Blogs from Pensacola, Florida, United States, North America

It's All Booked. Looking forward to being in Rome on Christmas Day.... read more

Guess what... we're still in Pensacola! We arrived at the airport only to find out our flight to Miami had been cancelled last night. The plane from Miami never showed up, so, we spent the next hour and a half making alternate arrangements. Flights were either all booked or didn't make a connection for Quito in time. We ended up changing to Delta vs. American, leaving Pensacola at 2:30pm to make a flight on Delta from Atlanta to Quito 45 minutes after we arrive. We'll be in Quito tonight at something like 10:55pm, so I won't promise a blog post from Quito tonight. Looking on the bright side, we weren't going to do anything in Quito today anyways, except for grabbing dinner there. If you don't hear from me today, you'll definitely get an entry tomorrow ... read more

THE BASICS We experienced an early Mardi Gras parade, then decided the next day to go back a bit west to visit a plantation. The tour of the Laura plantation has been called "the best history tour in the country" and we certainly learned a lot about Creole culture. Then onward into Mississippi, and fortunately John opted for route 90, along the coast, rather than boring old I-10. We saw large areas that were still bare lots, thanks to Katrina, and other areas where fine new buildings had been constructed (people who had triumphed with their insurance companies, and then with contractors). The 200' wide white powdery-sand beach next to the road stretches for 26 miles along the coast, and is gorgeous. We stayed in Biloxi for a couple of nights, toured Jefferson Davis's last home, ... read more

This museum was amazing. We spent at least 5 hours here and I wish that we could have spent an hour more. There are two huge buildings to explore the main museum and the hanger which houses the air craft that simply wouldn't fit inside the main building. Normally when you think of aviation your first thought is the air force but the Navy has also played a large part in aviation. This was Chris's favorite military museum so far. His main reason for this is that this covers so much of the history of flight from World War 1 through WW2 and choppers used in Vietnam and more modern jets...it really is astounding when you think of how much has changed in less than 100 years. You also get a far better idea of exactly ... read more

The motel we stayed at last night did not have any breakfast so Sam and I went to the Waffle House for something to eat. We left about 8:45 today, and while we were getting our bikes outside we met some hunters from the same motel and they liked my bike. We stopped by Subway about a hour later for second breakfast. I wasn't hungery so I got a milk and visited with the others. Our ride to Pensacola was fun, lots of traffic. When we crossed the bridges (four) into town I saw a marina off to the side and in the marsh next to it there were two boats on their sides. One was a cruser about 35' and the other was a 26' sail boat. I asked a local who said they were ... read more

This blog is truly about friendship. How rich our lives are because of our old and dear friends at home and aboard, and new friends that we make on our journey Thurs- Nov 11, 2010 So I guess it's true we really do have to leave paradise on this day.  First of all I have to say that today is Remembrance Day. It seems really weird not to see any poppies or hear any talk of the day.  Maybe just cause we don't have the TV or radio on.  It is called Vetrans day here and is a holiday, just like at home. We made a conscious decision to make sure that we had a moment at 11:00 am. It was quick but we did not forget! Although we are sad to be leaving, we are excited ... read more

Well, its just about time to leave... 7 hours and we're on our way to the airport, Jeep loaded to the gills! Hopefully, a map of the trip will show here and everyone can get a better idea of where we're going. We'll be flying from Pensacola to Atlanta, then from there to San Salvador in El Salvador. We'll be there for 7 days doing mission work for the Hillcrest Baptist Church. My wife and I will be Spanish interpreters and I'll be helping to build houses for a refugee camp. Next Saturday, when everyone else returns to Pensacola, we fly from San Salvador to Lima, Peru. From there we travel by bus (21 hours!) to Puno on Lake Titicaca, where we are scheduled to take an overnight tour to the islands, staying with a native ... read more