We’ve been in parts of Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee since my last blog. We are spending the most time in Tennessee. It’s warm in the daytime but nice cool sleeping weather in the evenings. We are currently in Nashville and have enjoyed the singers at the Grand Ole Opry as well as the many singers in the local bars (and yes, you can have a coke in the bar and only leave a tip for the singers and guitar players) and the singers on the street corners. Today we took a tour which we don’t usually do as we’d rather drive and stop where and when we want. This was very good however and we ended up at the Country Music Hall of Fame. You could see all the fancy costumes and guitars and hand written lyrics and music – but what impressed me most was the climate controlled collection of the old vinyl records and the way they are preserving them. Listening to some of the music made me very homesick as my dad could sing all of them and had collections of 78’s and 45’s of these songs so I grew up knowing them.
Check out the photo of me playing the guitar and singing at the Grand Ole Opry (did I fail to mention that there was an audience of one – Richard). It’s at the Ryman while the old building is being restored after the recent flood. Well at least I can mark off another item from my “bucket list”. We stopped by a very nice winery for a “tasting” and Richard found some wine he really had to have – I’m sure it wasn’t because of the taste, but the name. It has a very French name “Jacquesse” – you can say it and make it sound very “French” but its Jackass wine and says it has a real “kick” to it. He thought it reminded him of me and all my friends and Sisters would like it.
Tomorrow we were leaving for the countryside near Knoxville to visit where different members of my great-great grandparents were born, married or died. However after research on internet and phone calls, I found that all the archives are here in Nashville so I have an 8:00 appointment in the morning. I’m very excited to see if I find anything new on this Family Tree Search.
Richard is playing golf this afternoon – he’s playing in every state. He loves it and I love the time to do what I want – after 5 months 36 x 15 feet is a small space for 24 hours a day.
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Singing at the Grand Ole’ Opry
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The last night in Colorado our grandson, Jaymes, cooked for us with the skills he’s learned for outdoor cooking. It was a great meal. This was the best time we’ve had with our daughter and grandchildren in years. It was hard to leave Colorado and the Air Force Academy (beautiful and cool). Our next stop was much harder – I went to visit someone in jail. It was the first time I’ve ever been in a jail and when they slammed the door behind me it was a terrible feeling. After visiting hours, we drove to Pleasant Prairie, Kansas where I have lots of relatives. We dry parked in the church parking lot and were there to surprise everyone at the Church on Sunday morning – about 1/2 of the congregation are relatives.
Later went to Garden City, Kansas to visit a cousin that is Assisted Living because she has lost her eyesight. I’m trying to bring joy to others as we go along and not just for ourselves. Another cousin told me we were driving very near where my great grandparents were buried so we stopped at the cemetery and after searching for a couple of hours, we found the stone. Later went to a large mill in the town of Oxford with a water wheel that he helped build. I have so many questions that I wish I could get answered but there are no “older” people to ask so I’m going to court houses, historical societies and cemeteries as well as using Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker trying to put the puzzle of family back together. I am enjoying it immensely.
People are so friendly in the center of the US. We saw a sign for camping in the middle of town so we checked on it. It was a beautiful city park with water and electricity scattered all over it. I checked at the house that was closest and she said “sure honey, just drive out there and park any place you want. Total cost $8.00
We spent our honeymoon in Colorado so it is special to be spending our 49th wedding anniversary here. Our daughter went out of her way to make it very special. She fixed us breakfast on her deck which overlooks the Rocky Mountains and Air Force Academy. The grandchildren helped serve it to make it extra special. Then we went through the Garden of the Gods to take lots of photos of us for special memories. For the evening it was dinner at the Broadmoor Hotel. The Broadmoor Hotel is a 5-star/5-diamond historic hotel, built in 1891. WOW, the service and food were really special. I’m writing all these blogs so that I can make them into an album when we get home. If family and friends share them – that’s great. However, we will have been on the road five months this year and if I don’t write these blogs I’ll forget what a wonderful life we have been given. This week I also had lunch with a special friend, Sue Mulhern. We taught together in Germany – she was Chris’ 3rd grade teacher. After working for more than 40 years and being away so long, it is such a treat to visit with friends and family again!
Richard, I love you and “Thank You so much for being so great about traveling with me all these years. I know you would have been just as happy sitting in the same spot on your porch and in your woodshop, but you willingly allowed me to fulfill my wanderlust dreams.” One more year to make half a century together!”
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This trip to Colorado we are staying at the family campground on the US Air Force Academy. It is wonderful waking up in the morning , temperature in the 50′s and so fresh. Then it get’s very warm during the day but as they say it’s “dry heat”. We’ve played ball, minature golf, gone to the driving range, watched cartoons. We took them to the Zoo – it’s the only Alpine zoo in the U.S. With the grandkids living in Colorado Springs ranging in age from 9 to 19 there’s always something special to do. Richard is working in the woodshop with our daughter and also one of the grandkids teaching them to make the bandsaw jewelry boxes that he makes. We all went to Denver to the Art Museum because the King Tut exhibit is there. Went to church with them and have a “high tea” scheduled with my daughter. We took a couple of days in Denver and Greeley and spent time with our son there. He has one high school age son and is legal guardian to three more little ones which they are trying to adopt. Had a wonderful Viet Namese meal and is so fun seeing the kids growing into such responsibile adults. Wish we could take all the credit……we are so proud of all of them! Richard played golf on a beautiful course in Castle Rock and I visited a cousin in Denver. I will do another post today as we celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary here and it was wonderful so want it on a separate post. Time goes so fast, we are leaving early the morning of the 21st.
Leaving the house tomorrow 3 August at 5:00 a.m. heading for Colorado where we left the motor home at the end of our last trip. Since it’s been 100 degrees here, August sounds like a good time to be in Colorado. Lacy saw the suitcase come out and won’t let me get more than a couple of inches from her – wants to make sure she doesn’t get left behind.
My real reason for writing this blog is to make sure I can still do it – think I need a new “memory chip” – not in my computer, in my brain. Sure enough I had to call Chris, my Computer Engineer wizzard.
We will be staying in Colorado about three weeks so those of you that are interested (or bored) might want to check into our site once a week. We will be celebrating our 49th anniversary there – I’m still looking for something different to do. Last time we celebrated in Colorado it was with a hot air balloon ride that ended with a champagne breakfast. This time I tried to book one of my favorite beautiful places – only to find out that every room (even the honeymoon suite) has been booked by the Salvation Army.
My main reason for writing is to have a record of our travels so twenty years from now when we are sitting on the porch in our rocking chairs we can look at the photos and recall all the wonderful places and people that we cherish so much in America.
Colorado is my home and it is so beautiful I can see why people love it as a tourist destination. We drove into the Colorado mountains for Mother’s Day and took care of the cemetary plots where my parents are burried. It is so beautiful in the mountains with big trees and a mountain stream running through it and every time we are there we see deer walking around.
The RV park where we are is at the foot of the Garden of the Gods and very beautiful. However, we are both coming down with bad colds or (?). It got down to 29 degrees last night and we were both reminded why we selected Florida instead of Colorado for our retirement. I spent a week in bed – finally got up enough to put on a jogging suit and the grandkids came over to visit. We stayed only the week which would have been terribly disappointing but we were ready for a rest so we put the RV in storage in Colorado. No photos this time as everything we took has the grandchildren’s photos in them and we are not posting and children’s photos. Colorado photos will be posted in August when we come back here for another two weeks before starting our journey to the East Coast.
Especially enjoyed Albuquerque as we visited with two families of DoDDS friends. The Halls we first knew in about 1972 in Guam, then we were in Germany together and again in Guam together so it has been more than a 30 year friendship. The Whitakers we have known for about 25 years and worked together with them in Germany. What a delight to renew friendships. It has been most interesting on this trip to see the many lifestyles and places our friends have settled but all seem very content and everyone agrees that our times together in DoDDS were priceless. We visited many places of interest in Albuquerque then stopped in Santa Fe which has always been one of my favorite places with the many artists and galleries in town. Saw so many beautiful things but just looked and didn’t buy. When there’s no room in the house and you really have to decide where you would put it you stop buying. We’ve been on the road for almost 3 months and looking forward to going home for a rest.
Not doing anything exciting enough to say “What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas”. It is a good rest stop for us. Once in a while you have to clean house, do laundry and wash the RV – not quite like driving the car through the car wash. Can’t be here without going to a show or two. We always enjoy seeing Cirque Du Soleil so this time went to the newest one – “Viva ELVIS, a harmonious fusion of dance, acrobatics and live music”. Big gamblers that we are – we each put in a 5$ bill and when I won $36.00 we cashed out and left while we were ahead. Sunday we drove to Boulder City to visit with my sister-in-law and tonight will go back to the strip for another show – this time whatever we can get from the 1/2 price ticket booth. Heading South early in the morning as high winds are predicted on Thursday and we really don’t like to drive in gusty wind conditions. We will be driving over the Boulder Dam. Photo – “The Long Road Ahead“.
Colorado Here I Come
Yesterday another day with DoDDS friends that we taught with in Wiesbaden – the Thomsons. Lynn was Chris’ kindergarten teacher. They live in Elk Grove and drove us into Sacramento for a tour of the old historic part of town.
We enjoyed award-winning authentic Italian at the Il Fornaio with fresh pastas, grilled fish, fresh-from-the-oven baked breads and Tiramisu for dessert. It’s in the Wells Fargo Building with an original Wells Fargo stage coach at the entrance. Today I drove all the way. We are driving down 99 instead of 5 like we did on the way up. Like this road much better. We met at least 300 RVs going back North – guess all those “snowbirds” that spent the winter in Arizona are headed back to Washington, Oregon and Canada.
We drove through thousands of acres of grape vineyards – saw a sign that said it was the largest Raisin Growers Coop – sure was glad because otherwise lots of Americans are going to be drinking much too much wine. We are staying in a beautiful park – it’s in the middle of an orange grove and they have put water, sewer, cable and electric hook-ups throughout the grove so it has lots of privacy because the RVs are all scattered among the grove. It is sure one that is a “keeper” that we will file away for our next trip through this area.
Today is our daughter Mikki’s birthday – Mik, you have brought us so much joy. We love you!
We are experiencing joyful times renewing friendships and reminiscing of times past with relatives and friends that we haven’t seen for many years. We are parked in Manteca, CA which is in the middle of wonderful fields of almond trees, and fruit and vegetables. Yesterday there were signs and stands advertising and selling “fat strawberries”. With all we’ve eaten on this trip, I was afraid to buy anything with the word FAT in it. The photos are of Bob & Carol Petersen who stood up for us at our wedding 49 years ago. We haven’t seen them for about 46 years. The other photo is with my cousin, Opal Irene. She used to babysit me and every time I see her I hope I have some of those good genes that keep me looking as good as she always does since she’s 13 years older than I am. She owns an Oriental Antique Furniture shop in Folsum and it is always so fun to get to check out all the antiques. We are already making plans to stay longer up in this area next time.
It’s raining today so we are waiting for it to clear up hoping Richard can play golf. The goal was to play in every state and with the changes in San Jose caused by the volcano and the kids in Europe he didn’t get to play with Mike (our son-in-law) as planned.
