Trip to the Rose Parade 2012 - Beginning the trip Departing Central Florida we spent the first night in Milton, FL and then on to a Passport America Park (Frog City) in Duson, LA, near Lafayette. Along the way we happended upon the headquarters of the Wildlife Service in Louisiana and captured 9 indici stamps for our NWS Passport book. Our hosts there were wonderful representativives of the federal governmment and proud of the great job they're doing – telling the story of wildlife preservation. There was a rally in Rayne (where we've rally'd before) as we passed by but we kept going on to Shiner, Texas. Known for its Shiner Beer, that Texas city has great city RV services (lacking only sewer hookups) and we enjoyed a quiet scenic stay for $20, parking next to ... read more

“News Release from Philipsburg - The AHEAD Center of Excellence in St Maarten a school for children with learning challenges (autism) and other issues that do not allow them to attend regular public education, received supplies and funds from Dade City Rotary Club which partnered with Rotary International's District 7020 in the Caribbean (Rotary Club of St. Maarten), the East Side 8 (Pasco County, Florida) Rotary Clubs, First United Methodist Church of Zephyrhills and Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines. School supplies were gathered and shipped to Regent's headquarters for loading aboard the Seven Seas Navigator in January. Dade City Rotarian John Wheeler coordinated the collections and delivered the donated supplies to the school with assistance from Regent and St. Maarten Rotary Club President Rebecca Low, board members Henna Budhrani , Pierre Decelles and Maria Buncamper-Molanus d ... read more

Background: We began our trip in style with a limo trip to the airport (courtesy of Deb, our travel agent) and processed through the ignominious TSA experience in good time leaving plenty of time to wait for the flight to Miami. We flew in one of the smaller jets with our seats in the row in front of the exit row. Lesson learned on this experience: the near vertical, non reclining seat was not good for the backs – next time ask questions of our cruise line booking person, if possible. Our stay at the Hyatt Pier Sixty Six hotel was uneventful except for the acquaintance with resort prices in a “past its prime” facility. The room views were marvelous of the intercostal waterway on a beautiful afternoon and we were close to the pier to ... read more

Patience is a virtue in awaiting RV repairs. While we paid extra to ship over-nite our new jack, they couldn't get us into the bay to install it until Thursday AM. Meanwhile we walked Cappy and saw the magnificent National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Clydesdale horses at Express Stables in Yukon, OK, made up at a Yukon Rotary Club to hear a local TV Exec, visited the National Banjo Museum, State Capitol and Tap Werks Ale and Cafe emporium featuring 200 + beers on tap. I ended up getting a personal tour of the capitol with a very knowledgeable guide explaining how the building reflects the Indian conflicts and Trail of Tears, the early settlements and the later history of progress including cattle and oil. If you ever wanted to learn about the banjo the ... read more

We began our travels on Wednesday the 14th filling up with fuel at the Love's Elk City Truck Stop up the road because of the low cost of fuel and discovering, again, why we've avoided this gas station corporation over the years. Not only are the truckers rude, not moving their rigs out of the fueling lane after fueling to aid others, but the staff can't seem to help customers by manning the cash registers vs spending time in the break room or resetting the pumps promptly after payment to allow fueling. The stations are dirty and cramped, adding to the unpleasantness. You don't want to go there. We're pleased that Good Sam has made a deal with Pilot/Flying J. We enjoyed a visit to Hobart, OK, named for a U.S. Vice President, and the ... read more