BEEEEzzzzz and other critters

We've had a great visit with Chris & Denise - our friends in Tennessee. That's their house and barn above.

We arrived on Saturday morning - and discovered that our spare tire (which hangs beneath "Van Monroe") had loosened up somewhere along the way and had been dangling/dragging. Ouch. We hadn't heard anything, but it is a concern (because I'm pretty sure that it was NOT dangling before we left - which means that I'm going to need to keep an eye on it). Anyway, we cranked it back into place and I'll watch it.

We were greeted by the whole Zoo - in addition to Chris & Denise: 4 dogs, 13 cats (or so), a bird - and Chris & Denise and Denise's Mom Gerry. That's a lot of hugging and wagging and petting. They've had a couple of litters of kittens just appear in their barn and the kittens are SO cute.
After getting settled, Chris & Denise loaded us into their "H3" and we went to a Mennonite farm, a winery (yes, Tennessee has wine), then back home for talk and visiting.

Sunday: I got to have some "online" time: it's tough to balance *doing* things vs *telling* about things - then back into the H3 for a drive up the nearby mountain and amazing Tennessee views and flowers and a short hike thru the woods (we're not as young as we used to be so it turned into an even-shorter hike when we discovered that the trail we'd chosen seemed to be intent on going *down*hill - which meant that we would be going UPhill to get back). A quick stop at the Sonic for hotdogs and ice cream, then back home to take pictures of BEES!

Chris & Denise have a couple of hives and needed help getting some good photos. I wimped out, but Kathy suited right up and took close-ups as Chris opened the hives and handled the bees. Really cool. I stayed 100 feet away and used my 10x zoom lens to make it *look* like I was close. (My shirt says: "Oh for PETE's Sake!")You can see the queen in this picture - she's got a dot of red paint to make her easier to pick out. Remember that there is only ONE queen per hive.

Evening brought another couple visiting - George & Barb - so we ate, talked, and joked (Barb can turn nearly any conversation into an amusing story and George always has a wry comment to add).

And we weren't finished: Chris brought out the Nintendo Wii. I'd seen them, but hadn't ever *done* it - and it is rather addictive. We did "Fitness Evaluation" (I came out as being the physical age of 42!!), Bowling, Boxing, Tennis, and Baseball. We won't say who won, but I *will* say that I like to quit when I'm ahead, so I don't think I'll ever play Wii again (smile).

Thanks to Chris & Denise for being GREAT hosts - as always - and thanks to YOU for visiting us here. We've had visits to this Blog now from Italy and Chile - in addition to the US visitors - so "Hi" to everyone!

Off to Nashville!

Pic- Tures!

OK. Pictures:

First: *I* hadn't realized that if you click on any of the pictures here, you'll get the full-size version, so don't squint: just click and see the whole thing.

Now: The Marietta Diner - in Marietta, GA: suject of "Diners, Drive-In's and Dives" on the Food Network:

Our first stop: our Friends' "little cabin in the woods":


And the view *from* our friends' "little cabin in the woods":

4 States so far

Hi, all,

The AirCard worked fine in the van while we drove, but we didn't "Blog" in the car - and our first stop was isolated enough that the AirCard did NOT work, so we're a couple of days behind.
Thursday morning we got onto the road at 7:20AM and headed up I95 and on to I75. Everything went just fine, floating along. Our friends had told us that as long as we just *stay* in the carpool lane, we can float right thru Atlanta - including the exit to stay on I75: there's a spot where it looks like you must exit right to just *stay on* I75, but we confirmed that the carpool lane *does* wind thru and keep us on I75: just have faith and stay there and "whoosh", you're thru.
We *did* find that gas was tough to find in the Atlanta area - with stations being out of gas and prices topping $4.20 a gallon in places, but Kathy's sharp eyes picked out a Wal-Mart which had nothing but Regular - at $3.86/gallon and we filled up and think we now have enough to get us all the way up into Illinois. Keep our fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, we *did* get to stop at our first "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" on the way up: the Marietta Diner was featured for it's huge menu and creative, substantial Greek food - and it was RIGHT off I75 - very convenient. We pulled in about 3PM and took about 15 minutes to read the menu (even though we had read the menu online while driving): it is extensive and interesting. We were quite pleased: a spinach appetizer was complimentary, then Kathy had a red-snapper dish and I had a shrimp, scallop, artichoke, and mushroom entree that were both quite tasty. And we finished up with Balkava and Rice Pudding: both were enormous and quite good! All told, we had a great meal for $45 including tip. VERY satisfying and recommended.
Back onto the road and up to our friends' house on top of a mountain in Georgia. Laid back, enjoying the view, the hot tub, the 12' deck around the house - and the view of the stars.
Our daughter Kelly had insisted that we take her *good* camera with us. I resisted, thinking that it couldn't be that important to have a *good* camera. But after using her camera for 2 days, I'm convinced: it is *wonderful* to have a totally-automatic camera which focusses well, lights well, and doesn't do a "nuclear flash". THANK you, Kelly, and we'll try to keep taking pretty pictures to send back to you.

Friday. Slept REALLY well because it was COLD (64 degrees) and I sleep much better under a lot of blankets. Talked and visited. Went out for Mexican lunch. Talked and visited. Had Bison burgers for dinner (grilled there on their deck). WONDERFUL!

Then watched the Presidential Debate - and off to bed! A really-nice beginning to our retirement/vacation.

ANnnd Saturday. Up, pack, have pancakes for breakfast, then on the road. We've now gone from Florida to Georgia - then pass thru North Carolina (just a tiny bit) before running into Tennessee to our next set of friends. 4 States. A great State of Mind. I am Happy!

Thanks for your comments! I'll try to get some photos posted.

A new name! "RVan'ing"

Our friend Sandi suggested a cute name for our "mode of travel" - so I hereby announce that we will be:

RVan'ing - not "RVing", really, but "RVan".

But does that mean that we'll be able to pick up "RVanna" to point out "points of interest to us" as we travel along?

Can we pronounce it like "Our Van"? Or "Our Gang"?

Or since we've got a lot of Irish in the family, do we get "R Kelly" involved? So many questions!

Thanks for the brainstorm, Sandi!

8... 7.... 6....

Wow. Almost "blast-off"!

Kathy worked all day (actually, she is *still* at work) - a LONG day with Hallmark, bless her. I had a quiet day just finishing up more "little things": get cash at the ATM (sure, we'll be able to get money as we go, but we need *some* to start with), get more DVD folders (when we started packing up the music, videos, photos, etc, that we want to take with us - they fit SO much more nicely in 24-disk folders than in individual "jewel cases" - and we're finding that we want to take a LOT of them with us), print out maps and directions (sure, we'll have the laptops, but paper is still the quickest thing to pull out and refer to), and picking up Missy from the vet. She seems fine, but she's "punishing" me for "sending her away" yesterday - and is keeping her distance - except that I cheated and put a blanket on my lap - and pulled out an ENTIRE piece of ham - and gave her the whole thing - strip by strip - since she was *hungry*. With that "peace offering" she sat on my lap for awhile and we're OK. Except that this evening we'll take her over to Kelly & Glenn's and drop her off and not see her for 2 months. Big sigh. I hope she still remembers me when I get back - and thanks to Kelly & Glenn for agreeing to have *3* cats while we're gone.

Meanwhile, Kelly has suggested that I take *her* really-nice camera on our trip. It does a WAY better job of multi-point focussing and quicker start-up and is 10 megapixel - so she wants us to take lots of pretty, high-res photos to share with her - and is willing to sacrifice her really-good camera - for 2 months - to get them. So I'll gingerly accept and try to do justice to her camera.

Let's see. We also heard from our friends in Nashville - that there's a gasoline shortage there - but we hope for it to be cleared by the time we get there.

And. We'll just have to stay loose and be ready to re-plan when things don't fit what I currently envision.

I am *really* excited about this. Sometime in the morning - we'll board "Van Monroe" and head North. Wow.

Toosday

Wow! How full one's days can be when one is busy!

Started the day by taking Missy, our cat, to the vet - to have her front claws removed. The vet was really nice and gentle and made me feel comfortable leaving her there - and off I went to my "last day at work" - again. I spent the morning deleting emails and files from the last 10 weeks - and collecting up what I needed to "deliver" and documenting it. Then I had lunch with the guys I used to work with - both long ago and for the last 10 weeks, got a phone call while at Wendy's - telling me that Missy was fine and awake and that I should plan on collecting her tomorrow - and then I finished lunch, said goodbye to my co-workers again - and walked out the door. Retired - again.

Got home and found Kathy busily packing. We've both discovered that it feels like there's not a lot that has to get done - but as we keep picking off "that one last thing" - 2 more always come to mind, so we just make a point to keep knocking them off - and we *do* seem to be making progress. I finally faced actually *packing*. Kathy has already done all of the "common" stuff - literally already had it packed *into the van* as of this last weekend (so we could see how it "rides") - but I needed to pack my clothes. I was rather surprised that just 10 copies of my clothes - fill my suitcase: 10 pairs of sox (actually, I discovered that I don't OWN 10 pairs of sox - after throwing out the holey ones!), 10 T-shirts, etc. But I got them into my suitcase, then looked around thinking that surely there must be other things to pack - but Kathy pretty-much had all of the "camera, GPS unit, books-on-tape, DVD's, towels, camp chairs, etc etc" packed. So I was suddenly "done". Gee!

Kathy went off to work - one final big project with Hallmark - and I sat down to enjoy myself. Except that I realized that I really needed to book a *room* for the Albuquerque Balloon Festival - so we'd be sure to have one. Amazing just how difficult that is - given all of the technology to help me. At one point, I had separate windows up comparing the best that Hotwire, Expedia, and Hotels.com had offered - AND I had "Streets & Trips" up to help me figure out where the offered-hotels *were* - and with all of that going on, I got an email directly from Orbitz - offering me a 20% discount. On Hotel rooms. If I booked within the next week. Uhhh... really - is somebody watching what I do on the net and sending me "real-time coupons"? I actually think that *is* possible. So I fired up Orbitz, found a hotel I rather liked, and applied the coupon. BANG! Saved $54 on the 3-nite stay!! And even though "Hotwire.com" had the overall lowest price, it is an absolutely no-cancellation, no-change, no-refund deal and I'm nervous enough about our schedule getting shifted - that I wouldn't do that. Hotels.com had a good deal, but wouldn't TELL me what their cancellation policy was. So I booked Orbitz. It's only a $25 fee if we cancel before the day we're supposed to arrive, and I thot that was fair enough.

But that took me - I am embarassed to say - ***3 hours*** to book one hotel. Granted, I was trying to pick something for a Festival time - so the choices were limited, prices jacked up - and I was trying to trade off "just how close to the Balloon Festival grounds should we be?" vs "Is $135/nite really OK for a 2-star hotel - if it's close?" Anyway, at least I *am* satisfied with the final choice.

So I began to look at hotels for Yosemite, but just decided that I'm not strong enough for that tonite: the only reasonably-priced "hotel" *in* the park (at this late booking date) - is for a tent. Literally for a tent. For $40/nite. No heat. No plumbing. When I get more energy, I'll go look at the surrounding area - like Groveland - which looked like I might get reasonable rates by staying 20 miles outside of the park.

So. Life is good. I've been making calls and emails to the people we intend to visit first and they're all OK with our "hopeful" schedule, so "so far so good". I *was* warned by our Nashville friends that 80% of the gas stations in their area - have no gas (EEP!), but we're hopeful that that will have eased by Monday when we expect to be there (OOPS! There I go "expecting" something of our schedule! BAD BAD!!).

This is really amazingly wonderful - to have this next chapter of our lives - just *happening*!

Sudden Developments

Well! Monday certainly brought news!

I walked up to the office door at work and there was a sign: "Air Conditioning Out for Whole Building". OK. Entered the office and was informed that: 1) Since the office building was having air-conditioning problems, that we really couldn't run any computers (since they need to be cooled) - so I really couldn't work in the office today. and 2) That my contract had been completed and they were happy with my work, but that they were "done" with me - for this round - so I'm officially retired. Again. Woo Hoo!

So. I left the office and began all of the many tiny details to actually GO on our trip. Kathy agreed that Thursday, 9/25 is our target since she's working thru Wednesday.

And meanwhile, Kathy had looked at our intended route and decided that we should try to include the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That means that we have to be in a specific place at a specific time: not just amble along. So! I worked thru the stops and schedules and came up with a "loop" that is supposed to accommodate. Yeah, I know "NEVER plan" - but here I am planning. See the new attached map and stop list below. I also eliminated "Tahoe" - since it seems to be "scenery" and "winter sports" and we're already doing enough scenery - and we're not "winter anything" kinds of people. I also added Tampa onto our stops - just before we get home - since when I really calculated everything out - we aren't likely to get home until Nov 17 - and we have tickets to see "So You Think You Can Dance" - on tour - on their last stop. Here's the new map and new "Stop" list targets (things change fast, huh?).

1) Home
2) Fake stop to make "Streets & Trips" go the right way (smile) - and, by the way, a note of a Diner in Marietta, GA which was featured in the "Food Network" program: "Diner's, Drive-in's and Dive's". It's RIGHT on our way, and we'll be trying to hit a few other places - in Kansas City, Wichita, and New Mexico - if they fit into our schedule when it becomes real.
3) Friends outside Blairsville, GA
4) Friends outside Ocoee, TN
5) Friends in Nashville
6) Check out where I lived in 3rd Grade: Martel Ridge outside Wentzville, MO
7) My Brother, Manhattan, KS
8) My Mom, Kingman, KS
9) Mesa Verde
10) Monument Valley: Click HEREto see Monument Valley
11) Grand Canyon
12) Painted Desert/Petrified Forest
13) Albuquerque - hopefully just in time for the Balloon Festival
14) Santa Fe
15) Arches National Park: Click HEREto see Arches National Park
16) Bryce Canyon: Click HEREto see some of Bryce Canyon's views
17) Las Vegas
18) Yosemite
19) Friends in Napa (Wine Tours! and perhaps San Francisco)
20) San Jose
21,22) Pacific-Coast Highway - Southbound
23) Knott's Berry Farm (Roller Coasters)
24) Disneyland/California Experience
25) Laguna Beach
26) Tijuana
27) Resort close to the Mexican Border
28) Carlsbad Caverns
29) Other Brother's Arkansas Wine Tour
30) Destin/Panhandle, Florida
31) Tampa for the Tour Stop
32) Back Home


So! After getting the route re-arranged, I got a call letting us know that we *finally* managed to arrange for individual Health Insurance at a reasonable rate. That means that we can dump our expensive "COBRA" coverage. That is huge for us and is a battle we've been fighting for months now - so it is a huge load off our minds - just in time for us to run off on our trip.

AND we managed to arrange good care for our cat, Missy. We'd worried about just what to do with her - since we were going to be gone so long - and our daughter volunteered to keep her with *her* 2 cats. I decided that Missy really didn't need her claws anymore - and she's been scratching up the house - so I called to inquire about having them removed - and was told that nothing was available before we left, but they'd ask and call back. 15 minutes later, we were scheduled to take Missy in - tomorrow - and get her front claws taken out so that she'll fit in better with daughter's 2 de-clawed cats. Things just seem to be falling into place today.

So we bought a lottery ticket and we continue to pack. All we've got to do now is finish packing, fill out our absentee ballots (which arrived on Saturday - good timing - so we'll get to vote in the upcoming election - even though we'll be somewhere in Mexico for Election Day) - and get ready to GO! Woo. HOOO!

Feel free to add your comments here: it *is* a Blog!

Anticipation

Well HEEERE we GOooooO!

OK... almost.

We've been anticipating a cross-country driving trip for a few months now - to be done when I retired in July. But then I got "un-retired" with a consulting job and I've been happily consulting and collecting the pay for that - and waiting until the job is finished - and THAT has been stretching out awhile, so we've been "going to leave" for a few weeks already - but are still home. But we think that we're really, truly, about to get on the road - with the route as shown on the map. I've been reading "Live Your Road Trip Dream" - a book about RVing around the US - and they had a section on "When To Plan Ahead".

It had one line:

"NEVER plan ahead".

Meaning: when one is going on an extended driving trip - any planning you do - will have to be changed when something happens - so don't even TRY to project WHEN you're going to be "at Mom's house". So I'm trying to leave some of my OCD tendencies behind and just figure out generally *where* we think we want to go - and leaving the rest to "on the road" decisions.

We'll be in our Mini-Van named "Van Monroe" (after the singer in the 20's) and the intent is to drive from Melbourne, FL - to California - and back. The current route is shown on the map, but changes daily as we add, subtract, and re-arrange stops. We're specifically *not* planning a schedule - so that we can be flexible. We've got Microsoft "Streets & Trips" which lets us put in desired stops - either by address - or it knows all of the biggies like "Grand Canyon" - and then I just ask *it* to tell us what order to see them in - to get the optimized route - and gives us directions. The map below is from "Streets & Trips". We've also got "Leila" - our Garmin GPS unit - which will tell us where we are - and tell us where to turn - at any point, and I've acquired an "AirCard" for the laptops so we think we'll be able even be online while we drive - and use the various websites (AAA, Expedia, Travelocity) to pick out lodging and eating needs - as we need them. The intent is to post photos and reports as we drive along - with the target start date of Sept 27 (or 28... or maybe 26).

Ride along with us - and for now, we'd enjoy hearing your suggestions for other things to see or do - or suggestions about the ones we already have planned.

Current stops are:

1) Home

2) Fake stop to make "Streets & Trips" go the right way (smile)

3) Friends outside Blairsville, GA

4) Friends outside Ocoee, TN

5) Friends in Nashville

6) My Brother, Manhattan, KS

7) My Mom, Kingman, KS

8) Mesa Verde

9) Monument Valley: Click HERE to see Monument Valley

10) Arches National Park: Click HERE to see Arches National Park

11) Bryce Canyon: Click HERE to see some of Bryce Canyon's views

12) Las Vegas

13) Yosemite

14) Tahoe

15) Friends in Napa (Wine Tours!)

16) San Jose

17,18) Pacific-Coast Highway - Southbound

19) Knott's Berry Farm (Roller Coasters)

20) Disneyland/California Experience

21) Laguna Beach

22) Tijuana

23) Grand Canyon

24) Painted Desert/Petrified Forest

25) Albuquerque

26) Santa Fe

27) Carlsbad Caverns

28) Other Brother's Arkansas Wine Tour

29) Destin/Panhandle, Florida

29) Back Home