Home. For Now.

November 18, 2008 - Tuesday

Sunny morning. Warmer than we expected it would be - since we're having a cold snap in Florida. Packed and into Monroe - with a quick stop at McDonald's for some coffee, then glide up I-4 and around Orlando's Greenway to the Beach Line - and down familiar I-95.

We've started a list of places we'll go on our NEXT trip - whenever that may be: we're not at all "road-weary" and not tired of each others' company.

We decided to stop for lunch before we got home - only about 100 yards from home - partially to try "Squid Lips" again (good, creative food, but STILL rather pricey - even for lunch!) - and partially to kind of prove to ourselves that we really were *not* anxious to pull into the driveway and call it "done".

But after lunch, we *did* pull around the corner and into the driveway and began to unpack. Everything is fine. My car started first-time-out after sitting for 2 months. I *did* have to find somewhere to inflate the tires (and the first 4 places I tried either had someone sitting in front of the Air pump - or the pump was broken or whatever) but I got the job done while Kathy unpacked. We had dinner with Kelly & Glenn - to catch up, talk, pick up our US Mail, and collect our little brat cat "Missy" - and bring her home, too.

We're home. It's been really great and we *do* intend to do this again.

Here is the final, updated map:

It has been a wonderful experience - visiting family, friends, and landmarks - and bonding with *each other* again. And it has absolutely been a confirmation that Early Retirement is

"A Lifestyle, not a Vacation" -

as the Kaderli's of "Retire Early Lifestyle" say. I didn't understand really what that meant until I retired and could look at life as *life* rather than looking at my *job* as my life - living 50 weeks per year just so I could pay for a rushed, mad scramble in the other 2 weeks - to do what I really wanted to do. We have been living the last 55 days "on an annual pass" rather than on a "day pass": we had plenty of TIME to do things so we didn't need to try to cram everything into those fleeting few vacation days. It's a whole different attitude that helps us realize that there are many things we really don't need - and many others that we *can* afford - if we prioritize to get *them* instead of what we thought we wanted - until we slowed down enough to really look at what we were spending our money and our precious *time* on. We only have so much time. Each of us.

We didn't "miss our lives" while doing this: this *is* living. We also enjoyed *not* being up on "the news" - even thru the Presidential Election. Most of what is in "the news" - really doesn't matter at all - one week later. It is freeing to just ignore "The Press".

And I'm very-pleased that we didn't let the outrageous gas prices change our plans. When we left home, we paid $4.11 per gallon to fill the tank - and were concerned about being irresponsible about setting off on a venture based on gasoline. By the time we got back home, that crisis had subsided again and we did our final fill-up for $1.97 per gallon. My point is that this world is in rapid flux: don't let a momentary, seemingly-important "world event" set the course of your life.

Some statistics:

10,785 miles as recorded by "Leila". We averaged just over 22 MPG, so that implies 488 gallons of gas.

55 Days - almost 8 weeks.

18 unique States (we entered and left a few multiple times): Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama - and back to Florida.

6 "Books on CD"

3218 Photos (that's only counting the ones we're *keeping* - as opposed to the ones we just deleted off the digital cameras). Wanna come over and see our "Vacation Slides"?

I *do* still intend to post accounts of Zion, Vegas, Yosemite, Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose, so do keep checking back.

But for now: thanks for riding along with us and "Welcome Home!"

Tampa and "So You Think You Can Dance"

November 17, 2008 - Monday - Tampa

Well this was another "stake in the ground" - like the Albuquerque Balloon Festival: we needed to be in Tampa - at 7:30 PM on Nov 17 - since we had gotten tickets to the National Tour of "So You Think You Can Dance" - way back before we even planned this trip.

So I had been obsessing over getting TO Tampa so that we would know that we could make it to the show - so we loaded Monroe and headed East on I-10 for only about 10 miles before taking "Leila's" lead and heading *South* on US-19. Again, a more rural route, but most of it was 70 MPH, 4-lane road - just punctuated with the small towns of Gulf-coast Florida. Quite charming, actually, the "Old Florida" look before Disney and Interstate Highways.

And we popped in the last CD's of the Gothic Romance we had started - and just cruised down the sunlit roadways of Florida - while hearing about "Carrow" and "Michael" in Victorian England and their mystery and romance. Actually quite engaging and it sure helps the miles fly by.

We arrived at our LaQuinta across the street from Busch Gardens - by 1PM - and got to watch the "She-Kra" ride plunge straight down - over and over - from our hotel. We had a few hours before we needed to head the 8 miles to the "St Petersburg Times Forum" for the show, and I really did intend to spend some serious time Blogging - but a long day before and time changes and self-induced stress (we NEED to get to TAMPA!!!) - wore me out and we just laid down on the bed - and wound up napping the afternoon away. That was all very-good anyway, since it meant that we were awake for the show.

We got dressed up and followed Leila's directions downtown - and Tampa is another city where you *NEED* a GPS to even find your way around downtown: one-way streets, multiple lanes which *all* separate in different directions simultaneously without warning (so you'd BETTER be in the correct lane!) and such, but we got near the Forum - and just pulled into one of the many parking lots nearby, paid our $5 and walked the other 3 blocks.

And it felt really good. Me and my Life-Mate dolled up and walking arm-in-arm to a show. Felt like a million bux.

God Bless Kathy that she isn't fussy and settled for choking down a hotdog in the Forum (for "only" $21 for 2 dogs and 2 drinks!!) before heading up the escalator to our nose-bleed seats. Yeah. That's all that had been available by the time I went to get tickets - 2 days after they went on sale. Wayyyy up in the back - in the top.

Ultimately the place was *not* full and we were pretty-much as far up and back as anybody, but we had brought the binoculars we had bought all the way back in Kansas - at the garage sale - and they proved to be crucial: we really couldn't *SEE* without them, so we handed them back and forth thru the show. That's one thing about *dancing*: you really have to SEE the show - as opposed to music where you *can* miss seeing - as long as you can *hear*.

Kathy was silently very understanding - always handing me the binoculars when Courtney Galiano came onstage - and I handed them back when the guys were doing shirtless numbers (though Kathy didn't *ask* for the binoculars for that).

The show was good. 3 hours long and they did a lot of the favorite dances from the show. And they evoked the same *emotional* response they had on the show. I can't explain why the couples dances are so powerful, but the coreography and dancing just grab me - and they did. The Argentine Tango. The Frankenstein routine. The briefcase dance. And on. All the different styles from Hip-hop to Contemporary to Viennese Waltz to "Baliwood". Great stuff.

There were some disappointments: that we were so far away - and that "Twitch" - one of the favorite male dancers - had hurt himself the nite before so couldn't dance for us, but it was extra-special in that this *was* their *LAST* performance on this tour - probably the last time that this group of young men and women would *ever* be together this way. I was also concerned that after doing this tour for the last 3 months -that they'd be stale, but it was just as energetic and fresh as the first time they had performed these numbers on TV.

A good show. A great evening with my wife.
A short walk back to find "Monroe" and thread our way back thru Tampa to our hotel.

Except that I was hungry so at 11PM, Kathy found a Denny's and she had a hot-fudge brownie sundae while I had *both* an apple-carmel-ice-cream desert AND a piece of pumpkin pie. Mmmmmmmm.

Then to bed.

10,645 Miles and "almost home" - but stretching it out. :)

Sunshine, Gambling, Jets, Beach Sunsets, and HOME (kind of)

November 16, 2008 - Sunday - on the road

Today was to be a "drive like crazy to get to Tampa" day, but it didn't turn out to be *only* that. It was QUITE the full day.

We awoke to cold but SUNNY! OH! How nice to have SUN! Whoopie! I just feel so much happier when there is SUN - and we'd been overcast for nearly a week. We skipped the *2* Waffle Houses near the hotel (in favor of the "included" breakfast *at* the hotel), then drove down to the waterfront in Biloxi, MS:
where the Casino's have been *re*built there. Hurricane Katrina really tore everything up when she came thru, but the area is thriving again.

We drove the length of the waterfront just to get the "lay" - and enjoyed the morning sun on the Gulf water:

and we admired the carved trees which have adorned the road median: much in the style and spirit of my step-father Glenn's carvings:

We parked in the MGM's "Beau Rivage" and strolled in.
We had read reviews which indicated that if you weren't a SERIOUS gambler, then they weren't interested in you - and, well, we kind of got that feel - the same as the MGM in Las Vegas. I was surprised to confirm that at 10AM on a Sunday morning - that the low-end tables were set to $10 minimums! ACK! Too rich for our blood. We tried a couple of the "Wheel of Fortune" slots - and didn't get so much as a single payoff for our money. Phooey! Back to "Monroe" and over to the Hard Rock instead.

What a difference in "feel". There's a marina there with a nice view of the fishing boats and the gulf:
Then we strolled in past the usual "Planet Hollywood" decorations: memorabilia from music figures: Billy Joel to "Kiss". And the Eagles (smile).

It was pretty quiet on a Sunday morning and we wound up standing near the row of table games - and a routlette wheel which was vacant. I started looking at the wheel and the attendant was very friendly and started showing us the features and telling us some history.

Features: Technology has just gotten *entirely* out of control. The Roulette table is mostly automated. The dealer "throws" the ball in the wheel, but the table itself notes what number the marble falls into - and posts it to a running-display so you can see what has come up recently. OK. All of that is "typical" for casino's these days. But this table took it further. The table itself is back-lit and knows what sections have won: the area where you lay your bets actually *lights up* the spots which have won: indiviual number, red/black, odd/even, 1st/2nd/3rd 12, etc, all of the ways to win. So once the ball drops, anything which isn't *LIT* - is a loser and is scooped off into the chip sorter. Yes. An automatic chip sorter. Each person at a Roulette table has their own-color chips so bets can be kept straight. It used to be that the dealer had to sort out all of the chips - but now he just scoops them all into an automated sorter which uses video sensing to separate by color - and stack the chips up to be used again.

Now. Far from making the dealer lazy, it gave him time to TALK to us and tell us that where we were standing - was under 5 FEET of water - during Hurricane Katrina. On the 3rd floor. The Hard Rock had been set to open *2 days* after Katrina: everything was ready, but the whole place had to be trashed, cleaned up, and rebuilt. But they're there and open now. Also, he directed us to some "Elvis" memorabilia including a uniform used in one of his movies. Katrina had blown the whole thing out into the Gulf - presumably lost. But someone found it, returned it, and it was restored - and on display again in the "High Limit" slot area. REALLY cool.

We thanked the dealer for his time - then circulated thru the casino and played a couple more "Wheel of Fortune" slots (OK... we play *those* because we like the game and because they are "Progressive" slots which could potentially pay us a million bux for one spin: might as well have the *chance* to win *BIG*!) We didn't win - but at least we had the possibility.

Anyway, we worked our way back around to the roulette table and decided to give it a whirl - though Roulette usually isn't our game, but we'd called Chris & Denise the nite before to ask for recommendations on Casinos there - and Denise always plays 17 on roulette. So we did.

The table was a $10 minimum - but we were just going for one spin - so I put the whole $10 on 17 - and Kathy scattered 10 more $1 bets around the table - including Kelly's birthday of 12 and 15.

Kathy has NOT been having good gambling luck on this trip (yeah, I know, I STILL haven't written up our time in Vegas, but Craps were good to me - and Kathy just never had any luck at all).

But 15 came up - and paid Kathy $35 for the $1 that was on 15 - so we actually cashed out and walked away "up" on Roulette - and Kathy felt like a winner. It really *is* a much-better feeling to win than to lose. :)

So! We strolled back to "Monroe" feeling like winners, and headed East on I-10 - rolling thru the rest of Mississippi - and into Alabama - our 18th (and final) *different* state for this trip. Yeah. 18 States. Pretty cool.

We passed the Battleship Alabama - outside Mobile. We didn't stop, but we saw it from I-10 - and I was surprised at how *small* it looked - relative to the aircraft carriers I've gotten used to.
I-10 traverses some low-lying swamp/inlet areas so has some impressively-long causeways - just elevated roadways - going for *miles* over the water and marshes. Quite pretty.

And finally at 12:30 - in bright sunshine - after 52 days on the road - we re-entered Florida - "The Sunshine State". COLD for Florida: 56 degrees, but I choked up a bit as we entered - finally being back "almost home".

I said "We're HOME" - and Kathy just said: "Darn!"

We've been *so* enjoying this whole trip and experience that she didn't want it to end. I suppose she's also never been as fond of Florida as I am, either. But back in Florida we are.

Kathy got out her laptop and fired up the Aircard and started looking at attractions ahead of us - and we decided that the National Naval Air Museum at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola - was just too good to pass up. It's the home of the "Blue Angels".

So we exited at Pensacola, and I immediately steered us to a "Waffle House" there and FINALLY got my "Waffle House" "fix" for lunch, and found a really-cool "tricycle" in the parking lot as we were leaving:

Then we followed "Leila"'s directions to the Museum.

And wound up at a dead-end into a barbed-wire official-looking fence. Oh. Apparently, the traffic flow to the Naval Air Station has been changed a bit and nobody told "Leila" yet.

We just backed up our directions a bit and got back to "Blue Angel Parkway" (which seemed to be a likely way to get to the Museum - considering) - and found the entrance.
The guards were quite polite and confirmed that *lots* of people end up at the dead end. And also confirmed that our luck has gotten rusty: the Blue Angels just had their huge annual Homecoming celebration and show (when they come *back* to Pensacola after touring the world) - *yesterday* (and the day before). We JUST missed it. But, we were told, we also missed "about a billion people" - so there are advantages. So we drove on in and found the National Museum of Naval Avaition.
Really cool, huge place. Kathy had read up online and knew that we wanted to hit the IMAX movie and motion simulator right away - so we hustled in, bot tickets, and were seated in the IMAX theatre just as the movie started - about being a Fighter Pilot. Beautiful, moving, detailed coverage of a training exercise outside of Las Vegas - and a reminder of the amazing skills and dedication of those who serve and protect the rest of us. Moving. Perhaps strongly for me because of my weak stomach: there's just no way I could *ride* in a Fighter - let alone keep my wits about me enough to *fly* one. I salute, thank, and admire you pilots out there.

Out to the "motion simulator" to pretend to be in one of the Blue Angels jets as they did maneuvers... not really something you haven't seen in any motion simulator.

But then out into the main museum area where they have GOBS of planes hung up and on display.
I knew that we were pressed for time, and I said to Kathy that I felt like we were in the Louvre with only 2 hours to see everything. Cool, educational, and amazing and I *do* wish I could have done it with my Dad - who could have told me what I was looking at - though I *did* recognize many of the important planes on my own - like the Catalina flying boat (I do believe that Jimmy Buffet owns one of them personally and Dad and I saw *6* of them flying at the "Sun N Fun" Festival a couple of years ago), a Ford Tri-motor (of "Indiana Jones" movies fame - among others):
and the Blue Angels Jets.
And some I'd never seen before like this "NC-4" which was the first plane to cross the Atlantic:

We really *had* to get on down the road (to get to Tampa in time for the show tomorrow nite), so we quickly got a couple of pictures of me sitting in some static displays:
And then we piled back into "Monroe" and RAN for Tampa.

OK. No. We didn't.

Kathy had read that US98 was a pretty drive - down the Gulf Coast - rather than just going back to I-10 - so we cruised down US98 - enjoying the scenery - including the sunset while we were on a long bridge (don't forget that you can click on any photo and get a big version to admire):
Just Beautiful!
Sooo we decided to "push it" more and drove over the bridge to Pensacola Beach - paying the $1 toll for the privilege.

Annnd I was worrying about getting far enough down the road, so was getting less inclined to "stop and feel the sand between our toes" - but, without coaxing, I *did* find a place to pull off and we walked out onto the *gorgeous* white-powder-sand beach
and watched the colors of the sky as the sun sank lower - and dabbled our fingers in the Gulf waters: Atlantic to Pacific - to Gulf

AND found the broken remains of GOBS of sand dollars.

Then back up the incredible white powder - like snow - to "Monroe" - to drive on East across the coast.
We ultimately just parked and watched the sky keep deepening the colors - while staying warm in the car - with classic Rock on the radio. Ummm... really magical!
and the end to a really-great day. Together.

Except that it wasn't over yet. :)

We headed on down the road - only to find that it was washed out and didn't *exist* much past that last photo. We had to turn around and backtrack - and finally just head for I-10 and *drive* to get a few more hours behind us.

Kathy got online again and found a hotel just past Tallahassee and booked that, then we stopped for a salad-bar dinner at a Ruby Tuesday's - and drove thru the final time change (finally back in *Eastern* timezone - and making us seem to be an hour even *later* than we seemed) - and pulled into the hotel at about 11PM.

Quite a day. Quite a trip. And we're not home *yet*.

10,400 Miles - and Monroe has been making a "grinding" sound after a few hours at high speed. Hmmmm...

Driving thru Graceland, Overcast, Biloxi

November 15, 2008 - Saturday

Big day of driving. Ozark, Arkansas - to Biloxi, MS. Biloxi? Where did Biloxi come from?

We checked out of the Lamplighter B&B in Ozark, then had breakfast with Fred & Jo at the Ozark Diner (thanks for picking up the tab - again, Fred), then said goodbye and got on the road by 9:37 - heading across I-40. Fred had overrulled both "Leila" and "Streets & Trips" - nixing both a route thru Birmingham AND a route thru Chattanooga - saying that it would be quicker to head straight south from Memphis to link up with I-10. So we headed down I-40 to Little Rock (again) - then over to Memphis - and actually went *right* by the exit to Graceland - but decided that we didn't have time to visit Elvis - and headed on down I-55 in the overcast.

I am getting really tired of overcast. I NEED to see some sun - but not today.

We got a bit of excitement when we tried to get online with the Aircard to book the hotel for the night. Kathy figured out that we could stop in Biloxi, MS, a city we've been hearing about as a resort community for awhile - so pulled out the Aircard to find a hotel. Uhhh... Aircard tells us that our password is blocked. Uhhh... why??? So she found a phone number, we called, and found out that Sprint had *mailed* our bill - and hadn't bothered to *email* anything to let me know that since we hadn't paid - that they shut off our service. Hmmm... So they asked how soon we could make a payment. I told the very-professional and helpful person (not being sarcastic at all, the Sprint representative was VERY helpful) that as soon as they turned on the service we could get online and use our banking website to pay them. So... as I was completing the sentence, Sprint turned the service on again. Ummm... thanks. We made the payment, Kathy made a reservation, and on we went. Cool!

No real problems - just let Leila lead Monroe and we pulled up to the Quality Inn in Biloxi at 7:30PM. 629 miles in one day! We intended to just unload, then go back out for dinner and some casino-ing, but there was a big, 2-person jacuzzi tub *in* our room, sooo welll... we never left the room and that's also why this post is a day late: never unpacked the computer - even though there were Waffle Houses on *both* sides of our hotel (yes, I've been really missing "Waffle House" since we got West of Texas: NO "Waffle Houses" out there - so I've been anxious for a "Waffle House" fix).

Good times. Good times *together*.

And we passed quite a milestone today: A total of (ta-da!): 10,004 miles as of today. Thanks for "riding along with us".

Wining, Whining, BBQ, slop, and Shuttle Launches

November 14, 2008 - Friday - Ozark, AR

Another reminder that you can click on any picture - and get a bigger version of it. Then just use your "Back" button to get back to here.

Wine-tour day. Up at 8AM (early for me) to get downstairs in our "Lamplighter" B&B and socialize for Breakfast (blueberry pancakes (!), eggs, bacon, strawberries and grapefruit - wunnerful), then I managed to collect one of the 2 sweet cats who live here, grab a seat by the front door, and sit and "cat" for a good 20 minutes. Ahhhh... I NEEDED that! "Full contact sport" here - purring, rubbing, and everything. Nothing else like it!

Everybody pack into the cars and head off to the first winery of the day. They've been here in Arkansas for over 100 years - founded by a Swiss immigrant and running ever since. They currently have over 32 different types of grapes being grown here.

This is the place where we had dinner last nite and the facilities are quite extensive - as we saw in our tasting:

and tour:
The tour was quite interesting - talking about the evolution of wine-making and bottling
over the last 100 years - with some recent changes being rather significant (moving away from natural cork - toward synthetic cork - or twist caps - or even boxes - with the advantage that you don't need to keep wine inverted since the point was to keep the cork wet - and synthetic or screw-caps don't need to be kept wet).

Interesting stuff and we walked out with a case of wine - 'cause there were at least 2 that Kathy found particularly tasty!

Then to lunch. We piled into the "Rivertown BBQ" in downtown Ozark, and MAN that was great eating. Sorry, I didn't think to take photos, but the food and prices and atmosphere were just *great*. I had a pulled-pork sandwich and they let me choose *apple cobbler* for my *side* dish. Ohhhh... MAN! Both were amazing! But that's just a beginning. I noticed a menu item named "Slop". Yes. "Slop". Rice, Red Beans, cheese, pulled pork, and BBQ sauce in a bowl (if I remember correctly). My brother Fred decided to try it - and pronounced it excellent. THEN we noticed "Creamed Possum with Coon Fat Gravy" - and we asked if that was a real offering - and were assured that it was. Cute. And cool, but nobody had a hankering for Creamed Possum. But a few others did try the "Rib lunch" and got ribs with more meat than I'd ever seen on a rib - plus creative baked beans and potato salad - more than anybody could eat - for something like $6. A *great* place to eat. Thanks for picking up the tab, Dad - and thanks, Fred, for letting somebody else finally pick up *a* tab: Fred has been grabbing checks for our whole visit, bless him.

We waddled out to the car, spent some time browsing an Antique store across the street, then headed out to Winery #2 of the day:

Note that it, too, has been around for well over 100 years! And note the beautiful leaves. We're told that the leaves "peaked" about a week ago, but they are still beautiful.

We enjoyed our 2nd "tasting":

annnd walked out with *another* case of wine. They had some really-different offerings in addition to some very-good "traditional" ones.

And we got a "photo op" outside where I plopped my hat on Dad's head:
So. On to winery #3 - which we had passed on the way to lunch. I had been thinking about the name for awhile before it hit me. See if you "get it":
Clearly, it is a sophisticated French name - which, translated, means "Home at the Arc" - referring to the "Big Bend Arc" in the Arkansas River - here in Ozark. So it's classy and sophisticated and is kind of cute at the same time: "The Arc of the Ark".

But if you know French, then pronounce it. "Aux" is pronounced "O's".

So if you say it out loud it comes out: "Chateau O's Arc".... "Chateau Ozark".

Now *that* is clever! Sophisticated Hillbilly! I was really impressed.

Another tasting. Another couple of bottles of wine making it to the car. They also have a "Wineaux" list to keep you informed of doings. That is pronounced "Winoes".

So. Back to Aaron's house to help him get packed to head off to Pratt, KS, to go Pheasant hunting - then eating "Pickles Gap" Fudge and watching the Shuttle Launch (always exciting even though we live 40 miles from the Space Center) - then back to the Lamplighter B&B. Bless Carol at the Lamplighter, she brought one of the cats up to us so we could properly cuddle tonite (at our request). A great place to stay.

9375 Miles and we're done for the day.

Except that I really MUST correct a heinous omission from yesterday. Whitney has joined our circle of friends - being a friend of Aaron's. She's dog-sitting for him this weekend and seems quite sweet. She was also the one who *took* the group photo for us last night. She *begged* me to include a photo of her here because she *loves* to have her picture taken (big smile), but I forgot to include her photo yesterday, so here it is. Hi, Whitney - and please DO forgive me if I've spelled your name wrong. :)

Toad Suck, Pickles Gap, Booger Hollow, Paris, and London

November 13, 2008 - Thursday - Arkansas


More family time - and time seeing the fun places in Arkansas. We loaded up "Monroe" and headed to Conway to have lunch with my niece, Jenna - then over to "Pickles Gap" to pick up some really-great fudge. My brother told us we *had* to try this fudge - and we found it as good as he claimed. In particular, I *love* their "Pumpkin Pie" fudge. Usually when I've had things which "taste just like" something else, they aren't really good. But in this case, the "Pumpkin Pie" fudge is perhaps better than pumpkin pie. Yummy! We also grabbed some of the Chocolate Mint, Maple Nut, and Chocolate Amaretto. Great stuff. They also have a fun gift shop there - selling things like "White Trash" - a "trail mix" with cute labelling - and cookbooks with Arkansas recipes. Fun and recommended - and they do ship for the holidays!

On up I-40, passing London on the way. Yeah, London, Arkansas. Paris, Ark is not far - and we passed Paris, TX on our way in, so we've been to Paris, London, Paris, and Toad Suck in the last week.


We visited Aaron, our nephew, in his Dentistry practice, then checked into the Lamplighter B&B in Ozark, AR. No, not "The Ozarks", but "Ozark, AR". The Lamplighter is beautiful and full of character - with a stuffed doll of Charlie Chaplin sitting in a chair to greet you in the parlor - and 2 cuddly cats who came right out and let me get a "cat fix". Our room has a beautiful view over the Arkansas River and the bridge over it.

Dinner at the Wiederkehr Wine Kellar with the whole family, then back to Aaron's house for a group shot: (Kathy, Me - yes, I'm wearing short pants in 50-degree weather, Aaron, My step-mother Joan, My Dad Dan, Sister-in-law Jo, and my "middle brother" Fred):
and to fire up the mud racer my brother has acquired (WOW it sounds great to hear a burbly engine fire up!).

Back to the Lamplighter for some fudge - and hit the bed to get ready for Wine tours tomorrow.

A reminder that you can click on any photo - to get a full-size look at them.

9328 Miles

Catfish, traffic, and being with Family

November 12, 2008 - Wednesday - Little Rock

"Little Rock-ing" around the clock today.

Rainy and overcast - so rather a gloomy feeling, but that really means that I slept in until 10 AM (ack!) and everybody was waiting for me to get up and start the day.

I left Kathy with Jo (our sister-in-law) to let them just talk, then I drove up to my Dad's place and went out to a great catfish lunch with Dad & Joan. OK. I admit it. I don't eat fish, generally, and I was afraid of catfish, but this was really benign and tasty. Catfish, fries, hushpuppies (which I love) and a nice conversation.

Back to Dad's with a great view out over the beautiful leaves of Little Rock - while we spent a bit of time on his computer - and took care of a couple of minor questions he had. I don't really know as much about computers as I used to, so it's nice when I *can* help with questions anymore. But we also got some good "talk time" while we were waiting for Windows Vista to install "Service Pack 1".

Back to my brother's - thru 5PM traffic (not as bad as I'd been warned), then more talk, dinner out at an amazing Chinese buffet (it includes even steak and sushi), more talk - and bed.

Good "family" time. Off to Ozark tomorrow - for a wine tour. Yes. A wine tour in Arkansas.

9160 Miles.

Arkansas, Veteran's Day, Dad's Birthday and Family

November 11, 2008 - Tuesday - Veteran's Day


Veteran's Day AND my Daddy's Birthday. We'll just say that the first digit is "8" and that he's one of the many many Veterans we salute on this day - and he's looking *good* - even if his first digit was NOT "8". Hi, Dad.


Into "Monroe" and brave the Dallas traffic to make it to I-30 to Little Rock - and find that the I-30 traffic is even *worse* than Dallas traffic: GOBS of heavy trucks - and that triggers a rant (though I think I already ranted about this): when there are only 2 lanes in a given direction WHY do people "pass" others when they're only going about 2 MPH faster? All it does is block *both* lanes for people who are trying to go 10MPH faster. Particularly with HEAVY 18-wheeler traffic, it really clogs up an interstate to have one 18-wheeler *inching* past another. If you're going to pass, then PASS at at least 10 MPH differential. Otherwise, just stay behind whoever you're behind. 2MPH ain't going to really make a difference - even over a 12-hour driving shift. Sorry. But I found myself rolling along behind a lot of 18-wheelers - waiting.


Meanwhile, we had a lot of time to talk about - things - and Kathy and I both confirmed that even with the minor annoyances of driving - that we are SO glad that we're not having to put up with the insanities of *flying* anymore: having to pack everything really tight so that you only have to pay $50 to check *one* extra bag, then having that bag opened there in front of everybody - spilling your underwear out on the floor and trying to jamb it back in, then take *off* your shoes, belt, cellphone, laptop computer, and watch - to hop thru security and try to get re-packed and redressed (while holding your baggie of clear liquids), then RUN for the plane since Security took an hour to not really make you any more secure. It does raise the argument that the *security* is costing America so much that it, alone, means that Al-Quaida "won" - just by messing up travel in the U.S. But you all know that. Just know that it is REALLY nice to be able to just throw things into a van, hit the road whenever we're ready and not have to worry about some TSA agent having a bad day and deciding to strip-search you while the airlines are busily raping you anyway.


But actually we had a GOOD day. (smile).

Just rolled Northeast. Stopped in Texarkana for $1.97/gallon gas - and a tasty lunch at Subway - and arrived at my Brother's house outside Little Rock - by early afternoon.


Then we visited. With brother and SIL and Dad & StepMom - and had some *great* chili and cornbread for dinner - and some *great* "WooPig" ice cream and brownies while talking and looking at trip photos.


Good stuff. This is what life is about.


We passed 9000 miles today - up to 9098 total. Looks like we'll be comfortably over 10,000 miles before we get back home - but we're on the final legs here.

Fort Worth Botanical Garden

November 10, 2008 - Monday - Dallas/Fort Worth

Overcast, but that's OK - it just makes it feel like a Monday.

Kathy had gone online to look at "attractions" around Dallas - so we're off to the Fort Worth Botanical Garden. Just a 20-minute drive in the insane interstate network around DFW and we pulled in (it's like Los Angeles here: you have to *constantly* be aware of which *lane* you're in as lanes are added and go away and are "Exit Only" and you have to enter at the left of 8 lanes and get to the right lane in 400 feet...).

Can't beat the price of the Botanical Garden: free.

But it's November and overcast, so the flowers weren't really colorful. We strolled thru the 109 acres and were kind of disappointed, but then we found the Japanese Garden there. It's $3 each - obviously cheap - so we wandered on in. Again, the overcast day - and the muted colors of November kind of put a damper on it, but it is a HUGE Japanese garden and the Zen of it all began to seep into our psyche's:

Overall, a nice morning. It really didn't take long to soak in the atmosphere and start feeling it:

Smiles and a nice mental "soak" in the peacefulness. Nice.

"Leila" found a nearby Fuddruckers so we both had great Buffalo burgers for lunch.

Then back to the hotel by the airport - to just snuggle in and listen to the massive thunderstorm boom away outside.

Off to Arkansas tomorrow.

8789 Miles total.

Visiting Family

November 9, 2008 - Sunday - Dallas


Kathy's cousin Ken lives in the Dallas area so we drove on down and spent the day visiting with him and Sandy
- and their - ummm - 6 or 7 dachsunds

- by the way, I'm rubbing ears and "loving" - not trying to hurt him.

Note the weathervane on their shed:
Then we went out for a special lunch at "Dave's" - run by a New Orleans chef who has relocated to Dallas. Tasty Cajun Tilapia.


Great visit. Great people. Great day.


8710 Miles.

Antelope Canyon - WOW!

October 18, 2008 - Saturday - Page, AZ

Yeah. This is catching up with the "gap" in blogging, so realize this happened 3 weeks ago now.

Antelope Canyon day, but we booked the 10:30AM "Photographer's Tour" - meaning that we gave ourselves time to get up late and do some email and Blogging before heading out - AND meaning that we took the longer tour specifically set up to give us time to take pictures and mess around with angles and settings and such.

The tour provider was literally across the street, so we walked over and loaded up on the modified trucks and drove out past the Power Generation station - onto Navajo land - to the Canyon.

Well. Gee.Colors, textures, awe, reverence, challenges for photography - and a great guide.Nothing can really describe it - and photos don't really even fully capture it, but try THESE.

One of our favorite stops on the whole trip. Beautiful. Inspiring. Wow.

Back to Page, AZ by 2PM, lunch, then drive out toward Hurricane, UT to set us up for Zion and Bryce Canyon - driving past Lake Powell on the way: huge, winding lake created by damming the Colorado (like many *other* lakes in the area).

Pretty landscape as we drove along - listening to our "Edgar Allen Poe's Last Days" book on CD.
Mostly just driving - and getting to Hurricane - and going out for Chinese Take-out.

Beautiful day.

4884 miles.

"Cheap" Gas, Dallas, and Great Steak

November 8, 2008 - Saturday

We asked "Leila" the quickest way to get from Carlsbad, NM, to Dallas, TX, and she lead us across State Road 180 rather than down to I-20. It made for a more-interesting drive - hitting little towns along the way and *was* probably faster since most of it was 2-lane, but 70MPH. Both Kathy and I *did* get our chance to get annoyed at how little towns seem to feel *obligated* to slow you down thru town. Hey. It's a 70MPH road. Deal with it instead of stepping you down from 70 - to 60 - to 55 - to... all the way down to 30MPH - then back up.

But we had a nice drive and Kathy drove some to give me time to get onto the computer to get the write-up done for "Antelope Canyon" - from October 18 - so I'll post that next.

We crossed from New Mexico back into Texas and, simultaneously, into Central Time - so we're back to being only one timezone away from Florida. We also passed miles and miles of fields of *cotton* all puffy and ready for harvest. It was cool to see "escaped" cotton lining the roads in some places - a white puffy "border" to the highway.

We also watched the price of gas continue to fall as we got into the heart of oil country, but I think it's more just that the price of oil is finally falling back to true "market" price - rather than what the speculators and gougers bid it up to. (Yeah... that was "political commentary"). But we left Carlsbad, NM with $2.29/gallon gas - and eventually saw it for $1.97/gallon in Texas - yes back under $2/gallon. To me, that shows how much B.S. it was when we were told that $4/gal was just caused by lack of refinery capacity and such. I hope that some "investors" who bid the prices up to $160/barrel - are happy *eating* their oil - now that the price of gas is literally *half* what it was when we left home 6 weeks ago. Yeah. How about that? We've been on the road for 6 weeks as of Thursday. And we still don't *miss* anything about home, though we're starting to make a list of "things we should do when we *do* finally get back home."

Anyway. We safely made it to our hotel near the Dallas airport, got checked in, then called Kathy's cousin Ken to ask for a recommendation for a *good* Dallas steak. He directed us to "The Keg" - only about 4 miles away - and it was, indeed, a very-memorable meal: Prime Rib for me, Steak Oscar for Kathy: excellent, seasoned very well - a wonderful romantic dinner for the 2 of us.

And we're only about 1000 miles from home now. 8626 miles total so far - a big driving day for us today.

In Praise of Skilled Workmanship, Carlsbad Caverns, No Whining Cafe

November 7, 2008 - Friday - Carlsbad, NM

Wellll... "Monroe's" right rear tire was very low again this morning - so we figured we'd better actually do something about it. We limped next door to a gas station and pumped it up full, then asked Leila where Tire stores were in Carlsbad - and headed toward one. But on the way, we passed "AA Tire Co", so I pulled into the driveway, but then noticed a Wal-Mart across the street with a Tire center, so decided that I'd rather have something from Wal-Mart (so I could get it serviced anywhere if I needed to) - and drove across to the Wal-Mart. Got pointed to "she'll take care of you" and waited until she was done on the phone (another customer). Annnd she proceeded to do the "standard WalMart procedure" and collect all of the information about my life history. Engine size. Color of my car. My Phone number - having to *re*enter most information. Before we ever got to "and what size tire are you looking for?" Sigh. You guessed it. They don't carry Bridgestone tires - and I wanted to match what was there so I didn't have to replace the pair. So I wasted about 20 minutes finding out that they didn't have anything close to what I needed.

So I drove *back* across the street to "AA Tire Co", pulled up, and the owner walked right over and asked what the trouble was. I told him that I thought I had a leak in the sidwall and wondered if he could match the tire. He took a look and said "I can PATCH that". Uhh... Really? So he slid a jack under Monroe, popped the tire off, discovered immediately that there was a *screw* buried in the tread - and rolled it in the back to fix it.

10 minutes later, he had patched the tread, confirmed that the side-wall blemish was *not* leaking and the tire was back on the car. He asked for $10.68. I figure that *IF* WalMart had done the job, I would have wound up replacing at least 2 tires - and it would have likely been $300 by the time I got done.

I'll take this opportunity to remind myself that we really do need to support and appreciate the few *craftsmen* left in America - who actually know what they're doing and have a SKILL. The guys who look at something and say "I can fix that" - rather than throwing it away - and who really *CAN* fix stuff. My salutes to this gentleman.

So. Off to Carlsbad Caverns - about 30 minutes outside of Carlsbad, NM. We used our National Park Pass (again - we're up to $140 of "use" on the pass - which cost $85 for the year) to get free admission to the unescorted tours: the "Natural Entrance" (as opposed to the elevator which takes you straight down 750 feet):
and the "Big Room" tours. You just wander down a *mile* of paved trail - to get down into the main cavern - *** 750 feet *** underground. It's a BIG cave. Then you wander around a paved path thru the "Big Room" - the largest single chamber of any cave anywhere other than Borneo.

It was beautiful.
It was amazing both for the size - and for the fact that a commercial cave with *that* many visitors - still has beautiful formations and structures. Sigh. I know I keep saying this on this trip, but "Words Fail".
Particularly when I add that Kathy and I got to stroll along at our own pace, hand-in-hand - in this fairy-land. It has been lit by a Broadway lighting technician - to keep it subdued and still feeling like a *cave* and preserving some of the natural coloring - and it's just - beautiful.
We finished the unescorted tours, then took the elevator up for lunch (there *is* a gift shop and small cafe down in the caverns, but there isn't much there since this is the slow time of the year). The elevators were very appreciated: we didn't even want to *think* about walking back up the path we took *in*.

Then we grabbed the tripod for the camera and took the elevator back down for our "Palace Rooms" tour - escorted.
Photographic tip: a tripod is *really* helpful for getting non-blurred photos in a cave.
You really don't want to use flash since it washes out the colors - and the ambience. So. With Kelly's great camera - on a tripod -
and allowing the camera to just take as long as *it* thought the shutter should be open (up to *15 seconds!!!*):

Wow. Just WOW. We've seen lots of caves before, but the formations are - again - impressive because they are so *huge* - reminding us of just how long it took to form them - one little drip at a time - and because they are so complex and delicate and beautiful in their own right.
We were shown thru the Queen's Chamber and the King's Chamber - and on out of the cave - to wait for the evening flight of the bats.

Yes. Bats. There are something like 5 million bats who "summer" in Carlsbad Caverns - and it is quite impressive to see them emerge from the very opening we went down in earlier - each evening. So we sat and reverently waited, but it turned out that our luck didn't work that way this time: it is suspected that the bulk of the bats have already left for Mexico - as of 2 days ago. So no show this evening. But that's OK.

We drove back to Carlsbad and found a fun dinner place - the "No Whiner Diner".
One of the signs had "Whiner Diner" - so I thought it was for me (no kidding) - but when we got inside - we saw that the name had a circle around it with a line thru it - for *NO* Whiner Diner. Lots of fun. Lots of silly things to make the menu more fun - like a line at the bottom finishing with "management is not responsible for poor life choices on your part". Happy, fun waitress and staff. Very-good food. Finishing with a *great* slice of pumpkin pie. This place *should* be in the "Diners, Drive-in's, and Dive's". A great dinner - with each other - to finish a great day together.

8165 miles. Heading for Dallas tomorrow.