This section of our blog is dedicated to the past four years of travelogues that we have sent to friends and family on an irregular regular basis. It will ultimately include some photos and some future reports of our travels and other doings which may or may not be of interest but it gives us something to do the keep our brains from getting 'old and give out' like Bill's body. We understand that people can comment on blogs and that is OK but we would also like to hear from you via email....rovingpollocks@hotmail.com, too.
APRIL 1, 2004 - JUNE 17, 2004
April found us in west Texas having crossed the border from Mexico at Presidio on March 31. We did three weeks of Texas touring visiting Alpine, Fort Davis, Davis Mountain Observatory, Big Bend National Park, Pharr (where we spent a couple days with Gale and JudyEgoff), Port Isabel, South Padre Island, Corpus Christi, Rockport and Galveston. We headed north for Virginia via Abbeville, LA and the Natchez Trace Parkway.
We reopened the cabin in late April just as the redbud were blooming. May was spent doing some long neglected maintenance and visiting son Paul and Yvette in NC, Don and Kathee Larmee in Virginia Beach, Gisela’s mom, Annemarie in Woodbridge and daughter Ann and Dwayne in Richmond.
We were able to reconnect with Virginia based friends, Don and Bonnie Day, Bill and Cathy Flaherty, Norma Rogers, Gary Averett and Lynn Simon and Russ and Sue Boalick. We also hosted Ron and Ginny Norton for a couple of nights as they traveled north to NJ and later south to Georgia. Perhaps most exciting of all was the visit from a black bear but he only stayed a few minutes.
As usual our cabin time has gone by far too fast. Also as usual we are looking forward to hitting the road again. This summer’s plan is north to Maine via Albany, NY; then to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Isle, across Canada to the Midwest and back to Virginia over the next 100 days or so.
JUNE 18 - AUGUST 31, 2004
We have been trying to get this chapter in the ongoing saga of Bill and Gisela living their (and perhaps your) dream traveling the highways and byways of North America in their RV out to all interested parties. However, the death of Bill’s brother at the end of July has made it difficult to carry on with our usual good humor and levity. So as not to lose touch or disappoint our many faithful readers, we will press on regardless and give you a somewhat abbreviated version of our summer travels.
We left Virginia in mid-June. Our first stop other than transiting was in the Albany, New York area where we visited friends Terri Goldrich-Franks and Michael Franks and daughter Jaclyn. We had a really nice time catching up with their lives and doing some museum visiting at the New York State Museum in Albany. From there we headed for Maine and the lobsters, er, ah, friends. We visited Liz Banta at her cottage on Forrest Lake near Portland and had some great home-cooked lobster and haddock. We then visited John and Ellen Albin on Casco Bay in Yarmouth and had some great clams. While visiting Liz we camped at a wonderful no hook up municipal park south of Freeport, Winslow Memorial Park. What a grand view of Casco Bay directly in front of the MH. We later camped in John and Ellen’s boat trailer parking lot - view not as good but price was right.
After saying goodbye to our Maine friends (Mainiacs?), we headed South to visit Bill’s nephew, Jim, wife Sharon and daughters, Katie and Tricia in Danvers, MA. We were there for the weekend and stayed at the Newburyport Elks. From there we headed back to Maine to see a bit of Acadia National Park. We enjoyed the sights and the seafood at the Bar Harbor Inn as well as at Oscar the Giant (or was it Eddie the Big?) or something like that at the only local seafood restaurant in Jonesport, Maine. Anyway we read about it in the Boston, Globe. It was worth the trip to Jonesport. We learned a lot about transmissions from a local fisherman who was entertaining folks at the 'liars table' at Oscar’s, Eddie’s or Otto the Large's. Go there if you’re in the area. You’ll see what we mean.
We crossed the boarder into New Brunswick, Canada on July 1 from Calais, Maine. We took two days to reach our friends', Ron Wilcox and Anne Moffatt’s, place in Blandford, Nova Scotia. The roads were good and we had no difficulty finding their place, other than missing their “driveway”. Upon arrival we were able to have a Mini-rang in that two other Boomer couples were already in residence in Ron and Anne’s front yard. What a great “campground.” On a hillside overlooking Mahone Bay between Peggy’s Cove and Chester. KP and Joanna Moreau and Tim and Jan Johnson were passing through, albeit slowly, on their way to Newfoundland. They took off on July 4 after we were all serenaded by Ron and Anne who sang our National Anthem. How many of us could have sung Oh Canada? What great camp hosts!
We stayed with Ron and Anne for nearly two weeks. That’s what we meant by ‘albeit slowly.’ We had a great time and it was hard to leave such nice people in such a great setting. Except for the mosquitoes….
If any one has concluded that there is no affordable waterfront property in North America, go to Nova Scotia. Problem is the short summer season.
While at Ron and Anne’s we toured Halifax, had clams at Johns’ Lunch in Dartmouth, enjoyed the historic towns of Lunenburg, Chester, Mahone Bay, Peggy’s Cove and Hubbards, caught some mackerel and ate more lobster. We attended the spectacular International Tattoo in Halifax - Bagpipes and Mounties galore. We went to Digby to sample the famous scallops and toured Yarmouth, NS.
After two weeks with Ron and Anne, we headed for Cape Breton Island and the Cabot Trail. We camped at a Coast to Coast park near Baddeck. Nothing to write home about; not a level site to be had. The Cabot Trail and the reproduction of Fort Louisburg were the highlights. The Alexander Graham Bell Museum in Baddeck was pretty neat, too. We only had two nice days out of seven; pretty much the weather story of the summer in the northeast.
It was while we were in Cape Breton that we began to be alarmed about Bill’s brother’s condition. Rather than see more of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island as planned, we headed for Michigan. We stayed over one day to tour old Quebec city. We were around Montreal when we got the call that Mac’s condition had changed, it would be days; not years or even months as we had thought. We drove like mad but did not make it to Michigan in time since Mac actually had only hours to live. The funeral was made extra special by Bill’s moving eulogy . Both of us were uplifted by the support Paul and Ann gave us when they came up from NC and VA together. It was a very sad time but we did our best to celebrate Mac’s life more than mourn our loss. Thanks to all who came to the funeral, called, and/or sent flowers, cards and other expressions of sympathy.
We stayed in Leland for a few days after the funeral to help Pat with a few things. On Tuesday, 2 August we headed for Minnesota to visit Don and Kathee Larmee. We knew they were the people to go see since they sent a bottle of Bushmills to the house for the Wake. They were clever enough to figure out how to get it delivered; Don must have been a Submarine Supply Officer. At any rate it was really nice to be with friends for a week where we could laugh and cry as necessary. We returned to Michigan via a nice municipal park in Ashland, WI and Marquette, MI to help Pat again for a week by going through Mac’s stuff. Stuff equals memorabilia to the Nth degree. Did you save every ticket stub to every event you ever attended? It was good to be helpful. After that we headed for Bill’s hometown of Cedar Springs where we camped in our friends’ Ivan and Janis front yard. Another great week with wonderful friends. They drove up for the funeral and brought Don Koster who worked in Bill’s dad’s store with him and Mac. We stayed long enough to celebrate Ivan’s 59th birthday. Another who is looking forward to the BIG ONE next year. It is times like these when you thank God for good friends.
Bill also tracked down a childhood friend, John Edison and his wife, Ione and we enjoyed dinner with them at Clifford Lake. John and Bill had a great time recalling their summers at Whitefish Lake. You would have thought it was the only lake in the world. I still have some questions about Honey Voss and the horse trail…
Since Ivan’s birthday was 6 September, I guess this has more than covered the period advertised in the header. We also spent some time with Bill’s brother, Bob in Kalamazoo before heading to Niles, Michigan to attend the Notre Dame-Michigan game. While in Niles, we will have Gisela’s high school pal Rosie and her husband Larry from Saint Joseph, MI over for dinner. After the game we will go to the Escapade in Goshen, Indiana where we hope to get another Boomer fix. We then will take the Motorhome to the Monaco repair facility to get a few things fixed. After that it is back to Virginia for a few months of mountain living.
SEPTEMBERISH 2004
When we left you at the end of August it was really early September. Sooooo, we have decided that this and future reports should be labeled in “ish” time -hence Septemberish.
Indeed we did spend some time with Bill‘s brother, Bob in the Kalamazoo area. We stayed in a new county park off North Westnedge Avenue called Markin Glen. It had nice, new full hook-ups, a small swimming lake and beach. While in Kalamazoo, we had dinner with Chuck and Mary Crosby, high school classmates of Bill. It was great to see them again.
We then slid down to Spaulding Lake CG near Niles, Michigan which is our HQ for Notre Dame football games. On Friday night we entertained Gisela’s Merrill, Wisconsin High School friend Rosie Brock and her husband Larry for dinner. Next day the unranked Fighting Irish took on the seventh-ranked and dreaded Wolverines of Michigan. It was a great day for the Irish coming from behind to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. There was a great deal of ‘shaking down the thunder from the sky’ and ‘waking up the echoes’ to quote college football’s number one fight song and very little ‘hailing to the victors (losers) in the words of the number two fight song. You can tell Bill (who grew up in Michigan) really enjoys it when ND beats Michigan.
After coming down from the thrill of victory, we moved on to the Escapee RV Club’s Fall Escapade at the fairgrounds in Goshen, IN. Since it was our fifth Escapade we did more socializing than attending seminars. We found a few things to buy from the vendors but not as much as in the past as the number of vendors seemed smaller than ever. It was great to spend time with Ron and Donna Monroe, who had just started full time RVing three weeks earlier. Although the Boomer attendance was far short of last year’s which exceeded one hundred, we had fun seeing old acquaintances and meeting new ones including Bart and Holly Creasy and Craig and Terilu Christen. After Escapade it was on to the Monaco factory repair facility to have a leaking window repaired. They took very good care of us fixing the window at no cost even though we were out of warranty. They fixed a couple of other small problems also at no charge. After four days in the shop we were back on the road. However, since it was Thursday and ND was playing Washington at home on Saturday… You guessed it - back up to Niles. Bill managed to find a ticket through the Alumni Association. He went to see the Irish crush the Huskies while Gisela stayed at the RV enjoying a beautiful fall day and peace and quiet.
We headed for Virginia via Columbus, Ohio, Wheeling and Morgantown, WVA, and Cumberland, MD. We did our usual overnight in St. Clairsville, Ohio camping at Sam’s Club and enjoying dinner at Outback Steakhouse. The following day we endured a drive through the mountains accompanied by the remnants of Hurricane Jeanne. By the time we hit Winchester, VA there was heavy rain and lots of local flooding. We were fortunate to get the Beav safely into storage and get to the cabin in one piece.
Getting back into the cabin involved the usual harvest of dead bugs, cleaning, weed whacking and raking. We headed to Woodbridge to visit Gisela’s mom and have lunch with Liz Banta as she passed through on here way from Maine to Florida.
Much to our chagrin the much missed and long awaited hot tub refused to get hot. What good is a cold tub? We got the service guy up just in time to get it back in commission as Mike and Beth Myers arrived for a visit. We had a lot of fun - good food, good wine (two buck Chuck, of course), and good friends - what more can you ask for? We also did some windshield touring around the Middleburg, VA area. It is really gorgeous country, especially this time of year.
It is now the 6th of October. Mike and Beth headed back to Wisconsin (Brrrr) this morning. We are looking forward to a visit from Gisela’s mom this weekend and a visit from John and Ellen Albin as they travel from Maine to Florida the following weekend.
We hope to see some of our Washington, DC area friends before we head south at the end of October to visit Bill’s son and Daughter-in-Law (Paul and Yvette) in North Carolina and daughter and fiancé (Ann and Dwayne) in Richmond, VA. We will return to the cabin in mid-November where we will remain until after the New Year’s holiday. Then is will be off to the Southwest to escape the cold and snow.
OCTOBERISH 2004
When we left you last in early October, we were awaiting a visit from Gisela’s mother. The three of us enjoyed a long weekend together. On one of the first blustery fall days we took in some local color by going to an Octoberfest at one of our nearby vineyards. German food, music and history all rolled into one. Gisela’s mom enjoyed some old country flavor.
Shortly thereafter we hosted John and Ellen Albin and their incredibly cute Westie, Piper, on their way south to their winter fishing grounds in the Florida Keys. We had fun as always with Bill and John reliving their glory days in Officer Candidate School and Supply Corps School when “their arms were heavy and their bellies were tight” to quote a Billy Joel tune. (Needless to say they no longer quite live up to the song.) We enjoyed a splendid lunch at the Red Fox Inn in Middleburg and some Virginia country side windshield touring.
After John and Ellen continued their southern migration, we hung around the cabin for another week or so then fired up the Beav and headed south ourselves for a few weeks anyway. We headed for Indian Cove, a Coast-to-Coast park in Sandbridge, VA, just south of Virginia Beach. We met up with Ron and Ginny Norton who were also in the process of working their way south. They had just spent a month camp hosting in Chincoteague, VA right on the beach. Bathing suits, t-shirts and flip flops were the uniform of the day. It’s never too late to become beach bums. Sounds like something we might like to try sometime. We enjoyed good food, laughter and learned a new card game called SKIP-BO. Bill likes it because you can play without having to think much. After a few serious games at the cabin, Bill is beginning to “rethink” this and believes now that some skill might be involved since Gisela is on a winning streak. We were glad that we could hook up with them since they were somewhat starved for Boomer companionship. We hope to see them again in the spring.
We said ‘hasta la vista’ to Ron and Ginny and headed for Virginia Beach to catch up with Don and Kathee Larmee. Kathee turned out some wonderful meals as always.. We had a great time solving the worlds problems or so it seemed.
Next stop was the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Bill’s son and daughter-in-law, Paul and Yvette. We camped near their house, probably for the last time. The Colington campground along with two others between Manteo and Kill Devil Hills have been sold to developers. That pretty well wipes out the available campgrounds north of Oregon Inlet. The land is apparently too valuable. At any rate, we had a great time visiting with them. We got in some good walks on the beach, enjoyed some fresh seafood, and generally got caught up on things in the OBX. Our nature hike on the old Nags Head Trail was the highlight of the visit. Why you ask? Gisela’s encounter with a snake. It wasn’t that the scream was that loud but it went on…and on…and on…
Paul has nearly finished the garage. It is almost 1700 square feet. The gym is going to be super not to mention the workshop. It was great to see the house again. It bought back many memories of the summer of ‘03, most of them good ones.
After the OBX, it was on to Richmond and wedding planning for Bill’s daughter Ann and fiancé, Dwayne. We had a hectic week looking for a site for the wedding and reception. We got to know the Richmond area pretty well by the time we left. Ann has become a very good cook, she whipped up some terrific meals. We camped at the Glen Allen (Richmond) Elks lodge. We are happy to report that we have nailed down a site and set a date for the wedding, October, 9, 2005. We will return in the spring to continue the process. Pretty exciting for old Dad anticipating walking his little girl down the aisle.
After five days at the Elks we moved to a campground to winterize the Beav. The Beav is now in storage until early January. So it will be back to the cabin on November 9. It is supposed to be in the 20’s tomorrow night. Brrrr.
Next report will probably be a November/Decemberish. We may be making a speed run to Michigan in December to participate in Bill’s late brother, Mac’s posthumous graduation from the University of Michigan. Michigan granted him his masters degree in history, waiving completion of the thesis. Bill has promised to stop saying bad things about Michigan in recognition of their kindness…at least until next football season.
Speaking of football, Bill is well aware that the Irish lost to Boston College for the 4th straight year. He also wishes to thank his friends from Purdue for reminding him of the humiliating home defeat which he forgot to mention in our last missive.
Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Happy New Year. And, Happy Trails, too.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBERISH 2004
The end of 2004 was pretty action packed. After we returned from wedding planning in Richmond, we did a lot of catching up with folks. We had lunches and dinners with Mountain friends Don and Bonnie Day and Norma Rogers, Gisela’s former coworkers Steve Dunn, Gaye Evans, Tim Prince, Liz Banta, George Bryan and Welsh Hardman. Bill had a reunion luncheon with a dozen or so former coworkers from DSIC…Hard for us to believe that these coworkers became “former” seven years ago for Gisela and five years ago for Bill. We also attended the Submarine Alumni luncheon catching up with the doings of Don Matteo, Mark Rubin, Ian Frew, and Al Lassiter, among others.
We had a nice thanksgiving with Gisela’s mom, Annemarie, and Ann and Dwayne. Before we knew it we were on our way to Flint, MI for graduation ceremonies at the University of Michigan (Flint) for Bill’s late brother. Family and friends attended the ceremony followed by a dinner in Grand Blanc. It was a moving experience. It was also five below 0 (F) and snowy. The sprinkler system in our motel burst leading to flooding … a moving experience of another sort.
Back in Virginia for the holidays and a whirlwind of friends and family visits; Annemarie, Ann, Dwayne, Paul and Yvette for Christmas and Don and Kathee Larmee for New Years. As usual we had some great meals thanks to Gisela and the traditional silliness of Bill and Don lowering the Acorn at midnight. Will they ever grow up? Let’s hope not; it’s too late.
Oh, yea. Bill did watch the Insight Bowl where Oregon State proved they knew how to analyze game films by throwing 4 TD passes against the Irish. That’s 14 TD passes in 3 games. There’s always next year…
We had and unseasonably warm December which made it easy to get the Beav loaded out and headed for Arizona. We hooked up with Don and Bonnie day and we were off to a flying start. That lasted two days when we got a check engine light as we were leaving the Knoxville, TN. The light cleared so we continued…big mistake. We made it another twenty miles when the engine went into protection mode; chugging along at 20MPH. We stopped on the side of I-40 and made a few phone calls to repair facilities. Lined up the Freightliner facility in Knoxville. Spent two nights there; toured Knoxville with the Days; got a new fuel injection pressure sensor and headed on our way. Not so fast…check engine light again 200 miles down the road outside Birmingham, AL. Same deal - phone calls, appointment with the Caterpillar repair shop for the next day. Unfortunately, Don and Bonnie had to continue on since they had firm reservations in AZ. Caterpillar took good care of us. They had a test to isolate the fault, a valve not a sensor. They changed the valve, ran the test again to confirm the fix and sent us on our way by early afternoon. Turns out it was really a fix. We decided to head down I-20 which has lots of repair shops just in case. We ran a thousand miles in two days to get back on schedule. Currently (January 11) we are in the Escapee park in Deming, NM where we ran into Boomers Steve and Jo Dobbs. We will head for Tucson today to loadout for two weeks of boondocking at Quartzsite including a reunion of the Boomer Amigos.
Health and Happiness to all in 2005.
WINTERISH 2005 PART I
When last we left you we were in Deming, New Mexico in mid-January heading for Quartzsite, Arizona. We stopped at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson to load up some groceries and continued west to Casa Grande to hook up with Mike and Beth Myers. We called them to set up meeting them for lunch. Beth said they were downtown shopping for Mike’s “outfit” for the Geraldine Contest to be held at the Quartzite Boomerang (rally). We said “sure… right…Mike is going to dress up like a woman, girl, chick…and parade around in front of a couple hundred fellow Escapee RV Club Boomers..no way.” We met them for lunch. You guessed it. Mike did have his “outfit.” Not to be outdone, we got directions to the “Cream of the Crop Second Hand Shop” and headed there after lunch. Not surprisingly, the clerks were expecting us. We found a snappy little ensemble, complete with clashing purse and ear rings. Gisela added the last accessory…Hershey Kisses to put in the purse for use as bribes for the contest judges. More on the contest later.
We arrived at the Boomer’s encampment at Quartzsite (Q) on January 15th in caravan with the Myers and Ron and Donna Monroe who we hooked up with in Casa Grande. As usual there were thousands of RVs scattered across the desert sounding this dusty crossroads in the western Arizona portion of the Sonoran Desert. We spent two weeks dry camping (no water, no electricity hookups) with our fellow Boomers. As a reminder, the Boomers are a subgroup of the Escapees RV (SKP) Club that is dedicated to socializing, having fun with the minimum of rules or structure. We have met some great friends among the Boomers.
The highlights of our time at Q included a reunion of the group with whom we traveled to Mexico last year…the Boomer Amigos - Mike and Beth Myers, Paul and Stephanie Bernhagen, Geoff and Nancy Justiss and Chris Christensen. It was great recalling the high points and a few low points of our two months in Mexico. We also did some Jeep four wheeling in the desert led by KP and Joanna Moreau. We were inspired to join the SKP four wheel drive subgroup. Of course there were daily walks, happy hours, campfires and just general good fellowship with a lot of nice people…and the Geraldine Contest. There were only four entrants - Mike, Bill, Geoff Justiss, and Ron Monroe- out of a hundred or so guys. At first we thought the low turnout was because the contest was scheduled for Superbowl Sunday so we rescheduled it for Tuesday…no new entrants. So on Tuesday they suited up, had their nails and makeup done and got on with the show. Bill’s Hershey kisses carried the day so that his persona, Cactus Kate, edged out Desert Flower, Fertile Myrtle and Geoff (character name has been lost). Is this the kind of competition anyone would really wish to win? Are we going to send Cliff Bedore (the keeper of our web site) the pictures to post on the web? These are the questions that Bill is still grappling with months later. Chances are there will be photos sometime soon.
From Q we headed for Salton City, California to attend our first Four Wheeling Rally. Salton City is a pretty interesting place. It is on a huge lake that smells bad. The Salton Sea is one third more salty than the ocean and has never really caught on as a playground. Salton City was laid out in the 60’s we think. Streets, cul-dul-sacs, fire hydrants, etc. but hardly any houses. It seems that this is one (and maybe the only) place in America where development has not taken hold. Salton City is really a hamburger joint (great burgers), a bar, a Mexican restaurant and a combination gas station, grocery store, and post office. However it borders the largest state park in the country, Anza-Borrego State Park. The four wheeling was fun…one of the highlights was the incredible array of desert flowers. We’re pretty much “bunny trail” kind of four wheelers but by taking this opportunity we saw so much more of this desert area than we would have by just taking the paved roads. A truly inspiring and awesome experience with a great group of people. Thanks to KP and Joanna Moreau for hosting this super event.
After the four wheeling we moved over to the town of Borrego Springs, CA to meet up with Bill’s grade school through high school pal, Jim Weaver and his wife Polly. We hosted them for dinner at the beautiful state park in town. Jim and Polly lived in San Diego for years and visited Borrego Springs often…It is a neat small town surrounded on three sides by mountains. We had a great dinner (thanks to Gisela’s culinary skills) and several bottles of wine (thanks to Bill’s procurement skills and the generosity of the Weavers). Jim and Bill re-bonded if they had ever un-bonded. It was a special occasion. The next morning we met the Weavers for breakfast at La Casa del Zorro (The House of the Fox) which is a resort near the town. What a neat place. Casitas with private swimming pools, splendid tennis courts, grounds with beautiful flowers, etc. Our waitress was a hotel/resort management student intern from the Netherlands. All very interesting and impressive.
We tried to move on to the Palm Springs, CA area from Borrego Springs. We learned why people fear ‘washes.’ It was raining cats and dogs and the water running across the road was scary. Bill figured that a 15 ton motor home would not have a problem with a few washes. We later heard horror stories about motor homes that had their ‘basements’ flooded from driving through washes.
We joined Chris Christensen (a Boomer Amiga from last winter‘s Mexico trip) and Sue and Jerry Little for the excursion to the Palm Springs, CA area. Actually we stayed in Desert Hot Springs where the gardeners and housekeepers live who work in Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Nevertheless, we had a nice week, saw a lot of sights…Palm Springs main street where lots of the cars were Bentleys and Ferraris and the people were all dressed up in fancy (expensive) duds. We found the area to be a bit too crowded for our liking. Peace and quiet could be had in the area but it would take seven figures.
We took a day trip to the Marine Base at Twenty-nine Palms and Joshua Tree National Park. The base was good for a cheap haircut and the National Park was impressive.
The big event of the Palms Spring stay was that it coincided with Bill’s 60th Birthday on Valentines Day. We were able to celebrate with Chris, Jerry and Sue plus Paul and Stephanie Bernhagen who were camped at a nearby Elks Lodge. We appreciated their contributions to dinner, especially triple chocolate cake. Gisela is not sure how she feels about being married to someone as old as Bill. She’ll get used to it.
Next stop was the Western Pyrotechnic Association’s Winter Blast at Lake Havasu City, AZ. We parked with twenty-plus Boomer rigs on some public lands north of town called Craggy Wash. With all the rain it lived up to its name. Lost a little paint getting into the place but once there it was magnificent. Wild flowers everywhere. Fireworks, the likes of which we have never seen, were spectacular even in the rain.
As we were getting ready to move on we received an email from Steve Dunn, one of Gisela’s co-workers from her days in the Navy Comptroller’s office. Steve and family were visiting his wife, Kirsten’s grandparents in Parker, AZ. We were able to meet them at the Casino in Parker for a couple of hours on our way through. We were headed for Lake Pleasant to visit Don and Bonnie Day as we started our wandering return trip east. We last saw Don and Bonnie when we headed off to the Caterpillar repair shop in Birmingham, AL six weeks earlier. It was good to catch up with them and see the changes at Pleasant Harbor, which had been our winter headquarters from 1999 through 2003.
Next stop Tucson and a visit to Gary Averett and Lynn Simon at their new place in Saddlebrooke. They have a beautiful house on a great lot in a really nice active adult community north of town. We had been somewhat interested in the development until we heard all the prices had just gone up about $100K in January.
We then caught up with Gisela’s cousin David and his friend Marsha. We visited them and saw all the neat stuff David had accomplished since our last visit in January 2004. New garage, landscaping , etc. Marsha is a good influence.
Then is was goodbye Arizona, goodbye Sanoran Desert and Sugauro cactus. We made a beeline for Sweetwater, Texas. Any of you who have ever been to Sweetwater are probably saying, “why in heck would anyone in their right mind go to Sweetwater?” To visit Geoff and Nancy Justiss, of course. Geoff grew up in Sweetwater so we got the insiders tour. Starting with a great West Texas Breakfast at the Ranch House Motel, we launched off to see the sites. It was only a week before the Rattlesnake Roundup so the city fathers tore up Main Street. We learned that Sweetwater gets it drinking water from Bitter Creek. We saw the tennis courts where Geoff earned a tennis scholarship and a ticket out. That’s about the extent of it. We guessed that they were saving some of the really big sites for our next visit. Seriously, it was a real treat to see Geoff and Nancy (our Boomer Amigos) again. We had a fun night at the Elks. We met Geoff’s sister and brother -in-law there for burger night. Then, it was time to move on.
WINTERISH 2005 PART II
It’s early March. We made a quick stop to pick up mail at the HQ of the Escapees RV Club in Livingston, Texas and then it was on to meet up with Tom and Jil Mohr in the heart of Cajun Country at Betty’s RV Park in Abbeville, LA. Tom and Jil spent most of January there for Mardi Gras and more so they really knew the ropes. Betty’s is more like visiting your favorite cousin than camping in an RV Park. She hosts happy hour every day, organizes potlucks, takes people to her favorite places, and just makes sure you really get the Cajun experience. Saturday breakfast found us at Cafe des Ami, an old converted store in Breaux Bridge complete with a Zydeco band, dancing and plenty of cold beer. Betty had made reservations for us at the Museum Cafe, a Cajun music place in Erath, LA for the afternoon which of course featured dancing and plenty of cold beer. In the middle of the show a bunch of folks in suits show up and a gulf coast oil guy gets presented the key to city of Erath for all the fundraising he did for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. One of the suits turns out to be a prominent local lawyer, Warren Perrin, who has an office in the town museum next door to the music, dancing, beer, key to the city place (actually the Museum Café). His office is dedicated to one of his missions in life which was to obtain an apology from Queen Elizabeth II (of England) for throwing the Acadians out of Maritime Canada in the 18th century. It took him thirteen years but the framed apology was proudly displayed on his office wall. See http://1755.ca/sept2004/la040801.htm for the whole story.
We found egrets and pink spoonbills nest near Lake Martin. We were so taken by the site that we almost missed the huge gators lurking in the water. What a site. Bill was so enthralled and preoccupied taking pictures that he didn’t notice the fire ants crawling up his leg. Too bad for Bill.
We had some wonderful food in New Iberia at Clementines and at Richards (ree shards) in Abbeville. Oysters, Crawfish, Gumbo, Chowders - one of our favorite chowders was deemed to be too watery by our waitress so she refused to charge us for it. We wanted to ask her the next day what not to order that would be free if we did. We found a music hall in the country (the Wild Rose?) for more music, dancing and of course a cold beer on Sunday afternoon. We also took the Dave Robicheaux walking tour of New Iberia. Who in blazes is Dave Robicheaux, you ask? Dave is the main character in James Lee Burke’s novels set in Saint Martin’s Parish, Louisiana which are favorites of Bill. Besides we needed to walk off some of that great food and cold beer. We toured a cemetery…all the graves are above ground tombs and they reuse them…push the bones to the back and load in another occupant. Funniest sighting of the day…one of the tombs with a for sale sign on it.
It was really hard to say goodbye to Tom, Jil, Betty and the great chow/cold beer but it was time to head for Saint Augustine, FL for a visit with Ron and Ginny Norton before we headed up to Perry, GA for our first ever Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) International Convention (fancy name for a rally). This was another great visit because it was fun to see the Nortons again and since they used to live in Saint Augustine so we got another insider view of the area. We visited the light house (they have a brick with their name on it in the sidewalk), Fort Matanzas National Monument, old town Saint Augustine, walked the beaches and of course, had some good food. We especially enjoyed Cap’s on the Water where we watched the sunset, had a waitress who sounded just like Mia on Just Shoot Me and just enjoyed spending time with Ron and Ginny.
For reference sake it is now March 14 and we have arrived at Warner-Robins, Georgia for a Beaver Motorhome Lead-in Rally prior to the big (5400 rigs) FMCA rally in Perry, GA. There are ninety-two rigs at this rally - all owners of Beaver Motorhomes. We had a big tent, catered meals, open bar, vendors, three Beaver dealers with about twenty new coaches, a tent full of Beaver stuff (hats, shirts, etc.), and a maintenance team doing free repairs. We also had rain every day so the fairgrounds became mud grounds. It was also cold…as in bring in your brass monkeys. We did catch up with Roger and Diane Schelk who we met in 2002 and whose Beaver Rally we attended in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. We will see them again in Manitowoc this summer. Cold and rain notwithstanding we were told that ten percent of the attendees bought new Beavers at the rally …nine motorhomes with an average sticker price of about $300K. Sure glad we bought an entry level Beav in 2002.
After four days of lead-in rallying, about thirty-six coaches lined up to head for Perry. We had a 25 mile police escort. The Sheriff’s department did a nice job. Good practice in case somebody important needs to get from Warner-Robins to Perry in a hurry. We parked on Saturday. The rally started Monday but the vendors didn’t open until Tuesday. Talk about working your way up to it.
We did some touring on the weekend including Plains, Georgia, home of Billy Carter whose gas station is now falling down. He also had a brother who was a submariner and later worked in Washington, DC. We stopped by Andersonville, GA home of the infamous Civil War Prison Camp and now the US Prisoner of War Museum. Lots of grim things to see but part of our national experience and important to know about.
No sooner had the rally gotten underway when the rains came again. You guessed it - mudgrounds again. It was tough to get from the parking area to the rally. But all in all we had a good time. Got some stuff we thought we couldn’t live without and met some new folks at the Beaver happy hours. We even meet some Boomers, Gerald and Glenda Farris.
It started to rain again at about 4:00 AM on Friday. By 7:00 AM the rain was gone and the majority of the motorhomes had left in fear of getting stuck (which apparently happened the last time they rallied in Perry). Not being early birds, we waited until most everyone else was gone so we could avoid the muddy roads and just drive across the grass which had been sheltered by parked motorhomes until that morning. We headed for Lake Martin, Alabama to visit Norm Hensley, with whom Bill worked with while in the Navy and after the Navy. Norm had just retired and he and his wife, Diane, have built a beautiful house on the lake. We enjoyed Easter Weekend with Norm (Diane still working in DC and visiting every other weekend). Lake Martin is one of those lakes that grew out of a power company damming up a river in the 1920s. All the land around the lake was owned by the Russell family of Russell Athletic fame. The nearby town of Alexander City is their corporate headquarters. Norm had just taken delivery of his new party boat so we got a tour of part of the lake but more spring storms sent us scurrying back to the dock. Spring in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia can really spawn some violent weather. We saw some tornado damage as we headed south from Alabama to Florida where we stopped in Venice to visit Liz Banta. One of the high points of our stop was the sudden overheating of the Jeep. Good news - a small Jeep dealer took us right in and went to work on the problem. Bad news - new water pump and some other gizmos that make the fan go around. Why don’t cars have fan belts anymore?…now they have gizmos. Dang. Anyway, it was great to see Liz.
As we proceeded to Key Colony Beach in the Central Keys to catch up with John and Ellen Albin, we had one of those scary RV moments. We pulled out of a campground in Naples, Florida and noticed that the motorhome seemed sluggish. As we were scratching our heads, a passing pickup honked and pointed…a sure sign that something bad is happening. We quickly pulled over and ran back to check the Jeep. Smoke coming from the front end. We both grabbed fire extinguishers…one from the Jeep, one from the basement of the Beav. Lots of smoke coming from the front wheels…Oh, Oh - some fire on the left front…Yikes! We emptied a couple of extinguishers and got things under control. We found that the SMI auxiliary braking system had spontaneously applied the Jeep’s brakes. We still don’t know why since it seems to work OK now. Good news is that the brakes were not destroyed, although the rubber boots that cover the pistons in the calipers suffered …as in caught fire.
Now John and Bill are old Navy Buddies from Officer Candidate School days circa 1967 - that’s old. We always have fun when we get together. We were able to get one of four campsites at a small Coast Guard Station in Marathon, FL. We did some touring (Key West and Islamadora), had some good seafood, got the brakes checked out, and, of course, had many laughs. Unfortunately, there was a 30 knot wind blowing the whole time so we were not able to get out on John’s boat. John did try to teach Bill how to fly cast…Bill needs lots of practice. The Keys are now the land of the million dollar duplexes. No kidding 1300 square foot duplexes for over a mil! Glad we could bring our own house with us.
Leaving the Keys we headed north toward Virginia. We spent an extra day near Saint Mary’s, Georgia home of the Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine Base at Kings Bay. The Sail (conning tower) of Bill’s first ship, USS GEORGE BANCROFT (SSBN 643) has been preserved and is on display at the main gate to the base. Bill, being a nostalgia addict, just had to make a pilgrimage back to his old ship. We also visited Fernandina Beach, FL which is one of our favorite Florida towns…although it looks like it has been “discovered.”
We stopped for a couple of days around Savannah. We wanted to have Shrimp Creole at one of our favorite seafood restaurants, the Shrimp Factory and check out Hilton Head. We did both. In our never ending search for the ultimate retirement home base, we found an affordable active adult community with the house floor plan we really like. We are not sure that the ‘low country’ is right for us. Looks like we’ll just have to keep looking.
Early April and we headed for Richmond, VA to do some more wedding planning for Bill’s daughter, Ann. We had a great week. Gisela did a great job ferreting out favors and table decoration stuff at fun places like Crate and Barrel and Michaels. We lined up a photographer, a florist and got Ann’s dress started. We really enjoyed spending time with Ann and Dwayne.
It was then on the Front Royal and the cabin. What we found was that the mice had a great winter. So we camped nearby for a couple of days while we sanitized the place. Tried to catch the mice but most were long gone. Did find one drowned in the toilet.
That’s our story for the Winter of 2005 and a little bit of the Spring. We’ll be spending May and June in the cabin with some side trips to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to see Bill’s son, Paul and daughter-in-law, Yvette who is expecting their first child in October. We plan to do Wisconsin and Michigan in July and August for Gisela’s high school reunion, a Beaver rally, and visits to friends and family. It will be back to Virginia in September, Ann’s wedding and the first grandchild in October followed by a two week walking tour of the French county side in November. We figure we will need a vacation by then.
SUMMERISH 2005
After hanging around our cabin in Virginia for a couple of months we headed south to go north for the summer. That is, just after 4th of July we headed for Richmond, VA to continue planning Bill’s daughter’s wedding. We had a real treat before leaving when we were able to spend several days with Jim and Ginger Stribling who were visiting Jim’s relatives who live in nearby Marshall, VA. We did some geocaching on the Appalachian trail and generally had a terrific time.
After Richmond we headed for the horse country around Lexington, Kentucky. The fantastic horse farms are steeped in history like Calumet Farms, named after the brand of baking powder. But all it did was rain as a result of Hurricane Dennis stalling out over the Midwest. From there we moved on to the St. Louis, MO area where we were able to hook up with Bill’s college classmate, Pat Finneran and his son Matt for lunch.
The next stop was Springfield, Illinois. Talk about Honest Abe. They have a new Presidential Library and Museum that is pretty terrific. The day we were there they feted their 200,000th visitor since opening in April. It wasn’t us. Actually, Bill is convinced that he was the 200,000th but they passed him over because they wanted someone younger and taller for the TV reports. So, after getting soaked walking across town in a downpour to the Abraham Lincoln National Historical Site (Lincoln’s house), we left town in a snit. We should have left in the motorhome but when Bill feel slighted he does stupid things.
Gisela’s home town is Merrill, Wisconsin. Actually Gisela’s home town is Grebenstien, Germany but that’s difficult to get to by RV. We returned to Merrill for Gisela’s high school reunion (number of years undisclosed). We also got a county 4-H fair, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of a one-room schoolhouse, and our first experience camping in a combination trailer park/slaughter house/meat packing plant. They call it a meat ‘service’ up there. Talk about your euphemisms. While we were dumping our tanks on the way out, we heard the squeal of pigs, bought at the aforementioned county 4-H fair, being slaughtered. We did enjoy our stay which included hooking up with Rosie and Larry Brock at the reunion.
Even though Merrill is at the same latitude as Green Bay…think frozen tundra, it doesn’t qualify as “Up North.“ It was seriously hot and humid like most of the U.S. this summer so we headed “Norda Eight.” That’s north of US highway 8 in English, which is where “Up North“ officially begins.
We killed two birds with one stone - got to cool weather and spent a few days with Mike and Beth Myers. They live in a neat log cabin on a lake (actually they call it a flowage up here “Norda Eight“). We found a geocache on Bill’s Island that required several hours of canoeing, visited Ashland and Bayfield and Mercer, Wisconsin and, of course, had a Friday night fish fry at Shane and Molly’s Midway Tavern . Wisconsin taverns tend to be named for their owners, e.g., Stosh and Debbi’s in Stevens Point, and Dar and Slim’s Pair-o-Dice in Butternut. They all have “Old Style” beer signs out front but only have Bud and Miller Light on tap. Go figure. Fish fry was allegedly started by German Catholics who emigrated to Wisconsin but it has become a religion unto itself. Damn the carbs, full speed ahead!
Gluttons for punishment that we are we left “Norda Eight” and headed back to hot weather at Manitowoc on Lake Michigan south of Green Bay. Bill had his first experience with touchless fishing. He took a charter out of Sheboygan to fish for king salmon. He caught four fish totaling somewhere around forty pounds without ever touching one. How? You ask. The captain sets up the rods, hands it to you when someone shouts “fish on,” and you real it in. The captain nets it, brings it aboard, takes the hook out, tags it and puts it in the cooler. When you get back to the dock, the crew takes the fish to a rack for pictures and then on to the cleaning/filleting shed. You put the cooler full of fillets into your car and drive away. Pretty neat, huh? Unfortunately, you pay for not touching.
Gisela’s Leck family reunion drove us further south into southern Indiana where we camped in Bean Blossom which is just a stone’s throw from Gnaw Bone. Hee Haw! This is bluegrass country. Gisela’s cousin, Joe’s bluegrass band entertained us at the reunion. What a great time. We got together with lots of other Leck cousins at the reunion and the wedding reception for Henry and Mary Leck’s daughter Anya. It was good to see Glorianne for the second time this summer. She and her brother Henry were key participants at the one-room schoolhouse anniversary in Merrill.
From Indiana we headed north into Michigan. We spent a week visiting our sister-in-law Pat in Leland. Bill’s brother, Bob came up from Kalamazoo for a few days. As August came to a close we headed for Camp Opperman near Bill’s home town of Cedar Springs, which everyone knows is the nation’s Red Flannel Capitol. Bill successfully conspired with Ivan’s wife Janis to surprise Ivan for his 60th birthday. Ivan didn’t take it at all well. Bill also got a tour of the restored Kent Theatre from Sally Grayvold. Sally and a lot of other energetic folks had done a fantastic job bringing the town’s movie theatre back to life. Being in the Kent brought back lots of memories for Bill…Roy, Gene, Dale, Droopy, Tom and Jerry…12 cent movies.
We headed back to VA at the end of August. We made overnight stops in Front Royal to check on the cabin and Woodbridge to check on Gisela’s Mother. Then on to Richmond for Ann’s wedding. So we were six weeks early. We had lots to do. It even gave us time to head to the Outer Banks for a weekend to host a baby shower for Paul and Yvette and for Gisela to attend a bridal shower in Richmond for Ann. The wedding was all coming together nicely when we got a call the Monday before the wedding. It was Bill’s son Paul reporting that the long awaited grandson would be arriving on Tuesday, three weeks early. We made a mad dash to Kill Devil Hills, NC to be there for the arrival of William MacGregor Pollock on October 4. Yvette and Will both came through in fine shape. We then raced back to Richmond for the wedding. It was a great success. A wonderful, joyous wedding. The bride was beautiful, the Groom was handsome, they made a lovely couple and a good time was had by all. We were greatly relieved that all went well. Ann and Dwayne went off to Florence, Italy for their honeymoon and Bill and Gisela retreated to the cabin for a rest which included a visit from John and Ellen Albin (and Piper the Westie) on their way to the Keys for the winter.
We are looking forward to taking a vacation (that’s when someone else does the driving) for a couple of weeks in Provence in the south of France. It appears that food and wine are king in Provence. We will be taking walking tours so we don’t feel so guilty about enjoying the food and wine.
FALL 2005
FRANCE
FRANCE
We are back safe and sound from our twelve day trip to France. We did not see a single burned car or other evidence of rioting. We had a terrific time. We enjoyed the country side of Provence in the south of France, especially the historic villages perched on hillsides, hereinafter to be known as 'perched villages.' Lots of great food; the bread was wonderful. Then again so were the desserts, the entrees (appetizers) and the “Plats” or main courses. Cholesterol heaven…..Pates, butter, sauces, etc., etc. Of course we were clever enough to counteract all that with the time-honored French antidote…Red Wine!
We met up with our sister-in-law, Pat Pollock, and Bruce and Carey Rayce and about 24 others from northern Michigan to begin our trek through Provence.
We started out in Cannes, home of the film festival. Had a great meal of sliced duck in a wonderful brown sauce. MMMM good! We had our only serious bad weather (rain) that night. The weather was perfect for most of the rest of the trip.
We moved on the a small Mediterranean seaport town of Cassis where we took a boat ride….Bill finally made a Med deployment…even if it was only 45 minutes. We hiked up to the shrine of Mary Magdalene…about a mile up the side of Mount Saint Baume. Wow are we out of shape or what?! We recovered with a picnic lunch of cheese, bread and of course, red wine.
We had dinner as the sun set over Marseilles in a wonderful restaurant where we were introduced to “Boeuf en Daube.” Beef stew... only way better.
We spent three nights in Avignon and day trips to 1) the Palace of the Popes, who resided there instead of Rome in the 1300’s, 2) a Chataeuneuf du Pape winery, 3) a walk through the Luberon forest made famous by Peter Mayle’s book , “A Year in Provence” and 4) wonderful villages of Fontaine de Vaucluse, Gordes, Roussillon, Greoux le Bain. We hit markets, an open air ochre mine and moved to a country hotel in the Vinon sur Verdon area. After another wonderful dinner, we went to Aix de Provence, a big city, for more markets and a tour of painter Paul Cezanne’s studio.
We headed for Nice via France’s Grand Canyon, the Gorges du Verdon and the village of Moustiers Saint Marie, home of wonderful and expensive ceramics. From Nice we visited Monaco by night where Bill scored a big win at the Monte Carlo Casino (enough for two Grand Marniers at the elegant Hotel de Paris. We capped the evening off with a moonlight stroll through the grounds of the Palace of Monaco.
We spent another day in Nice starting with a several hour walk on Cap Ferrat amid expensive homes, yachts, etc. We spent the afternoon in another perched village, Saint Paule de Vence, with its many art galleries (a warm-up for Paris)
Pat, Bruce and Carry headed back to Michigan and the rest of us took the TVG, a fast (180 MPH) train to Paris for a two and a half day whirlwind tour. We started out with a nighttime bus tour of the city center, a boat ride on the Seine and a visit to the Eiffel tower. The next day we toured Notre Dame (the cathedral, not the university with the great football team) and the Louvre Museum, home of the Mona Lisa and Napoleon III‘s “cute” little apartment. We had a great dinner in the Latin Quarter but did not hear anyone speaking Latin - but maybe a little Greek. Our last full day in Paris took us to the Musee D’Orsay, home of much great sculpture and tons of paintings by Monet, Manet, Renoir, et al. We hit the Rodin Museum, home of the Thinker and much other amazing sculptures and then went shopping at the Gallery Lafayette. Macy's, Nieman-Marcus, and Bloomingdales combined... times ten. It was overwhelming so we just settled for coffee and wonderful pastry. Our last night featured another great meal at an Art Deco restaurant, Le Coupole in the Montparnasse district.
All in all we had a great time. We even felt very welcome in Paris. Bill was hoping to be insulted but it never happened. So we are back and as soon we overcome our jet lag we’ll be getting ready for the holidays.
We met up with our sister-in-law, Pat Pollock, and Bruce and Carey Rayce and about 24 others from northern Michigan to begin our trek through Provence.
We started out in Cannes, home of the film festival. Had a great meal of sliced duck in a wonderful brown sauce. MMMM good! We had our only serious bad weather (rain) that night. The weather was perfect for most of the rest of the trip.
We moved on the a small Mediterranean seaport town of Cassis where we took a boat ride….Bill finally made a Med deployment…even if it was only 45 minutes. We hiked up to the shrine of Mary Magdalene…about a mile up the side of Mount Saint Baume. Wow are we out of shape or what?! We recovered with a picnic lunch of cheese, bread and of course, red wine.
We had dinner as the sun set over Marseilles in a wonderful restaurant where we were introduced to “Boeuf en Daube.” Beef stew... only way better.
We spent three nights in Avignon and day trips to 1) the Palace of the Popes, who resided there instead of Rome in the 1300’s, 2) a Chataeuneuf du Pape winery, 3) a walk through the Luberon forest made famous by Peter Mayle’s book , “A Year in Provence” and 4) wonderful villages of Fontaine de Vaucluse, Gordes, Roussillon, Greoux le Bain. We hit markets, an open air ochre mine and moved to a country hotel in the Vinon sur Verdon area. After another wonderful dinner, we went to Aix de Provence, a big city, for more markets and a tour of painter Paul Cezanne’s studio.
We headed for Nice via France’s Grand Canyon, the Gorges du Verdon and the village of Moustiers Saint Marie, home of wonderful and expensive ceramics. From Nice we visited Monaco by night where Bill scored a big win at the Monte Carlo Casino (enough for two Grand Marniers at the elegant Hotel de Paris. We capped the evening off with a moonlight stroll through the grounds of the Palace of Monaco.
We spent another day in Nice starting with a several hour walk on Cap Ferrat amid expensive homes, yachts, etc. We spent the afternoon in another perched village, Saint Paule de Vence, with its many art galleries (a warm-up for Paris)
Pat, Bruce and Carry headed back to Michigan and the rest of us took the TVG, a fast (180 MPH) train to Paris for a two and a half day whirlwind tour. We started out with a nighttime bus tour of the city center, a boat ride on the Seine and a visit to the Eiffel tower. The next day we toured Notre Dame (the cathedral, not the university with the great football team) and the Louvre Museum, home of the Mona Lisa and Napoleon III‘s “cute” little apartment. We had a great dinner in the Latin Quarter but did not hear anyone speaking Latin - but maybe a little Greek. Our last full day in Paris took us to the Musee D’Orsay, home of much great sculpture and tons of paintings by Monet, Manet, Renoir, et al. We hit the Rodin Museum, home of the Thinker and much other amazing sculptures and then went shopping at the Gallery Lafayette. Macy's, Nieman-Marcus, and Bloomingdales combined... times ten. It was overwhelming so we just settled for coffee and wonderful pastry. Our last night featured another great meal at an Art Deco restaurant, Le Coupole in the Montparnasse district.
All in all we had a great time. We even felt very welcome in Paris. Bill was hoping to be insulted but it never happened. So we are back and as soon we overcome our jet lag we’ll be getting ready for the holidays.
WINTERISH 2006
In reviewing our communications with the outside world, it appears that we have not sent anything out to our loyal readers in some time….like since our return from France in November 2005. Not that there has been a clamor for more details on our life on the road but writing these travelogues helps fill the hours in our retirement so we feel a certain need to continue to chronicle our travels.
We closed 2005 with our usual activities except that Paul, Yvette, and William MacGregor Pollock did not make the trip to the cabin for Christmas. The logistics of traveling with a 2½ month old made it too hard. We made it down to their house in Kill Devil Hills, NC, as did Ann and Dwayne for a pre-Christmas weekend. Ann made a great meal with able assistance from Gisela while Yvette tended to Will. Paul was stricken with some sort of 24-hour bug so he spent a day in bed. Ann and Dwayne and Gisela’s mom made it to the cabin for Christmas. We had a splendid time although Bill did have to shovel the 100-foot plus driveway three times in the month of December. We are cooking up a new plan for next December that will avoid a repeat of that. Bill was trying to decide for about two weeks after the last shoveling whether he was “old and give out” or just “all stove-up.” He concluded it was just a temporary case of stove-upness. But "old and give out" may be just around the corner.
New Years found us entertaining Don and Kathee Larmee for our traditional silliness including the lowering of the Acorn at midnight or somewhere close to it. We were all asleep by 12:30.
On January 3rd we headed west in the Beav. Destination - Arizona. We stopped for 5 days at Lake Travis, Texas near Austin where we met up with Ron and Ginny Norton and Tom and Jil Mohr. We had a great time and enjoyed great company and good food including Texas BBQ. We looked at housing around Austin…houses that cost $600K in the east go for $250K. Interesting but too far from family to be a serious consideration. Looks like we have no choice but to continue our now 6-plus year search for the perfect retirement location.
We continued west bucking a nasty headwind across west Texas. For some reason it seemed like it was taking forever to get to Arizona but we finally arrived in Quartzsite around the 20th of January. We enjoyed the big Boomerang primarily because we were able to catch up with our Boomer pals - Mike and Beth Myers, Tom and Jil Mohr, Geof and Nancy Justiss, Chris Christiansen, Ron and Donna Monroe, and Jerry and Sue Little to name a few..
We left Q after ten days for another ‘rang near Parker, AZ. The centerpiece of that gathering was the Best of the West 425 mile off road race. Dune buggies and trucks rigged for desert driving. Talk about dust…a couple hundred of those buggies sure kicked it up.
After the race, we headed for Borrego Springs, CA for a reunion with Bill’s childhood pal, Jim Weaver, and his wife, Polly. Jim and Bill even played tennis again…something they did a lot in their youth…many years ago. They were much better at it back then. Speaking of many years, we celebrated Bill’s 61st with them on Valentine’s Day.
We slipped back into Arizona and hooked up with Geoff and Nancy Justiss and Chris Christiansen at Ehrenberg on the Colorado River. Bill got another birthday dinner thanks to them.
The next big event was the Western Pyrotechnic Association’s Winter Blast in Lake Havasu City. Lots of Boomers gathered for this event. It was here where the water pump failed. Since we were boondocking there was no water without the pump…We found one in town and put it in without any problem…well maybe one small problem. Bill plugged the water line with a ballpoint pen cap, part of which remained in the line after reassembly. It took four times longer to figure that out than it did to install the new pump. It provided a lot of entertainment for those that stopped by to “help.” The fireworks were spectacular and unlike last year, it didn’t rain.
We then repaired to the Yuma, Arizona area for ten days or so boondocking on Sidewinder road…named for the snakes, which fortunately we saw none of. We headed east in early March hoping to get back in time to stop and see family on our way north and spend Easter with Gisela’s mother. We were held up for five days due to high winds in West Texas and New Mexico. This gave us a chance to see Gisela’s cousin, David and his friend Marsha, in Tucson and to scope out Paul and Stephanie Bernhagen’s house building efforts in Las Cruces. That was followed by a repeat of the January 2005 Engine Injector Control Valve failure. We were leaving Livingston, Texas on Saint Patrick’s Day headed for Betty’s RV Park in Abbeville, Louisiana when it failed. Drat! We had to hang around Livingston for five days until we could get into the shop 50 miles north in Lufkin. That cost us a week.
We did make it to Betty’s the following week for a memorable weekend….as all weekends in Cajun country tend to be. . It was springtime in Cajun Country. The crawfish were as big as Maine lobsters. Zydeco breakfast at Café Des Amis in Breaux Bridge was terrific…how about them cheese grits. And the music…I love dat band, me. The Cajun music jam sessions at Tuchets were great as ever…free music and dinner…drinks - not free. We have been able to replenish our supply of Cajun Power Sauce Chili ‘makins’ and pick up some specialty meats at Hebert’s (a bears). We had a potluck on Betty’s porch and took in a Catholic Church festival in Kaplan.
Upon leaving Betty’s we drove the Gulf Coast from Pass Christian to Biloxi on old US 90. The Katrina devastation was still beyond belief after seven months. The storm surge simply leveled nearly everything in its path for at least a half mile inland. It was just stunning and sad to see.
We have decided to do something different next year after eight years in the west. So we dipped down into Florida to check out an RV park north of Ocala. We like the park and we decided to spend some of December (snow shoveling avoidance) and January there. We hope to go to McDill Air Force Base in February and hit the Keys in March. With any luck, we will be able to get Paul and Ann plus spouses and, of course, the grandson down for a visit….something we didn’t do while we were in the west.
We then went to Titusville where we visited Ron and Ginny Norton at their lot in the Great Outdoors RV Resort. It is probably the most impressive park in the country. Ron and Ginny have decided to join us on our trip to Tuscany next fall. Something to look forward to!
From there we headed north stopping in Richmond to catch up with Ann and Dwayne. Ann cooked us one of her specialty dinners. The next night we did a cookout in the RV park with them and Paul who had spent the weekend helping his father-in-law move from Woodbridge to Alexandria, VA. It was great to see family again.
We put the Beav in storage and will be stationary…sort of… until July. Plans for the summer are pretty mushy right not but we’ll come up with something.
SPRINGSUMMERFALLWINTER2006WINTERSPRING2007 (Whew!)
Our failure to communicate in a timely fashion has its price. A terrible title for this edition of the R’ing P’s is the least of it. Trying to remember stuff as far back as a year ago is the real problem. Why are we putting ourselves through all this you ask? We have had lots of complaints for our lack of communications. People at the annual Naval Sea Systems Command submarine reunion jumped all over us. Didn’t we know how important our little missives were to them? Obviously not. There have been other complaints…little jibes…subtle hints that we should get off our duffs and keep sending out the saga of our travels. Alright already…we got the message. The following is our attempt to get you up to date in 25 words or less.
Last spring was glorious in the mountains of Virginia. We enjoyed our time in the cabin more that ever. The weather was great; the hot tub enjoyable. We had a great visit from John and Ellen Albin on their way north from the fishing grounds of the Florida Keys. We enjoyed a magical afternoon on the deck at Linden Vineyards…sausage, cheese, wine and good friends…. We repeated that formula in the fall when Mike and Beth Myers visited. In the summer, we spent the month of July in Maine. We had great seafood and got lots of exercise. We love Maine. Five Islands, Cornish, Forest Lake, Freeport, Yarmouth….Lobster, clams, haddock….John and Ellen, Liz Banta, Don and Bonnie Day…
After Maine, we returned to Virginia via Lake George and Albany, NY. Lake George is beautiful if somewhat touristy. We caught up with Tom and Jil Mohr and their friend Hammer and his wife. The highlight of our stay was our ‘day at the races’ in Saratoga, NY. We all won! Tom bet on jockeys, we bet on favorites, none of us really knew what we were doing …what the heck is an exacta? How did we all win? No matter. In Albany we caught up with Gisela’s pal Terri and her husband, Michael Franks. We toured the FDR home at Hyde Park and the CIA on the banks of the Hudson. CIA? Culinary Institute of America, what else.
We passed through Virginia briefly to catch up with Gisela’s mother and then headed for Michigan. Camped near Monroe for a reunion with Nephew Andy Pollock and his gang…family motor coaching at its best. We made a quick stop in Marshall to catch up with Bill’s high school classmates Chuck and Mary Crosby. Then it was off to Camp Opperman in Rockford, Michigan so Bill could continue his mini-HS reunion with his pal Ivan and his wonderful wife, Janis. Ivan and Bill played golf twice this year (Ivan played golf, Bill did something else using golf clubs and balls but it wasn’t recognizable as golf.) Bill again walked the streets of his home town…remember the Red Flannel Town….visited the Museum, etc. Gisela thinks it’s because he peaked in high school.
We headed north to the Leelanau Peninsula for a week to visit sister-in-law Pat and enjoy one the neatest areas of Michigan. Bill’s brother Bob came up from Kalamazoo. We enjoyed boating on Lake Leelanau, playing tennis, and just being with family.
We shot back down to Elkhart, Indiana to get some work done on the motorhome and meet up with Bob to spend some time at Notre Dame for the Penn State game. After that it was back to Virginia by mid-September.
Fall was really nice on High Knob. We again had visits from John and Ellen as migrated back to fishing grounds. Mike and Beth’s visit has already been noted. Tom and Jil stopped by for a visit and a high school football game.
We headed for the Outer Banks for a major First birthday party for Grandson William. We combined that with a beach weekend with Don and Kathee Larmee in a charming beach shack.
At the end of October, we took off for a nineteen day trip to Tuscany. We met Tom and Jil Mohr and Ron and Ginny Norton in Florence (Firenze) for “pre-tour tour” The six of us spent five delightful days exploring this amazing city. There was art every where - from sculptures (Michelangelo’s David to name one) to frescos, from paintings to incredibly ornate door knockers. There were churches, basilicas, and cathedrals with baptisteries and campaniles (bell towers) which of course contained much of the sculpture, frescos and paintings and had some of the knockers on the doors. And was stuff ever old! We think old is a couple of hundred hears but in Italy (Italia) there were these cats called Etruscans who taught the ancient Romans (like B.C. Romans) about engineering and road building. They did some stuff 3000 years ago that’s still standing. To be honest most of their remaining stuff was in holes like burial sites but impressive never the less.
We walked our feet off since Firenze is a very walkable city and of course we didn’t have motor scooters like the native Florentines. All that walking worked up our appetites so we enjoyed wonderful food - pasta with pesto, pizza margherita (no tequila), pecorino, bistecca, biscotti, and bruschetta - all washed down with good wine - Chianti, Vino Nobile, Brunello, Vin Santo (with the biscotti), and Ron’s favorite, Novello Vino Rosso (loosely translated as ‘baby red wine‘). The good news was that the walking pretty much cancelled out the increase in calories. Except for the Gelato. Those Italians really know how to do ice cream.
Our return from Italy in November was followed by our traditional holiday season on High Knob Mountain….Thanksgiving with Gisela’s mother, Christmas with the whole gang…Grandson William at the center of attention of course and New Years doings with Don and Kathee Larmee.
Our usual departure for warmer climates on January 3rd was delayed due to the need to move Gisela’s mother into an assisted living residence near Front Royal. That went pretty smoothly so we were on our way south by the end of the month. Our first stop was Grand Lakes Golf and RV Resort south of Gainesville, Florida. We spent a month there and enjoyed camping with Don and Bonnie Day, visits from Ivan and Janis Opperman and getting together with Navy friends Jim and Anne Jaudon and George and Debbie Bryan. Bill ran into Bob Kriemer, who he relieved in a job way back in 1979, at a U of Florida basketball game. Ivan and Bill hit the links again with the same results as in Michigan. Along with the Oppermans, we payed a visit to high school classmate Penny Peltzer and her husband, Art in the Villages. Quite a community…like a senior citizen theme park. We were there just a few days before the big tornado in early February which kept us up nearly all night until it passed to our south.
After spending the a month in one place we hit the road visiting Ron and Ginny Norton at the Great Outdoors in Titusville, Ron and Donna Monroe in Orlando, Liz Banta in Venice, John and Ellen Albin in Key Colony Beach, George and Diana Ruelens at Key Largo, and Larry and Rosie Brock in Deerfield Beach. Whew!
What we needed was a relaxing sea cruise. So in mid-April we sailed from Miami for Southampton, England. It was a delightful 12 days with visits to the Azores, Ireland, and France. Eight days at sea were totally relaxing. It was a great way for Gisela and I to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We even ran into RVers Roy and Dot Van Dyne on the ship. We enjoyed meeting many nice folks…dinner companions Zena and Jerry from England and Ronn and Dottie Garton from San Diego to name a few. 1000 of the 3000 passengers were from Great Britain. They were a delight except we all struggled to understand each other at times …two peoples separated by a common language.
Upon landing in England we went directly to the airport and flew back to Miami, picked up the motor home and made a beeline for Virginia arriving on May 1st. That pretty much brings us up to date.
SPRING/SUMMER 2007
When last you heard from us we had zipped up the east coast to Virginia having just returned from our transatlantic cruise. We spent the month of May at our mountain cabin fully intending to continue our exercise program and get some serious work down around the cabin. As usual, the best laid plans of mice and men…..In actuality, we accomplished very little but we did enjoy our reunion with the hot tub and had a nice bit of spring in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We also had a family reunion of sorts at son Paul’s house in Kill Devil Hills, NC. Daughter Ann came down from Richmond and joined Paul, Yvette and Grandson William for a weekend of family merriment. Good food and good cheer all around and, of course, William was the center of attention as well he should have been as he is just about the cutest little guy around. (All grand parents say the same thing, I’m sure.)
The end of May found us back in the motorhome heading for Notre Dame and Bill’s 40th college reunion. It was great for Bill to see some people and places from his youth which is… long past. A high point was renewal of our wedding vows in Sacred Heart Basilica… not a bad thing to do after 25 years. It was great to see guys like Ned Stuart, Diego Tamayo, Bugs White, Bobby Crongeyer, Jim “Thunder” Thornton, and John Overmann to name a few. Gisela was such a good sport to endure the endless stories of the silliness of Bill’s youth. We also visited the South Bend Center for the Homeless - a partnership between the university and the community which goes beyond sheltering the homeless…a real effort to turn peoples lives around. Very inspirational.
We headed for Michigan to visit Bill’s brother Bob for a few days and then back to Indiana for a visit to Gisela’s cousin Glorianne and her partner, Susan in Bloomington which is the home of Indiana University. There is nothing like a university town. The city and the university seem to be tightly interwoven which gives the city a real feeling of vitality. We were able to get together with Gisela’s cousin Henry, his wife Meredith, their daughter Anya and grandson Rohnan. He is pretty darn cute too. Bloomington will most certainly be an integral part of our Midwestern travels from now on.
We did a quick return to Michigan, stopping to see Bill’s high school pal Ivan and his lovely wife Janis on our way to Ontario, Canada. Bill played what may be his last golf game …it was just awful. Gisela and Janis went to a play at Cedar Springs’ (the Red Flannel Town) own Kent Theater while Bill played poker with Ivan and a bunch of guys and pretty much cleaned them out…Bill found a substitute for golf proving once again that luck and timing beats skill any day of the week which, as we all know, is the story of his life.
Off to Canada we went. We were on a genealogy mission looking for the Pollocks of Northumberland County, Ontario. Boy did we find them. In a little town of Warkworth we located the graves of Bill’ great-great grand father and mother, his great grandfather and mother and a bunch of others as well. Pollocks, McConnells, Herchheimers, Humphries, and Boyces. We found the old Pollock farm and even older houses built by relatives. How did we find all this you ask. We looked where the family genealogist, Bill’s daughter, Ann, told us to look. Ann has been chasing branches of the family tree for eight years ….she does the masterminding and Bill does the leg work. We also got together with some living Pollock relatives near Toronto which was a real treat.
We slipped back over the border into New York State at Clayton in the Thousand Islands area of the Saint Lawrence River/Seaway. We have been there once before and really enjoyed it. This time was even better because we met up with Tom and Jil Mohr and met a lot of nice people who were friends of Tom’s from his days growing up in the Rochester, NY area. We had a delightful time.
We then caravanned as far a Virginia with Tom and Jil where we stopped for a week to look in on Gisela’s mother who is in an assisted living facility near Front Royal. We then headed down to the “Inner Banks” of North Carolina around Washington and New Bern. We were investigating the area for possible, eventual relocation. Sooner or later a place on a mountain will need to be replaced by some place that knows not snow and is level. The fact that there is lots of water in eastern NC is another factor that makes it attractive. That’s because we are also thinking that someday we will transition from the Beav to a Boat. And then there is the Bar-B-Que that Bill thinks is the best there is. Even Gisela liked the chopped pork in Aydin, perhaps the best in eastern NC according to some experts.
Thanks to Roy and Julie Hendrix, we had a very productive two weeks. Roy and Julie had just moved to River Bend near New Bern and provided a wealth of knowledge and information on the area. We decided we really liked the New Bern area but are not sure of the timing of a future move.
In the small world category, as soon as we pulled into the RV park in Chockowinity, who did we encounter but Roy and Dot Van Dyne who we had last seen on the transatlantic cruise.
We took the time for a speed run to Kill Devil Hills for another family gathering. This time Ann’s husband, Dwayne was able to make it as well. We had another fine time and found that William has gotten cuter if that is possible.
North Carolina in July was pretty tough weather-wise…The three H’s - Hazy, Hot, and Humid. Escaping from the NC H3 in mid-July we headed back north to the Finger Lakes Region of New York again via Front Royal and another visit to Gisela’s mom. This time we just parked at the local Elks club rather than opening up the cabin. We met up with our pals, Ron and Ginny Norton in NY for a week of fun, food and laughs. We parked near Watkins Glen, did some hikes, day trips, winery visits, and just enjoyed ourselves. We were surprised to see the Norton’s New Horizon fifth wheel looking very different after a face-lift, that is, a terrific new paint job. Bill did some more genealogical research on the Gravelles who are the French side of the family. They spent some time in Ontario County, New York before moving on to Michigan. He found Moses Gravelle’s application for citizenship in the county archives. Ann was thrilled to get those documents.
At the end of July we headed east to spend the month of August in Maine. We really love the coast of Maine and if we are lucky we spend the summer there for a couple of days in July or August each year. We were lucky again this year as August has been pretty darn nice compared to more hazy, hot, humid weather in the southeast part of the country. We have had lobsters with John and Ellen Albin, lobsters, with Liz Banta, clams with John and Ellen, clams with Liz, Haddock with…yes, we love the seafood in Maine as well as catching up with friends. We have spent some of our time here looking at trawlers…not working trawlers but cruising trawlers. We are narrowing our list of requirements so we will know what to look for when the time is right. When will that be? We’ll let you know when we know.
We got down to Ogunquit, ME to hook up with Michael Franks and Terri Goldrich-Franks. We had a great dinner at Barnacle Billy’s in Perkins Cove….Clams and haddock, what else? We saw a great Ansel Adams photo display in the Museum of American Art and took a walk along the coast. Michael has retired but Terri was trying to relax before launching into another year of teaching high school English near Albany, NY.
We retuned to Virginia in early September in time for the opening of the college football season. Given that Bill lives and dies with ND football he is now on life support after three disastrous games. If they start 0-8 as some are predicting, we may have to pull the plug on him. He says that he saw his first ND game in 1949 and can take the bad with good. We shall see. At any rate, we have gotten serious about our cabin maintenance and have had a chance to spend time with Gisela’s mom.
We made a day trip to Baltimore to see son-in-law Dwayne’s art work that he was selling at a comics convention. Very impressive work! We then headed further north to meet up with George and Diana Ruelens aboard “Two If By Sea,” their 40 foot Trawler. We were able to get underway as well as enjoy dinner on the sundeck. We hope to see them again in a couple of weeks at Trawler Fest in Solomons, Maryland.
Our other Fall plans include a few days at the Outer Banks of North Carolina to celebrate William’s second birthday, We are getting a beach house with our great friends Don and Kathee Larmee (of the Bill and Don dropping the New Years acorn fame). Mid-October will find us heading for the Greek Islands, Athens, and Istanbul, Turkey followed by a visit to Tom and Jil Mohr in Venice, Italy. We will give you a full report upon our return.
FALL 2007
GREECE, TURKEY, AND VENICE
The 19th of October found us winging our way to Athens, Greece from JFK
airport in New York where we met up with our sister-in-law, Pat. We arrived
the next morning and hooked up with the rest of our group which included
twenty-five people from western Michigan several of whom grew up in Bill's
hometown of Cedar Springs (think Red Flannels). This includes the Rayces,
Oppermans, Mabies, and Simmons. It also included a subset of folks with whom
we have traveled to Provence and Tuscany, so it was like a reunion of sorts.
Our tour guide for GoAhead Vacations, Gloria, a transplanted Roman and
former ballet dancer led us on a walk to get oriented to downtown Athens. By
the time we reached the tomb of the unknown soldier it was raining. The
people of drought stricken Athens, Georgia would have killed for the rain
that came down in buckets and turned the streets into rivers. Shoes full of
water, pants wet up to the knees.The good news is that this was the only bad
rain we had for the next twenty-four days.
The next day was a whirlwind tour of Athens including the Acropolis and
Pantheon, the Temple of Poseidon (Neptune) the god of the sea, and several
other ancient ruins. The contrast between these ancient sites and the rather
drab 20th century buildings in Athens was stark. The Acropolis was a mob
scene driven by a host of cruise ships being in port. It is easy to see why
lots of travel gurus tell you to avoid destinations frequented by cruise
ships.
Since our tour was really about the Greek islands, we headed for the island
of Crete via an Olympic Airlines DC-1 in the middle of a violent thunder
storm. There were more than a few white knuckles and Gloria promised to
marry the pilot if he got us safely on the ground. We were on the verge of
turning back to Athens when the pilot found a hole in the clouds, banked
sharply and dove for the airstrip. I wasn't sure whether he was going to
land on it or strafe it. Needless to say, the landing was a good one (as in
any landing you walk away from is "good"). The high points of Crete were the
ancient (1600 BC) Minoan Palace at Knossos, and the cities of Heraklion and
Chania. Crete was conquered by the Venetians in 1204 as part of the fourth
crusade and ruled by them for the next 400 or so years. This resulted in
Venetian fortresses and other signs of Cretan exposure to the Renaissance.
Another high point was our visit to Domino's Pizza where we tried and failed
to convince the staff to give us free pizza because we were a quality
assurance team sent by CEO and founder Tom Monahan. Just a bit of ugly
Americanism but in good fun. (This was our first, last and only fast food
foray of the trip. This was also in contrast to our previous night's dinner.
Many of our group went to a local restaurant, right next to the market were
we purchased our wine for happy hours. While we received menus, it became
obvious there was no need for them since we were told to go back into the
kitchen and select what we wanted, or rather what was left. All selections
were excellent.
After three nights on Crete we departed via a fast catamaran ferry for the
island of Santorini,named for Saint Irene. This was a standard round island
which had a volcano in the middle that erupted in Minoan times about
thirty-five hundred years ago. It is now a half circle overlooking the
crater or caldera. We found some nice restaurants with great views from
which to enjoy the ambiance. We did the sunset at the village of Oia (Eyah),
and we shopped. You have never seen so many jewelry shops as we saw on this
trip. Santorini was only the beginning. Actually Crete may have been the
beginning. After a couple of days we got back on the fast Cat and headed for
the island of Mykonos which is famous for its night life and beaches where
many of the bathers are obviously poor since they can't afford swim wear.
That may be what it's famous for but we were there at the very end of the
season which resulted in empty beaches. Gloria took us to visit a monastery
instead of the beaches and if there was any nightlife we were not able to
stay up late enough to check it out.
From Mykonos we took a short boat ride to the ancient ruins on the island of
Delos. This place takes the prize for old. It's inhabitants date back 5000
years. It is also the mythological birthplace of the mythological twin gods
Apollo and Artemis. We heard a lot about this mythology throughout Greece,
but I still don't get it. Anyway, we saw some incredible mosaic floors in a
house that was thousands of years old and the ruins of thousands of shops
that dated to the Roman times when Delos was a major seaport.
At Mykonos we boarded a cruise ship, the Cristal, for a four day cruise to
1) Patmos (shopping), 2) Rhodes, whose walled city dates back to the 1300's
AD and the Knights Hospitaller, 3) Ephesus in Turkey which
was truly amazing including the surrounding area which was home to Saint
John and the Blessed Virgin Mary in their latter years, and 4) the Turkish
town of Kusadasi where you could get genuine Turkish rugs and genuine fake
Rolex watches.
We then returned to Crete and Santorini. Since we wanted to revisit one of
our restaurant vistas, we went ashore in Santorini. There are no piers so
you anchor out and go ashore in small boats (tenders). So far, so good. Once
you get off the tender you have a choice of transport up the 800 foot cliff;
hike the steps, take a tram, or donkey. The ladies took the tram.no dummies
they. and the guys took the donkeys. Just on smell alone the tram was the
best deal. We enjoyed the setting sun with a $9.00 glass of local boxed
wine, which wasn't half bad but at that price should have been even better.
The cruise ended in the port of Athens, Piraeus, where upon we boarded a bus
to visit the ancient archeological site at Delphi as in the Oracle of. This
site was high in the mountains above Athens and remarkable in its own right.
It dates back to the 7th century BC and was the site of the Temple of
Apollo. Since Apollo is a mythical figure, the fact that the Sybyl, the
priestess of the Oracle, was intoxicated from vapors emanating from the
fissure above which she sat, and spoke in riddles which were interpreted by
the priests makes perfect sense. Or is nonsense depending on how you look at
it. Nevertheless the ruins were impressive and the views were
magnificent. And we had some good Greek chow on our way back to Athens where
we bedded down early in anticipation of another exciting Olympic Airlines
flight to Istanbul.
After our action packed, fun filled tour of Athens and the Greek Islands we
said good bye to part of our group of forty-three as twenty-three of us
headed for Istanbul, Turkey. Yes, another adventure on Olympic Airlines.this
time on a jet!
We didn't really know a lot about Turkey. Bill's college history professor
continually referred to the people as the 'rakish and formidable Turks'
which is a neat phrase whose context has been long forgotten. Friends had
warned us not to go there because of unrest, trouble with the Kurds, etc. We
had a positive preview from our visit to Kusadasi and Ephesus but even at
that we were in for a pleasant surprise.
We stayed in a hotel right in the center of the historic district so we
could walk to many of the highlights of the city. Our first venture was to
the Grand Bazaar...which was a pretty amazing place..nearly 4000 shops .all
under cover. In fact the Turkish name, Kapali Carsi, means covered market.
Gold jewelry, silver jewelry, hats, scarves, more genuine fake watches and,
of course, rugs. Everyone we met from our tour director, Al, to the waiters
in the restaurants either sold rugs or knew someone who did. And, according
to whoever you were talking to, they were the only honest dealer in town;
everyone else was selling fakes. We were approached on the street by a young
man, Gokhan, who wanted to show us around, buy us Turkish tea, and, of
course, introduce us to his uncle who had a rug shop. He was pretty
interesting in that he said he was married to an Irish-Catholic lawyer in
San Jose, California.he had a California drivers license and a resident
alien card so he was either an elaborate faker or the real deal. We did
visit his rug shop with our friend Bruce Rayce who knows more than a little
bit about oriental rugs. We did see a genuine, Turkish, Hereke, silk on
silk, 2400 double knots per square inch rug that was amazing and only
$48,000...but hey, it was big...almost 3'X 5'. Most Herekes of this type are
framed and hung on the wall. We all admired it but no one bought it. What we
learned is that the whole country is on commission. As long as you
understand that, you'll be okay. By the way "okay" is a Greek word but that's
another story.
We were also cautioned to beware of pickpockets and to expect that most of
the stuff sold to tourists was junk. We found some junk that we liked...brass
pepper mills and a red fez (hat) among other things. Bill asked the tour
director who wore red fezes besides tourists; he answered," No one, they
were outlawed in 1922." But the Greek fisherman's he bought in Greece
obviously needed a companion. All Gisela could think of was how to distract
him in Venice so he doesn't buy one of those straw boaters that the
gondoliers wear.
We were awakened each morning around 5:30 AM by the call to prayer
loudspeaker on the minaret of the mosque outside our hotel window. There are
more mosques than you can count in Istanbul. We visited the most famous, the
Blue Mosque, known to the Turks as the Sultan Ahmet mosque - six minarets,
fantastic blue tiles, and the biggest prayer rug you have ever seen. It did
look machine made...coulda been Chinese. We also toured the Hagia Sophia,
which started life as the Byzantine Church of the Holy Wisdom in about 532
AD and served as the seat of the orthodox patriarch of Constantinople until
1204 AD when the knights of the fourth crusade in cahoots with the Venetians
sacked the town, stole lots of priceless stuff (which they sent back to
Venice so Napoleon could steal in all in 1797 AD and take it all back to
France). They also turned it into a Latin cathedral until 1261 AD when the
Byzantines got it back. Then along came the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD,
changed Constantinople to Istanbul and turned the Hagia Sophia into a mosque
which it stayed until 1935 when the founder of the modern, secular, Republic
of Turkey, Mustafa Kemel Ataturk, turned it into a museum. This whole
confusing business can best be summed up by that tin pan alley ditty
"Istanbul, not Constantinople" which goes something like this:
"Istanbul was Constantinople, Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople, Been a
long time gone, Constantinople. Why did Constantinople get the works ---
That's nobody's business but the Turks" All clear now?
Another amazing property we visited was the Topkapi Palace which the Ottoman
Sultans called home from 1465 AD to 1853 AD. The Sultans were the guys who
wore the red Fez as well as some really neat headgear that bears a strong
resemblance to the turban worn by Johnnie Carson doing his Karnack bit. Bill
saw one of them being hawked by a street vendor but Gisela was able to hold
the line on the acquisition of any more "hats." Only one hat per country was
the way she put it...but, of course, that sort of opened the door for the
gondolier hat in Italy. The palace is located on a hill overlooking the Sea
of Marmara and the Golden Horn which flows into the Bosphorus Straits - an
incredible piece of real estate. The Topkapi dagger, which was the subject
of a 1964 movie for which Peter Ustinov won an Oscar, is displayed there
along with the spoonmakers diamond, a mere 86 carats.
We also took in the Basilica Cistern, an underground chamber held up with
336 used marble columns and holding 21 million gallons of water over nearly
two and half acres. If that sounds like the setting for a scene from a James
Bond movie, it was...in "From Russia with Love."
Other highlights of our stay in Istanbul included a dinner for our whole
group in a terrace restaurant overlooking the Blue Mosque and the Bosphorus
Straight. We discovered it having been approached on the street by Cafer, a
waiter who was also studying to be an English teacher, no doubt to help his
rug sales pitch, which of course he delivered after dinner. We also checked
out the world famous Spice Bazaar where they actually sell spices but I bet
you could get a rug or a fake Rolex if you really wanted one.
The crowning event was a boat ride through the Bosphorus Straits followed by
the best meal of the trip. The meal almost didn't happen due to a
nose-to-nose standoff between our tour bus and an Istanbul city bus on what
would have been a one-way, one-lane street any where else in the world. Our
bus won and we had a great sea food luncheon. Even the squid was done
perfectly.
Later that day we all began to say our goodbyes to the rest of the group
since we were heading for the airport at 3:00 AM for our flight to Venice.
As luck would have it, the power went off on our floor of the hotel at 2:15
right in the middle of Bill's shave. Our mini-mag light saved the day and we
made it to the airport on time.
So we departed Turkey having had a great time but with some things left
undone. We did not see a whirling dervish or a belly dancer; we did not
sample that original sweet...Turkish Delight although we did have the baklava
which our tour director was quick to point out was Turkish invention not
Greek. As a matter of fact the Turks seemed rather strongly opposed to
sharing credit with the Greeks for anything. The Greek Gyro...not so fast...it's
a Turkish Doner that was simply copied/stolen from them as was the
aforementioned baklava. We also did not avail ourselves of a Turkish Bath
with those great Turkish towels. It is clear that we have reasons to return
and, after spending a few days in Istanbul, we began to understand the basis
for calling them the 'rakish and formidable Turks.' They seemed to be all of
that and more.
Ah, Venice..we'll always have Venice. Not exactly what Bogey said but
somehow it seems fitting. Our Venice adventure started when we boarded the
"bus" at Marco Polo Airport. Actually the bus was a boat.this one was like
the water taxis rather than the large vaporettoes that make up the bus
system in this amazing city. As we crossed the lagoon headed for the city,
it seemed to rise from the water as we approached. Towers and domes and
spires just rising up from the sea. Amazing!
When we got to the third 'bus' stop (Guglie), we saw our friends, Tom and
Jil Mohr, waiting for us. They are RV friends and transplanted Manhattanites
who are now living in Venice (since last August) for a year or two or maybe
more. What a fabulous convergence of people, places and things..Visiting
Venice with people who speak the language, have an apartment, know their way
around the city, and are really great friends. Wow!
We spent the next six days getting our initial introduction to this
fascinating place.
We did some tourist stuff and some normal retired, expatriots living in
Venice stuff. The first thing we did was take the secret, behind the scenes
tour of the Doges' Palace with Tom, Jil and their friend Susan, an expat
from Phoenix. The Doge is what the Venitians called their 'head honcho' back
in the days of the Venetian Republic. "The Venetian Republic was a major
maritime power and a staging area for the Fourth Crusade, as well as a very
important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and
art in the Renaissance and up to the end of the 17th century." (That is how
Wikipedia defines it which is accurate except it should be the end of the
18th century since the Republic lasted until 1797). The behind the scenes
tour featured the cell from which the notorious Giacomo Casanova escaped in
1755, a walk over the 'bridge of sighs' which leads from the palace
(palazzo) to the prison cells/executioner and the usual torture chamber. The
Venitian aristocracy selected the Doge from among their number but
established an intricate set of checks and balances so that the he didn't
get out of hand. One or two tried it but they found themselves making that
long walk over the aforementioned bridge. The behind the scenes tour was
followed by a tour through the public spaces which were pretty spectacular.
Some of that is a function of the stuff the Venetians swiped from the Turks
and were later able to hide from Napoleon.
After that exhausting tour we decided that having a cup of coffee in the
Piazza San Marco.the famous, pigeon-filled square in front of Saint Mark's
Basilica. Jil and Susan had passed on the public tour so it was just Gisela,
Bill and Tom. Lucky for us since we were buying. Tom did mention that coffee
in one of the cafes in the piazza was expensive.but hey, how expensive could
a cup of coffee be? How about 18 Bucks each? Live and learn, eh?
Some of the other tourist events included a visit by Bill to the Navy museum
at the Arsenale, boat rides on the Grand Canal, mass at the church of San
Giorgio Maggiore whose bell tower provided an amazing view of the city and a
tour of San Marco Basilica and its amazing ceiling mosaics. talk about gold.
The façade of San Marco features four larger than life-size bronze horses
from, you guessed it Constantinople, now Istanbul.
Having read the book "City of Falling Angels" about the destruction by fire
(arson?) of the Venice opera house, La Fenice in 1997, it was a natural to
take a tour. The reconstructed La Fenice did not disappoint. It would be a
real treat to attend an event there. A reason to return..Tom and Jil -
WOHeTCA..Watch Out Here They Come Again!
There is some serious art in Venice - Jacopo Tintoretto, Bellini, Veronese,
Guardi, Titian to name a few. We, actually Tom, who knows some stuff about
art (is an artist in his own right) decided to select the Scoula Grande di
San Rocco as the major art venue to visit. What a great choice. The Scoulas
were sort of club houses for the aristocracy that artists of the day
competed to "decorate." Jacapo T won and did the majority of the work. His
crucifixion of Christ was every bit as amazing as Tom said it would be. But
there are other venues that we passed up like the Galleria dell'Accademia.WOHeTCA!
Then there was the shopping. Every where you went was either on foot or by
water. Every street was lined with shops of all sorts. We did not do the
tour of the Murano glass making plant on Murano Island but we saw the output
everywhere. It was necessary to double the amount of time allowed to get
someplace because of the shopping stops. Clothing, jewelry, shoes, etc.
Those gondolier hats were everywhere...mostly on the heads of the gondoliers.
The other side of Venice was the behind the scenes Venice that made the
visit so special. Two lunches and two dinners at non-tourist restaurants
that were fabulous. Small places where you slowly work your way through the
anitpasti, prima patti (pasta), entree and dolce (sweets) with the
appropriate wine and coffee. La Bitta was our favorite but they were all
wonderful.
Then there was our dining in at Tom and Jil's apartment. Their place is
really neat with marble floors (we'll remember our slippers next time -
WOHeTCA!), a wonderful bathroom (very important and appreciated after some
not so great ones on the tour), and a nice big yard. Dinner begins with a
trip to the Rialto Market after breakfast. This requires a ride on a
gondola, but this one only costs 50 cents since it only goes across the
Grand Canal, not the $90 tourist ride. There is the fresh produce - all
kinds of exotic radicchios, etc. - The cheese market..love that gorgonzola,
right Tom?...and of course the meat market. It was very thoughtful of the
butcher to remove the head and the innards of the hare (it's really a rabbit
as in the Easter Bunny). It was convenient that the back room of the cheese
shop was the wine shop. Jil and Gisela whipped it all together for some
great meals. And beyond that we had companionship, a lot of laughs, and were
made to feel warmly welcome.WO..
After six wonderful days, it was time to head for the airport and a day of
aviation transportation. We needed to be at the airport at 5:30 AM since we
had two flights - Venice to Milan and Milan to Frankfurt, Germany to catch a
1:15 PM flight to Washington, Dulles. You can't just have a cab pick you up
to take you to the airport. The Venice version is a water taxi or a twenty
minute 'schlep' over three bridges to the bus station with two fifty pound
suitcases and two carry-ons. We chose the 'schlep.' The water taxi runs
about ninety Euros ($135) versus 6 Euros for the bus. After nearly a month
of record bad exchange rates and high tourist prices (not to mention the $54
we dropped for coffee), we were ready for the low cost alternative. Tom and
Jil helped us with the 'schlepping.' Before we knew it we were gliding
across the bridge to the airport..Wait! Stop the music! Hold the phone! Bill
forgot his gondolier hat...ooooh, too bad.
2008
JANUARY-APRIL
The last time you heard from us we were flying back from our Greece, Turkey, Venice trip and looking forward to Thanksgiving. We did pretty much our traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas season except that two year old Grandson William was even cuter that ever. Another exception was that Ann and Dwayne did not make it up to the cabin. Ann’s faithful feline companion, Big Kitty, was taken ill with renal failure and subsequently passed away. Big Kitty was nearly 19 and had been with Ann for over half her life. She is missed.
New Year’s found us doing our usual ‘lowering the acorn’ silliness with Don and Kathee Larmee. Those of you who have been reading this stuff for most of this century know the story. So what did we do this winter?
We must be getting old….we went to Florida. On our way we stopped in Richmond so we could have a belated Christmas with Ann and Dwayne. We then transited to New Bern, North Carolina to see Roy and Julie Hendrix and re-visit the area which is high on our list of future home bases. Julie made the most fabulous curry ever…it was like we used to get onboard submarines only way better. We’ll be back! Next, we stopped in Saint Augustine to enjoy a wonderful meal with Don and Bonnie Day and George and Phyllis Hyrcza, friends and neighbors from High Knob mountain. We then moved on to the Great Outdoors RV Park in Titusville where we caught up with Ron and Ginny Norton and helped them break in their new Casita/Florida Room. After many cut-throat games of pegs and jokers, visits to the Brevard Zoo and Winter Park, and lots of laughs we headed further south.
Actually we went to training camp in the Florida Keys. The wonderful food and drink we enjoyed in Europe and the holiday season needed to be worked off….and the Naval Air Station, Key West was just the place to do it. We hunkered down and exercised and dieted. We avoided socializing for the most part. We did spend some quality time in Marathon with John and Ellen Albin….Bill even caught a hound fish, something John says he has never been able to do…and John knows fishing. We also visited Bob and Esther Crongeyer aboard their Trawler, Estherjane, at the Marathon Yacht Club and George and Diana Reulins on their Trawler, Two If By Sea, at Boot Key. We took in the Miami Boat Show looking closely at power catamarans. Someday, maybe…. We also had a visit form Rosie Brock, Gisela’s high school pal. But mostly we stuck to the program. The majority of visits to downtown Key West was to go to the post office for our mail or get in our daily walk.
We interrupted our Keys training regimen in late February when we made a speed run to Virginia. Kathee Larmee’s mom passed away and we just felt like we needed to be there with them so we jumped in the Jeep and headed north. We just thought that these were the times when friends should be there for friends…besides we couldn’t find anyone to deliver the Bushmills Irish Whiskey for the wake…so we had to bring it ourselves. (That’s an inside story.) We stopped in North Carolina to see William (and his parents), went to Virginia Beach for the memorial service after which Bill cooked the Brats that were served in memory of Kathee’s Dad. We then headed for Richmond and brunch with daughter, Ann and son-in-law Dwayne followed by a return to our cabin and some time with Gisela’s mom.
We retuned to Florida and broke camp in the Keys on March 11 and headed for Venice, FL. Not so fast….the right front wheel brake caliper hung up in Marathon. You know how you can tell when a brake hangs up on a motor home?…it’s the smell. After a night on the side of the road and a bunch of money we were on our way again …for about five miles when the left front brake locked up…we knew the smell. Heck, the roadside repair guy saw it happen so we didn’t have to call him. Since it was Friday, we limped into a KOA where we spent four nights (at $80 a night). Those four nights cost us half again as much as the two months we spent at the FamCamp in Key West. Good Grief! This reminds us of the $18 cup of coffee in Venice (Italy). Oh, by the way (OBTW) at the latest exchange rate with the Euro that coffee is up to $21.60
We did make it to Venice (Florida) where we met up with Bob and Nancy Colbert for a rather short Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and spent several fun days with our long time friend, Liz Banta.
Leaving Venice, we proceeded to Ocala where we caught up with Jim and Anne Jaudon (if you listen to the radio in Ocala you know him as Captain Conservation) and George and Debbie Bryan. We then moved on to Apalachicola, the forgotten coast of Florida. Someone must have remembered it since we were there in 2000 because a lot of waterfront property now has houses built on it….and it was all for sale. Apparently these second homes have prohibitive insurance and property tax bills…but they are not giving them away. That notwithstanding, Saint George’s State Park’s nine miles of amazing beach is still there. We had one of those campsites that you dream about with incredible sunsets over Saint Joe Bay. (for Chris Christainsen…like San Blas, Mexico.) One of the draws for Bill is the Apalachicola Oysters and the ones at Papa Joes did not disappoint but the ones at the Wheelhouse did.
We moved on to Pensacola for a week. Bill got to repay a 42 year old debt….he took Rita Finneran, ND classmate Pat’s mom, to dinner. When Bill went to Pensacola for spring break in ‘66, Rita took Bill out for a fabulous seafood dinner. Bill didn’t know real seafood…he thought fish sticks and tuna noodle casserole were seafood. Rita is 87 and still working for Fisher Brown Insurance in Pensacola….she just celebrated her 60th year there. Pretty amazing lady. We also tried to get together with Bill and Peggy White but Bill came down with the Panhandle Plague so we never made it. But we did have another fabulous campsite at the Blue Angles FamCamp where we had sunsets over Perdido Bay.
On we went to Louisiana via coastal Mississippi. We drove old US 90 from Biloxi to Pass Christian….Katrina was everywhere, still. The most progress we saw was that four out of five Waffle Houses had been rebuilt…when we drove it in 2006 there were five Waffle House signs and zero Waffle Houses.
The first of April found us at Betty’s RV Park in Abbeville, LA. Betty’s is Special….Unique …among RV parks on the planet. Visiting Betty’s is like visiting a relative. She wants you to have fun. Cajun music, crawfish, cookouts with a Cajun microwave….charcoal on top, meat below.…we spent two weeks there and it was two weeks too little. We raced over to Orange, Texas and renewed our drivers licenses, tracked down Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys who can play some music, had Zydeco breakfast a Café des Ami…etc. We were really lucky to do most of this with Mike and Beth Myers who stopped at Betty’s for a week. We had not seen them for two years so it was special to get together.
It was a real treat to go over to Baton Rouge and tackle 25 pounds of crawfish with outgoing LSU Chancellor Sean and Laura O’Keefe and their son Kevin. We polished off the whole thing plus some shrimp, potatoes and corn. To be honest, Kevin did about half of the 25 pounds….it’s great to be 17. It was terrific to catch up with Sean and Laura. We hope we can return the favor since they are returning to the DC area this summer. OBTW, we did not discuss the 2007 ND-LSU Sugar Bowl game. But I did pay off from losing the bet.
Reluctantly we departed Betty’s on April 15th and headed for the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi. What’s a Juke Joint you ask…check out http://www.deltablues.net/ for a pretty good answer. We celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary at Mididi’s, the restaurant in Clarksdale owned by Morgan Freeman. It was fine dining at it’s best. We then traveled to the other end of Delta Avenue to the Ground Zero Blues Club also owned by Morgan Freeman for some authentic Delta Blues music. We spent six interesting days in Clarksdale. It was at one time the “Golden Buckle in the Cotton Belt.” That was both good and bad. Lots of folks got rich and lots more folks got exploited. Then in 1946 along came the mechanical cotton picker and lots of folks went from working long hours in the hot sun for low wages to not working at all and no wages. North they went…to Chicago, Detroit, Washington, DC, Harlem, and other places where there was the hope of jobs and a better life. See The Promised Land by Nicholas Lemann the real story. Today’s Clarksdale is very interesting, enlightening for northerners like Gisela and me, and trying mightily to make a comeback of sorts. We are glad we learned more of this slice of Americana. While there we made a few side trips…to Friars Point, where Conway Twitty grew up, Helena, Arkansas, a lot like Clarksdale only in Arkansas and Memphis. Of course, we visited Graceland. Elvis has left the building…he is in the yard…oops memorial garden. We had some fabulous Memphis Ribs at Neely’s, walked Beale Street and drove by the Lorraine Motel, now the National Civil Rights Museum. We would go back to see more and have more of the fabulous ribs.
Leaving Mississippi, we made a three day run up the interstates to Front Royal, Virginia and the cabin. The first day our laptop hard drive crashed…it did not like some serious bumps on I-40 while we were running GPS. The last night out our refrigerator died. How did we know that? The melted forty calorie fudge bars were a dead give away. We don’t yet know if it is a total loss or maybe a blown fuse. Total loss is more likely but one can hope.
So that is the story of our rovings this winter. We will hang around Virginia until July and then head for the Midwest…Bill’s 45th high school reunion, time with family and friends, maybe some ND football and we might even stay around for Red Flannel Day in Cedar Springs. If you’re saying to yourself, “What in the heck is Red Flannel Day all about?” Bill will be glad to give you the whole story…Just make sure you’ve got plenty of time before you ask.
PS:The Refrigerator?…not a blown fuse…darn.
