I hate it when that happens!

My family and some of my close friends know that I have a deep and profound dislike for snakes.  I don't care what type or size, they're all huge and deadly serpents in my book.  The story below is further evidence of why snakes should be feared.


Anytime the words "10 foot python" and "penis" are used in the same story you know it's not going to be good but that you've got to read it!


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/thailand-man-penis-python-toilet-attack


And they let the snake go, oh my!

AMI

Anna Maria Island (AMI)-Three words that instantly transform me to a happy state of mind.
For those of you who are not familiar with AMI it's a "salty piece of land" as the great Jimmy Buffett would so eloquently describe it located on the west coast of Florida near Bradenton/Sarasota.  The island is about seven miles long and probably no more than a mile and a half wide.  It was largely undiscovered until about 10 years ago when it started gaining attention in the media as a hidden jewel.  Unfortunately it's not so hidden anymore but it still and always will be a magical place. 


AMI and more specifically Coquina Beach on the south end of the island was the beach of choice for most of us Mulberrian's as we navigated our youth back in the late 60's and 70"s.  Not only was it the closest beach but in my humble opinion it's one of if not the best in a state loaded with awesome beaches.  If you're not familiar with Florida beaches and thinking of making a trip this way I personally favor the west coast (gulf beaches) to those on the east coast (Atlantic beaches).




Beth's family has a history on the island that dates back more than 100 years and I'll share more on that history and tradition in later blogs.  Her Mom and Dad moved to the island in the late 80's after he retired.  He loved fishing and this was the perfect place for them.  Beth's family and extended family are full of fishermen and many of them learned the "how's and when's" of fishing from him, especially when it came to wading up to your neck around the mangroves and throwing a castnet over a school of unsuspecting mullet.  Beth's dad was able to enjoy living on the island for about 10 years until he passed away but left behind an amazing legacy.




We have the privilege of sharing in the care of Beth's mom and will be staying with her for most of the next two months. She's a pleasure to be around, has a great sense of humor and enjoys adventures and outings.  There will be daily beach walks, sitting under the trees on both the bay and gulf side of the island and of course the daily visual extravaganza of sunset but there is also plenty to keep me busy.  There is yard work and work that needs to be done both outside and inside the house.  

Yesterday I started on some of the yard work and in about two hours of trimming and cleaning out bushes I must have done well over 200 squats.  This activity is serving as a painful reminder today that these are muscles that I had ignored for a while.  I'm moving at the pace of about a 90 year old who is taking her 15 year old poodle out for a walk and getting out of a chair is a long drawn out process.  The manual labor is good for the body, mind and soul and I'm looking forward to it but I may just take it a little easy today. 

AMI North to South View



Yep, those are my feet!  I like sending pictures like this to what is now my former colleagues back at Texas Health Huguley 

On the "bay side" of the island-That's the City Pier and Restaurant in the distance 



Every sunset is different and every sunset is spectacular

Just after the sun has gone down

Calendar for Today

Well I'm almost three full weeks into this retirement thing and while I'm not sure what a "typical" day will look like here's the way today shaped up:


6:00-Wake Up!  Always an early riser plus it gets daylight here around 5:00
6:00-8:00           Drink Coffee, watch and listen to the waves, catch up on the news
8:00-8:30           Breakfast while watching and listening to the waves
8:30-9:45           Walk along Cox Beach
9:45-10:00         Get pounded by Beth in rummy while watching and listening to the waves
10:00-11:00       Nap on the couch while listening to the waves
11:00-11:30       Lunch
12:00-3:30         Walk on Long Beach
3:30-4:00           Gelato at the Chocolate Tofino!
4:00-5:30           Rest in the room and the hammock while watching and listening to the waves
5:30-6:00           Dinner


Heading out now for a walk on Chesterman Beach. Looking forward to watching and listening to the waves.  Still two and a half hours of sunlight!


My brother Gerald told me shortly before I retired that if he would have known how much fun retirement was he would have retired 40 years ago................I think he was on to something!

A very Happy Birthday wish to a very special young lady!
We Love You!
Mom & Dad

Wild Pacific Trail

Yesterday was spent hiking the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet which is about 20 miles from Tofino.    Although it winds through a couple of neighborhoods, for the most part the trail hugs the rocky/rugged coast line. 


The trails founder/developer is a local guy name "Oyster Jim".  Anybody named "Oyster Jim" has to have a pretty interesting story.  I've attached a link to a website that has a little bit of his story.  I like his quote: "I start with impossible and work backwards from there".  I bet he's a pretty entertaining character.


http://www.wildpacifictrail.com/oysterjim.html


The pictures that I took really don't do it justice so if you are interested in seeing and learning more about it I would suggest you also look at the link to the trail's website.  One of the things that we really enjoyed about this walk was that while it was along the coast line there were benches with incredible lookouts about every 50 yards.  Even with these outlooks being so close together because of the winding trail every view was different.


http://www.wildpacifictrail.com


All said and done we probably did about 12-14 miles yesterday, good stuff!

Amphitrite Lighthouse

Pacific Wild Trail

Rocky Bluffs Portion of Trail

Tree wasn't sure which direction to go

Canadian Surfing Report

Yesterday morning (5.16) the cruise ended in Vancouver.  It was an awesome trip with great weather and two ports that we had not visited before (Sitka and Icy Strait Point) that were both excellent.  The next part of the trip started immediately. 


We rented a car which we picked up a couple of blocks from the cruise terminal and headed towards our next destination which was Tofino, British Columbia which is located on Vancouver Island.  We tend to view the journey as part of the adventure and to get to Tofino a little journey/adventure is involved.


Tofino is a small city located directly on the pacific ocean as you will see from many of the pictures below.  To get here it's a two hour ferry ride from Vancouver to Nanaimo and then about a 3 hour drive on what is mostly a curvy mountain road.  If you've ever driven the road to Hana on Maui, it's somewhat similar.  The scenery along the way was awesome.  Huge inland lakes and streams, massive fir trees, snow capped mountains and a few more curves!


Was the journey worth it?  Let's put it this way.  Beth and I have enjoyed traveling to many places around the world and we're asked all the time if we have a favorite(s).  It's really hard to say, because every place is exciting and different although some are certainly more memorable than others.  Let's just say we spent  a lot of time today debating if we've ever been any place as unique and beautiful as Tofino. 


Think ocean, mountains, fir trees all converging at the same time and that's Tofino.  The pictures really won't do it justice.  The beach outside our hotel http://www.pacificsands.com  is about a mile long, 500 yards wide at low tide and 200 yards wide at high tide.  Go a couple of miles either way and there are more beaches similar to this one.  Some longer than others but all amazing.


Yesterday and today were mostly spent on foot exploring our beach (Cox Bay) and Chesterman Beach, however we also did about a 4 mile bike ride into the town of Tofino.  Had dinner at a really cool little waterfront pub in town called Jack's Diner.  While eating we enjoyed a sea lion swimming right below the dock, an eagle flying around being harassed by a much smaller bird and a raccoon wandering around on the ledge looking for a handout (a raccoon that wasn't roadkill, something we don't see too often in Texas).


Now about that Canadian Surfing Report.  I hadn't really ever pondered the question before but if you had asked me if there was surfing in Canada I would have probably said something along the line of  ice hockey-yes, downhill skiing-yes, bobsledding-yes, but probably not surfing.  Boy would I have been wrong. This is a "surfing town"!  Right outside our window we've been watching surfers since about 5:30 this morning.  Right now it's 9:15 PM and the last surfers are just leaving the beach.  Water temperature is around 55 degrees so a wet suit is required but the waves looked about 8-10 feet with very good form.  While it may not be the North Shore of Hawaii, it's very good surfing conditions and there are a bunch of good surfers to watch.


Tomorrow we're exploring more beaches and the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet.  A whole lot of walking going on,that's the Tucker way!

View from our hotel room-Pacific Sands Beach Resort

Cox Bay Beach at Low Tide

Frank Island at the South end of Chesterman Beach-There are a couple of houses on the island.  At low tide you can walk to them

Church in Downtown Tofino

Ran into George Clooney out on the beach this afternoon!

From our Table at Jacks Diner 

 

I had to stop and take a picture of this road sign.  I've never seen a parachuting rat but at least I've been warned!  Upon close inspection someone had painted the rat and parachute on the sign although it looked real

Ketchikan

Today we are in Ketchikan which is the last stop on the cruise.  Tomorrow is a sea day and then we end in Vancouver.  It may sound like a broken record but I'm good with this broken record; another day in the upper 70's and not a cloud in the sky.


The typical weather up here at this time of the year is low/mid 50's with a bunch of rain.  Ketchikan typically gets around 12 feet of rain and had record rainfall of over 202 inches back in 1949.  We've really lucked out weather wise this whole trip.  One of the pictures below was from the pool deck yesterday afternoon.  Looks more like the scene from a Caribbean cruise than Alaska.  I tried to get Beth to take a picture of me in my speedo but she declined.


We've been to Ketchikan before and experienced the typical weather so we are extra grateful. 


We did a nice hike using a trail we found on an app called "All Trails" that Sarah shared with us.  We did the Rainbird Trail which has a trailhead close to downtown.  Unfortunately "close" in this case was pretty much straight up hill to get to it but it was a great trail.


So thankful for this trip and so thankful for all the wonderful memories of times with my good friend Mike.


Could be a few days before you hear from me again on the blog.  Once we're off the ship we rent a car and go to Tofino which is a coastal city near the Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island.
Check it out if you get a chance:


http://www.tofino-bc.com


Creek Street

Must have been a crazy place in the 20's

Ketchikan from the Rainbird Trail

Downtown

Alaska or Caribbean Cruise? 

Mr. Tucker this is Mr. Gardner............

Yesterday (5.13) morning I lost a dear friend.  Mike Gardner, someone I had known and been friends with practically all my life passed away unexpectedly at his home in the Sarasota/Bradenton area.  My prayers are with his wife Linda and his mother Nell at this unimaginable time. 

Many of you reading this knew Mike and have your own stories, some of you reading this never had the honor of knowing this amazing guy, either way I’d like to share a few of my special memories.

As I stated earlier Mike and I were friends pretty much from birth.  His Dad worked with the railroad, my Dad worked with the railroad.  His Mother and my Mother were friends, it’s a small town, I think you get the picture.

I lived in the City of Mulberry, Mike was raised in the bustling suburbs, Willow Oak.  What this meant as kids was that unlike so many of my other friends I couldn’t just hop on my trusty Schwinn Sting Ray bicycle and go over to his house.  We were separated by about 10 miles, but with school, baseball, family get togethers, train trips to Richmond, Va to see snow (where it would usually be about 70 degrees), we saw each other plenty and had some great times.

One of my favorite early memories of Mike came at my expense. 

In Mulberry in the late 60’s for most of us boys nothing was more important than little league baseball.  If a guy my age played I can pretty much guarantee you that I can to this day tell you which team in our league he played on.  This is not some mystical power I have, ask any of the guys playing at that time and most of them can still do the same thing.

I was a skinny kid pitching for the Cubs, Mike was a beast of a young man even at the tender age of 12 playing for the Cardinals.  I don’t know if he got ahold of one of my incredibly slow “fast balls” or a curveball that didn’t break but what I do remember is it leaving the ballpark at an incredible rate of speed and a trajectory which took it over the light poles in center field.  I’m reasonably sure this was the longest and highest homerun ever hit on Field #2 at the old Mulberry Little League fields. I’m equally sure that the ball hasn’t landed yet.

Mulberry High School was great.  We had many of the same classes including our failed attempts as actors in Ms. Wanamaker’s drama class.  There was Key Club where we both served as officers, Mike playing football for the mighty Mulberry Panthers while I focused on golf which was more appropriate for the slow, skinny teenager I had become.  We had a blast through it all.

Upon graduation from high school we both took the “baby steps” route and attended community college at Polk Community College in Winter Haven.  Often Mike and I along with a couple of other shady characters (Drew Eason and Keith McMahan) would ride together.  This was about a 45 minute to 2 hour commute depending on where we wanted to eat lunch. 

Now one thing you need to know about Mike is that even in high school and college he was a very neat and orderly person.  I’d come running out of the house half dressed, with a ball cap on, my books and papers flying everywhere.  Mike would be looking sharp all day, every day.  He loved music and kept his large selection of cassette tapes in alphabetical order in a carrying case.  Practically every day that he drove I along with whoever else was riding together that particular day would “rearrange” the order of his tapes just for the heck of it.  The next morning and with him never saying a word they would be back in perfect order ready for us to scramble them up again.

After completing the exhaustive academic requirements of community college Mike went to the University of South Florida and I went to the University of Florida.  Remember there were no cell phones, facebook or twitter at that time but through the years we stayed in touch.  Mike marrying Linda, Me marrying Beth, them settling in Sarasota/Bradenton, us moving from Florida to Texas, there was always a connection.  We were connected by family, we were connected by friends and we were connected by this little dusty town of Mulberry.

As we moved into the cell phone era we would talk more frequently, especially from the middle of August through early January when we would dissect every Gator victory or defeat.  We had also made it a habit of trying to get together for breakfast every year at Christmas when I would be in Florida. We were successful in this tradition more often than not and I am so thankful we enjoyed breakfast together this past Christmas.  We’d check up on each other, check on our respective families, catch up on any “Mulberry news”, the latest in Gator football and try to remember whose turn it was to buy.

I’m not a facebook person and don’t know if Mike was or not, we stayed connected because that’s what friends do and we did it mainly by phone.  If I called him my standard opening line was “what’s up bud”?  If Mike called me it would always be “Mr. Tucker this is Mr. Gardner”, God I’m going to miss hearing those words!

The Beauty of Cruising Part 4 (The Final Chapter)

There is a whole bunch more I could share with you about why I like being on the high seas but in the interest of preserving readership I’ll close it out with this entry.

If you like seeing different places when traveling you have two options:

You can move from place to place.  Packing and unpacking every time you move, or you can unpack once and let the Captain and his crew move you from place to place.

Beth and I are very light packers which pretty much explains why you can see pictures of us on a 21 day trip with very little variety in our clothes.  Traveling by plane, train, automobile or ship we get a kick out of the folks struggling to lug around all their “stuff”.  Keep in mind we just relocated pretty much all our “stuff” from Texas to Florida in a Honda Accord so we sure didn’t need to bring a whole bunch for this short trip.

Pack light, once you’ve packed get rid of about half you’ve packed, you’ll probably be in pretty good shape and consider being moved from place to place instead of having to do it yourself.

The Beauty of Cruising Part 3

Cruisers are a cross section of society as a whole and while I don’t tend to talk to too many of the people I sure get a kick out of watching them.  There are always families, couples, and newlyweds, those that have been married for 50+ years, singles and everything in between from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.  One of my favorite observations is watching these good folks converge on the buffet which runs pretty much constantly from around 6:00 AM until 10:00 PM. 

Watching many of these fellow passengers you’d think they haven’t eaten in a week or that they have been secretly informed by the captain that the ship’s engine has quit working, we’re about out of food and it’s every passenger for themselves. 

I often wonder if when they are on land if they actually eat French fries, nacho’s, twelve slices of pizza, topped off with a bowl of ice cream dripping chocolate syrup everywhere for lunch just a few hours after the breakfast buffet of an omelet, waffle, a slab of bacon and a bowl of oatmeal to mentally purge them of their sin of overconsumption of fatty foods.  A couple of hours later they’ll be back for a mid-afternoon snack of more ice cream, cookies, a crepe which will be followed shortly thereafter by dinner.

Bless their hearts!  They don’t know how much entertainment they provide or how much stimulus they provide to the healthcare sector of the economy.

Excuse me now, I think there’s a pizza coming out of the oven!

Icy Strait Point

This morning at about 4:30 the sun came shining through our window as we were pulling into Icy Strait Point.

If you try to find this place on the map you may not be successful it’s more a location than a town although the village of Hoonah is just a little over a mile a way (which you may not find on a map either).

Hoonah has a population of around 1500 people and like so many places up here is a small island accessible only by plane or boat.  The weather is a carbon copy of yesterday nearly perfect conditions with a cloudless sky and temperatures hovering around 70.  We’ve been to Alaska enough to know that what we’re catching so far from the weather Gods is pretty exceptional.

Hoonah has done a nice job developing this place and really stimulating and diversifying their  economy.  Cruise ships have been coming here since 2004.  Until recently there was no dock so visitors had to be tendered to shore by small boat.  We’re actually only the second ship to anchor at their new and conveniently located dock.  It took a little longer to dock than normal this morning.  I guess the harbor pilot who brought us in is still learning the tricks the wind and water can play on a ship.  I guess he just doesn’t have a 90,000 ton ship sitting around to practice with on his off days.

We saw river otters from the ship as we came in, whales right off shore as we walked towards town and eagles are all over the place.  Sitka which is where we were yesterday and Icy Strait Point are both new places for us and truly amazing.  If you get a chance to visit this marvelous state try to get these two places on your itinerary. 

Icy Strait Point

 

Icy Strait Points answer to Wal-Mart

 

There are a bunch of these guys, they are amazing to watch

Sitka

Yesterday (May 12) we were in Sitka.  A few interesting facts about the town:

It’s the fourth largest city in Alaska with a population of around 9,000.

It’s where the sale of Alaska from Russia to the US was completed. 

We paid a whopping $7.2 million dollars for the whole state which worked out to 2 cents per acre.  We pretty much hosed the Russians on this transaction.  No wonder Putin always looks mad!

The original deal was $7 million but they came back later and wanted more money for a small lake in Sitka that they (Russia) carved block ice from in the winter to sell to the fish canneries around San Francisco so we threw them an extra $200 thousand.

At over 4,100 square miles Sitka is the largest city (square mileage) in the US, which is a great trivia question.

It rains an average of close to 7 feet per year and the average temperature tends to hold pretty steady all year at around 50 degrees.

Now that you are sufficiently educated on Sitka a little about our day:

It’s better to be lucky than good!  Yesterday it was around 75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.  The good folks of Sitka were absolutely giddy about the weather which was quite understandable.  One local we talked to who had moved there a few years back from another part of Alaska said that it rained every day the first 3 months he lived there.  I’m not sure if he was named Noah or not, I should have asked.

In addition to tromping around the small but really nice harbor, downtown and some local trails we went to a place called “Fortress of the Bear” that takes in orphaned bear cubs.  In Alaska there are so many bears that they are really offered little or no protection.  If a momma bear is killed or dies and the cubs are too young to raise themselves they are typically put down.  This place was started as a rescue for orphaned cubs with the goal of them being either reintroduced into the wild or placed in zoo’s or animal reserves around the world.  If I was a bear cub I would prefer either of those options to being shot pretty much any day. 

www.fortressofthebear.org

It was an amazing place which currently has 5 brown and 3 black bear cubs living in a very natural environment.  Beth quickly developed a crush on “Lucky” who is pictured below. 

In addition to the bears, the Sitka area has a huge bald eagle population and there were eagles living in the wild in many of the trees around the bear reserve.  They were flying down to within about 10 feet of us for a quick fish meal that was being thrown to them by the workers.

It’s often been said “You can’t judge the day by the weather” which is true but a blue sky and 75 degrees in the middle of May in Alaska ain’t bad!

Beth's favorite bear.........Lucky!

 

Sitka Harbor

 

Sitka from Castle Hill

The Beauty of Cruising Part 2

Today is Wednesday, May 11 or at least I’m reasonably sure that’s correct.  That’s another beauty of cruising casual is the dress code of the day and time becomes somewhat irrelevant. 

We’re on a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship right now, the Norwegian Sun.  We enjoy NCL and Royal Caribbean because they are very casual which conforms to my philosophy that I don’t go on vacation to play dress up.  I guess some people enjoy this but I’m not a part of that crowd.  On another cruise line in the elevators they actually have a mat of carpet that they change every day that shows you the day of the week, if for some strange reason you think it is important.

We have also discovered recently that we enjoy Holland America which has an undeserved reputation of being the cruise line for the nearly dead.  What we discovered on Holland America is that there is a very lively crowd of interesting people who stay up late, dance, sing, have traveled the world and tell great stories.

On the next “Beauty of Cruising” post we’ll explore observations of my fellow passengers and the buffet.  

The Beauty of Cruising Part 1

Not everyone is a fan of cruising and I certainly appreciate that fact.  We’ve been on a bunch of them and I’m a big fan and I’ll share some of the reasons over the next few posts.

One thing I frequently hear from folks who have never been on one is “I think I would get bored”.  If you’re someone who needs constant stimulation that could be an issue although there is plenty to do on the ship.  As for me, I can be entertained for days on end with the cell phone turned off, no internet access (we’re way too cheap to purchase the package), a lounge chair, a book and water to stare at for hours on end.  All of these factors come together wonderfully in a “perfect storm” which results in me going into a relaxed physical and comatose mental state of mind.  Many people back at Texas Health Huguley might say I had been in the comatose mental state of mind for years.

Take today (May 9) for instance.  It’s our first day on this cruise and has been a “sea day”, which means we were not in port at all today.  I think it was a combination of a crazy busy last few months plus the aforementioned perfect storm and wham, bam I was a goner.  I’m proud to say that over the course of the day I read a grand total of 24 pages of a book and took three naps!  Now I’ve never been accused of being a math wizard but that’s a nap for every eight pages read!

I’m not sure if I can keep up that pace but I’m going to do my best.  Of course there will be days in port such as tomorrow when we are in Astoria, Oregon but the benchmark has been set and I’m up for the challenge.

Astoria, Oregon

Yesterday (May 10) we were in Astoria, Oregon.  It was my first time here and it was an amazing little town right at the mouth of the Columbia River.  The town’s economy was based for many years around the fish cannery business and according to what I read at one point there were over 40 canneries lined up side by side along the river’s edge.  Many of them are gone, a few remain active while others have been turned into restaurants, shops, art galleries and museums. 

If you’ve read some of my previous posts you know Beth and I enjoy walking.  What we discovered was that Astoria is close to a perfect walking town.  From the ship there was a “Riverwalk Path” that stayed right along the river through downtown and continued on for several miles beyond.  When it was all over we had ended up doing almost 11 miles!  We saw bald eagles resting in the tree tops and hundreds of sea lions catching a few rays and doing what sea lions do really well which is bark at each other and took in a beautiful sun filled day.

Back in town we had a great meal of fish and chips, onion rings and blueberry cider at the Wet Dog Café.   This was Beth’s third cruise that included Astoria in its itinerary.  The two previous times were on “old lady trips” with her mom and sister(s).  One time she told me it rained so hard they could see nothing and the other time the weather was so bad they couldn’t even get into port.  The third time or me must be the lucky charm!     

Astoria from the Riverwalk

 

Former Cannery which is now a museum

 

There must have been 400-500 of these sea lions.  Barking, fighting for space and sleeping

Sorry!

From time to time there may be gaps in my entries.  To the billions of readers out there I apologize for this but know you and this blog are not forgotten.  Heck, writing this is turning out to be pretty entertaining (at least for me).

Some of the places we travel may not have internet access and others may charge for it. If you know us there’s a pretty good chance you know we’re not going to pay for something now that we can get for free in a few days.

On the ship you can pay $29/day for unlimited internet access (you’re required to purchase it for every day of the cruise) and be tethered to the world you left behind or you can wait patiently for a port or a coffee shop in a port with free access. 

The wifi I'm on now is fairly slow so I may not get all I've written posted and may have to add pictures later (a teaser for you to check back).

Many of you know Beth has some of the most amazing bargain hunting skills when it comes to travel deals.  We’d never pay the ship that much for internet.  She can turn that into a two week cruise around Europe or Asia with a few bucks to spare.

Sorry about that Rob!

Today we are in San Francisco!

One of the things that Beth and I enjoy the most in our traveling is walking around.  It's not unusual for us to put in 8-10 miles walking backstreets, neighborhoods and parks.  We've seen some amazing places on these walks and ended up in a few places where we probably shouldn't have been but you don't end up with as many great stories if you stay on the tourist beaten paths.  Now we realize that these types of adventures are not for everyone but neither is selling pretty much everything you own and becoming "gypsies" as Sarah calls us.

About 13-14 years ago we did a trip to this wonderful city with our best Burleson friends Rob and Pam McNeely and their kids Ryan and Brittany who were the same age as Ben and Sarah.  Our kids were used to being drug all over the place but we failed to warn the McNeely family of our roaming around passion. 

Pam, Ryan and Brittany matched us step for step but then there was Rob.  Under normal circumstances I have no doubt Rob would have been right there with us but these were not normal circumstances for him.  Rob was recovering from knee surgery and if I recall correctly was only a couple of weeks post op at the time.

If you've ever been to San Francisco you know there isn't a flat piece of real estate in the city and the hills are more like "mini mountains"  I looked it up last night and there are numerous streets with over 30% elevation and for some strange reason there always seem to be more uphills than downhills.  Rob was a trooper on his freshly repaired knee and followed along wherever we went even if we'd frequently have to stop and look back a few blocks to see if he was still with us.

Thankfully we didn't do any damage to the knee or the friendship.  We have enjoyed many more traveling and "hanging out" adventures with the McNeely's through the years and look forward to more in the future.

Cruise starts today which means 8 nights in the same bed.  It's been quite a ride these last few weeks to get here, "full steam ahead Captain!"














Alcatraz- I wonder if we ever had any family there?

Trans America Building and Bay Bridge

Hong Kong Clay Pot Restaurant in China Town 

Mission One Accomplished!

It wasn’t the most direct route but via Fort Smith, Arkansas, Memphis, Tennessee and Blairsville, Georgia we arrived at Anna Maria Island still intact and moderately sane.

I’m sure we were a sight to see going down the road looking somewhat like the modern day Clampett Family of Beverly Hillbilly fame.  We had about 80% of all our material possessions packed in the Honda Accord and appreciate Ben letting us store a few items at his place.  We’re still not really sure how it all fit but somehow it did, we made it and it sure feels liberating not to own a bunch of stuff!

Unpacked and settled in we spent Wednesday night on the island, Thursday night near the Tampa airport and I am writing this from somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico as we fly back to Texas where we started this journey last Friday. 

We’re looking forward to seeing Ben and Sarah this afternoon, watching our favorite son in law’s college graduation tonight and then it’s on to San Francisco tomorrow for the cruise which leaves Sunday.  Counting our last night in Texas through this Sunday night when we are on the ship we will have slept in nine different beds in eleven nights in six different states from one coast to the other……………The Traveling Idiots, I think Nana was on to something when she named us.

Boiled peanuts or as it's spelled in the south P-Nuts!

You know you’ve arrived in the Deep South when you start seeing the fruit and vegetable stands along the roads advertising Boiled P-Nuts.  With rare exceptions these advertisements tend to be hand painted on a piece of plywood or an old door.  I’m not really sure how doors became so popular for being used as signs but check it out if you’re ever driving through Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia or Florida, it’s a fact.

 When I mentioned these little morsels of delight to my Texas friends I usually got the same strange “are you an alien look” you would get if you proclaimed yourself to be a liberal from California, unless of course you were in Austin where you would be showered with love and affection.  One time after much debate at the hospital about my claims of boiled p-nuts being one of the greatest treasures on the planet I decided to whip up a batch and prove it to all the doubters.  Now I’m no expert on the preparation of this delicacy like Max Howard, a great Mulberrian who always seemed to have a big bowl of these goodies sitting around that he generously shared. The recipe is quite simple, a dump truck load of salt, boiling water, p-nuts and patience and I made a very acceptable gift to share with my anxiously awaiting co-workers.

Well, let’s just say the reaction was less than overwhelming.  A few folks liked them, a few nodded and smiled and a few spit them out like they had just bitten into a fresh cow patty.  Maybe it’s an acquired taste, I don’t know and I really don’t care it just means there’s more for those of us who delight in sitting around eating p-nuts, having a frosty beverage and talking about SEC football no matter the time of year.

While at Vogel State Park earlier this week we stopped by a really cool little place that has been in Blairsville forever or at least close to it called Sunrise Grocery.  Outside the smoke was rising from the wood flame burning under a huge cast iron pots that for generations has produced some of the finest boiled p-nuts this side of heaven.  I’m not really sure why these are so good, maybe it’s the ambience or maybe it’s that the pots have cooked up so many tons over the years that the flavor is cooked into the cast iron similar to some of the great bbq pits where the flames never die. If you’re passing through this area or any other back roads of the south and you see one of these stands and you’ve never had them,, stop, expand your palate and enjoy one of life’s true pleasures!

Sunrise Grocery-Blairsville, Georgia
Fancy Sign and Fancy Spelling!

Here's to Elvis, Mom and Dad!

Prior to leaving Memphis we did the “Tucker Tour” of Graceland.  The “Tucker Tour” means we’re either too cheap or too smart to pay anywhere between $42 and $80 (depending on what tour you choose) to go inside.  I prefer “too smart” but you can decide for yourself.  Anyway, between 7:30 and 8:30 every morning you can do for FREE what is called the walk up tour to the meditation garden which is where Elvis, his parents and his twin brother who was stillborn are buried.  You can park right in front of the mansion which is quite lovely although it’s now surrounded by tacky souvenir stores, along with a nearby KFC and Taco Bell which I’m sure Elvis would have appreciated in his later years.  You walk right through the main gate and get a great view of the outside of the house. You can also walk through the small but nice meditation garden where the graves are located……..and the price is right!  Invest the money you save on admission wisely and you can retire a day or two early!  

Arriving at Vogel State Park in Blairsville, Georgia brought memories of my childhood rushing back.  As I had mentioned in an earlier post, Vogel was pretty much where the world ended when it came to summer vacations.  My dad worked with the railroad so there were the occasional train trips to New York and Washington D.C. but then he discovered Vogel.  Once discovered every summer meant loading up the camper, Buffy our short/fat dog and heading off to this little slice of paradise.   Driving in yesterday I was amazed how little it’s changed over the last 45 years or so and just how much it connects me to my childhood.

Back in the day we would arrive every summer thrilled to have made it without suffering serious bodily harm on the drive around Atlanta. You see when you’re from Mulberry, Florida the Atlanta traffic was terrifying even back in the 70”s.  Once the camper was backed into the site and successfully parked on a semi-flat surface, which would often be a good half day the fun would begin.  For the next two weeks it would be hanging out with old friends, meeting new ones and generally just having a grand old time.   Life was simpler then and I think we were better for it.

Although my parents are long gone, coming back here establishes a feeling of connection with them unlike I get anywhere else.  New York, Washington D.C, never missing one of my baseball games growing up, somehow always getting what I wanted for Christmas even if every year I’d go to unwrap one present under the tree that was wrapped in Christmas paper only to be told by mom “that’s your birthday present” (December 31 if you didn’t know), debt free college were just a few of the gifts from Mom and Dad.  Most importantly they gave me values, direction, support, encouragement and Vogel State Park……… thanks Mom and Dad!

Stay tuned, the next time we explore the greatness of boiled peanuts!

Graceland



Elvis has left the building!

Vogel from our cabin



Pretty Good Stuff!

The Traveling Idiots on the move.........

This morning we had the pleasure of hearing our son in law Joey preach at the church where he is currently serving as the youth pastor.  He did a fantastic job and did it in a timely manner!  Sarah and Joey are touching and changing so many lives through their work at the church and HealthSouth.  I'm incredibly proud of them and Ben as well who today celebrated his one year anniversary at North Texas Jellystone Park as the Activities Director (aka Director of Fun)!


Quick hugs goodbye and congratulations on a wonderful sermon and we were on the road to Memphis.   We prepared for this leg of the trip by listening to Elvis Live from Madison Square Gardens, well it was live at one point.  A little blues from KebMo and Alligator Records 20th Anniversary show.  Of course there was a little Jimmy mixed in for good measure.


We crossed the Mississippi River around 5:00 with our sights set on our first target........BBQ.  As a student of the smoke I had done my homework and our target was Central BBQ.  The beauty of our BBQ quest is that we're not looking for the best for finding it would be like finding the Holy Grail and the quest would be over! We'll keep scoping out the hole in the wall joints in big cities and small towns across the fruited plain.  The good news on Central BBQ is that it did not disappoint!  Excellent ribs (half wet and half dry) and a pork sandwich that could bring a grown man to his knees.  If you're ever in Memphis check it out.


One thing Beth and I have kinda figured out is that we're getting old and being around a bunch of drunken yahoo's in their 20's and 30's isn't something we tolerate as well as we did when we were younger.  Beale Street (Home of the Blues) is kind of like Bourbon Street in New Orleans or downtown Portland or Seattle, kinda gritty.  I'm sure the music in some of the clubs would have been great but not worth the effort.


We did a quick drive by the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. King was assassinated.  Like Dealy Plaza in Dallas where JFK was shot it is maintained to look similar to the way it looked at the time of these tragic events.  We live in nutty times today but when you think about the craziness of the 60's with JFK, Bobby Kennedy, Dr. King and Vietnam it's been nutty for a while.


Tomorrow morning we stop by and pay our respects to Elvis who I am reasonably sure is dead before heading on to Vogel State Park in North Georgia.  For you billions of followers it may be a few days before you hear from me again.  When I was a teenager going to Vogel every summer they didn't have wifi...................think about it for a minute.


Thanks for reading this silliness and in closing tonight a big shout out to Kenneth Rose!