Sunday dawned with bright sun and a touch of warmth. It was going to be a beautiful day to be married. We had the rehearsal behind us, many family members and friends had arrived the day before and come to the house, and the groomsmen and Kris had spent the night away and were awaiting my call to come back and get changed. First the hairdressers came and proceeded to do Kim and Autumn's hair. We were staying in the RV next to the house to be out of the way, but one step in and you knew what was transpiring....spray, goo, blow dryers, smell.....yep, hair getting done. Once hair was set and ladies dressed, Kim, Autumn, and Kris's mother left for the Purple Iris. That gave Trish and me a chance to take a shower ... read more

No, we haven't been camping lately. Even in Alabama it's been a bit chilly. But we did take a trip to Florida in Feb to see the kids AND pick up some items they had been storing in their garage for us. For this trip we took the beat-up pickup truck since we had a lot to load and we would get better mileage than the RV. As a result, since the boys now occupy the two spare bedrooms, we got a room in a local motel. This trip down, we tried a new route, heading east to GA then some backroads south out of Cave Springs to I-20, but taking Cabin Creek Parkway around Atlanta. It worked like a charm! Traffic, yes, but not the big trucks and crazy rush as on the interstate. Still, ... read more

WOW! A new grandson, Alexander Franklin, born October 31. And we're going to see him just a week later. You bet we were excited. But first, we had to vote on that Tuesday morning before driving to Florida to meet him. We got to the polling place prior to 0700 and there was a short line. In our little town, we still use paper ballots and feed them into a reader. We got our paper, marked our choices, and voted. Then back in the RV and off to try a new route (hopefully faster and smoother) to FL. We headed toward Atlanta on good state roads, and picked up I-20 west of the city and headed to the beltway. Oh oh. Sign boards warned of an accident. Our maps and GPS showed no relief, so we ... read more

We left Wooster and after our brief stop in Medina to visit my sister's grave, drove to Geauga County and Punderson State Park where we had reservations at the campground. We had stayed there last year and again got a beautiful site overlooking the lake and close to the bathhouse for warm showers. After getting in and set up, we drove to Aurora to see my folks and spend time with them. The fall colors were peaking and we enjoyed peeking at them. Among the many things we wanted to do while in Ohio was to see family, see friends, visit some historic spots, and of course, eat some yummy food, both at Mom's and at a couple of favorite eateries. My folks had appointments and meetings, so we coordinated to make sure we didn't interfere ... read more

We left the nice campground in NC early Monday morning for a drive through North and South Carolina and then down I-95 to see Josh, Jen, and Drew. We drove through parts of the Carolinas we had not been through before and they were, for the most part, rural and very pleasant. Going around Charlotte and Columbia were smooth and soon we were on I-95 headed for Jacksonville, FL. A very heavy rain at one point and we pulled over for 30 minutes, but other than that, the drive was good. When we got in, Jen was in Syracuse on a business trip so it was just Josh and Drew for a bit. Again, Drew was a bit leery of us, but eventually warmed up and liked coming out in the drive and seeing the RV. ... read more