I just decided the week before that I was going to take the opportunity that Easter brought and use 4 days to get to Vicksburg Military Park then ride the Natchez Trace. It was funny that the trip originally started as just heading to Eureka Springs, AR for a couple days, but the weather wasn’t forecasted to be that great there. And I wanted some warm weather. Farther south it was looking better, when I saw Vicksburg on the map I knew that is where I needed to head. Then Vicksburg is just a short distance from the southern end of the Natchez Trace… The plan was to get to Vicksburg on Thursday. Friday morning I would spend a couple hours at the Vicksburg National Military Park. Then head south to the Natchez MS and start ... read more

DoD Identifies Army Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the death of four soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died from wounds suffered when two OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters crashed Jan. 26 in Kirkuk, Iraq. They were assigned to the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y. Killed were: Chief Warrant Officer Philip E. Windorski, Jr., 35, of Bovey, Minn. Chief Warrant Officer Matthew G. Kelley, 30, of Cameron, Mo. Chief Warrant Officer Joshua M. Tillery, 31, of Beaverton, Ore. Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin H. Todd, 29, of Colville, Wash. The incident is under investigation. *************************************************** A son, a husband, a father of 2 young children and an awardee of the Bronze Star, Matt was one of the best of us. Our cou... read more

++ In DEC 09 I found a bunch of my old Xmas letters so I thought I would post them here in my blog. This is the letter that is send with my Xmas cards. You can find each one posted on Xmas day for that year. 03,05, 06 & 08 ++ Greetings, Its that time of year again, not that I have been very good about getting Christmas cards out the last couple years. I hope this card finds everyone in good health and prepared for the on coming season. I am looking forward to Christmas as Scout is coming home for a visit. This year I decided I was going to get cards out again with a letter. I know I haven’t even been good about getting post cards out, sorry. Please don’t take ... read more

The whole Harley Mom travel blog has been about trips with my 2005 Harley Sportster Effie. With only a few exceptions, well, this one really blog isn’t about traveling either, but about the motor service done on her at 107,000 miles. Effie’s extended warranty is running out at the end of FEB 09. She was seeping oil from about every gasket that was used on the motor. So as the weather turned cold, but before she was snowed into the shed she stays in, I thought I should get her into the guys so they can do their miracle work. She has over 107,000 miles on her at this time. On Monday I had sometime and thought to go check up on her. She had been in the shop for a couple weeks and I had ... read more

In late 2007 I wanted to make it back to Greensburg KS to see the rebuilding. If you recall Greensburg was totally wiped out by a tornado the first week in May of 2007. In late June I had rolled through Greensburg on the way home from a trip to CO and stopped to take pictures. Here is the original blog . Well I didn’t make it back in 2007 and all of the summer of 2008 I wanted to go, but that trip always seemed to get sidelined for other trips. I had been watching the ‘Greensburg’ TV series on the Green Channel about how they were rebuilding green and hope to be the first Leeds certified platinum town. The last show had just aired and it was going to be getting colder, so I ... read more