryan (8) and Daniel (6) took during the party. Although no gifts were expected, many offered beautifully created, useful and tasty treats.

Yesterday, we were quite busy dealing with our vehicle issues. We traded in our 2000 Lincoln Continental for a fire engine red 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport to flat-tow behind the RV. We are storing the 1996 Jaguar convertible for use when we return. Yea!

Today, we took the Jeep in for new tires and alignment. Later, we'll have the oil change done. Mel is busy repairing and painting the left rear tail light and related areas as well as the entry door. We want things looking spiffy when we take off later this week.

More later.