Occasionally, one comes across some spectacular event or sighting that stops you in your tracks. This is not that. However, on our trip through the Midwest we came across a few sightings that made us glad we were off the interstate. These (and so many other sightings) make up the rich tapestry of this country… Read More Midwest Corn Musings – Oct 2020
I said to Karen, “Did you know that Sparta, Wisconsin is the bicycling capitol of America?” Duh. It was a layup, right? We all know that. She thinks to herself, what does he know? Less and less as I prove every day. However, there is a billboard on Interstate 90 in Wisconsin that tells you… Read More Bike 4 Trails – Sept 2020
I have posted several “heading west” blog posts over the years. But the truth of the matter is that if you live on the east coast, you inevitably need to, well, head west. I suppose you could go north or south, but really – who does that. Crazy talk. We headed west from New Hampshire… Read More Heading West – Sept 2020
You had to know I would be the one to point out there are meteorological and astronomical ends of summer. “How do you come up with this shit” should your first thought. The mind works in curious ways. So yes, this is the end of the meteorological summer – the 3 months of June, July… Read More End of the Meteorological Summer – Aug 2020
OK, we weren’t really in Atlanta and we didn’t really go to Boston. But you get the idea – we headed north. In our never-ending search for the perfect climate, we have departed the Atlanta area and have headed north to New England. Nothing says leave Atlanta better than 90+ degree temperatures. Our first stop… Read More ATL to BOS – June 2020
Since this is (arguably) a travel blog, I thought I might talk about… travel. You can be forgiven if you have already forgotten what “travel” is. Perhaps this is where you queue the Dave Matthews Band, The Space Between… or the Eagles, Taking it Easy. This post in particular is about tweens. No, not teens,… Read More Tweens – May 2020
You know your unhealthy interest in fireworks is excessive if it has caused you to make a 1,500-mile trip to attend the Western Winter Blast, an assemblage of like-minded individuals who have a slightly outsized and unnatural attraction to exploding cylinder shells. Combine Woodstock (add 40 years to the average attendee’s age), the tailgating of… Read More Lake Havasu City (AZ) – Feb 2020
This will be a short post, but it has been confirmed (photos don’t lie) – the pot of gold is located in the campground dump station! You can all breathe a sigh of relief. Or perhaps that’s not the best analogy. We camped again at Organ Pipe National Monument in southwest Arizona, literally on the… Read More Organ Pipe – Feb 2020
We are camped at an Airstream-only campground (NTAC – North Texas Airstream Community) in Hillsboro, TX as a home base for a few days. I think it is common knowledge that we Airstreamers are like lemmings. “Lemmings have periodic population booms and then disperse in all directions, seeking the food and shelter their natural habitats… Read More Waco – Jan 2020
OK, so it’s been awhile. I know. I thought I no longer needed the self-therapy of writing blog posts, but Karen has convinced me that my mental instability is in dire need of some serious assistance – she has informed me I am neither stable or a genius. WTF. We headed west (from Atlanta) to… Read More Winter Road Trip – Jan 2020
You know life has gone moderately well when you spend a week in Bardstown, KY (the bourbon capitol of the world) to attend the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival. What do you get when you mix good friends and bourbon? In my experience, typically an arrest warrant. Not this time. We were on our very best… Read More Kentucky Bourbon Festival – Sept 2019
This may be our swan song post from New England while living here. With our house for sale but under contract, we have a lot of moving parts in our lives at the moment. We have, though, been able to travel with friends from the Massachusetts coast in Salem, MA, into sea coastal NH, and along… Read More Coastal Maine – July 2019
We descended on Salem, Cape Ann and Boston (MA) for what we have alternately called Our Most Fabulous Trip, or our Northeast Trip. I think Our Most Fabulous Trip conjures up Wayne’s World. Party on, Garth. When I say “we”, I don’t mean the proverbial Brad and Karen. This time we are actually traveling with… Read More North Shore Boston – June 2019
It doesn’t seem possible, but at the end of this month (technically a month later for Karen) we will have been retired for 5 years! What the hell have we done? Retirement, for those uninitiated, is when you shovel your driveway down to bare pavement two hours after a major storm. Being anal retentive helps. Retirement is… Read More 5 Years Post Retirement – Mar 2019
More accurately, this post could have been labeled “Everything Within 5 Miles of our House”. OK, so we haven’t done a lot of traveling in the last few months. Well, except for moving 1,200 miles north. So this post is really more about our November. The Airstream is winterized and tucked away in our yard for… Read More November in New England – Nov 2018
Four years ago I posted about our stay in Hampton, NH, but this time we have a little more of a story to tell. If you remember, only a few weeks ago we were in Bend, OR where we got an invitation to a cookout on the bay in Dover, NH with friends, and decided,… Read More Big Move in Our Future – Aug 2018
Two institutions. Niagara Falls. And Duff’’s. You weren’t expecting me to say the Buffalo Bills I hope. In further testimony to the travails of US Government, US Customs made the mistake of letting us back in the country. We departed the US earlier in the day from Port Huron, Michigan, and made the trek across Canada… Read More Western New York – Aug 2018
Imagine if you will – crossing the state of Nebraska (you know, the corn husker state). This will not be a photo expose; rather, you’re going to have to use your imagination. Imagine driving for hours (days really) and seeing rolling corn fields, train tracks running parallel to the road, and massive farm cooperative… Read More Nebraska – July 2018
Sometimes, the little things are the big things. Originally, we were going to continue heading north from Oregon into Washington State, but we got a better offer, and as a result are heading a bit east, and quickly found ourselves in southwest Wyoming. But not before first stopping in Garden City, UT just a hop,… Read More Rock Springs, WY – July 2018
We visited hell, devastation, chaos, and boiling mud. No, not the nightly news – Lassen Volcanic National Park, in northern California at the southern tip of the Cascade Range. We seem to be entering our “volcanic” period. I guess like volcanoes themselves, you don’t plan for this period. They just happen. Volcanoes happen, as the saying… Read More Lassen Volcanic NP – July 2018
We visited Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa, CA for the July 4th week. Nice!! Santa Cruz. In Santa Cruz we visited with my niece and her family – always great to see them! We camped in a marina – there is a “campground” (about a dozen paved parking spaces with full hookup) in the Santa… Read More 4th of July Week – 2018
As the preeminent surfer dude (not), I think I can report to you on Pismo Beach on the California coast. Gnarly, dude. That’s my report. Clutched in a sliver of land between US 101 and the Pacific Ocean, and about 2 hours north of Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach is kind of a cool little town. Granted… Read More Pismo Beach (CA) – June 2018
I may have found my favorite shiny new object… the town of Lee Vining, CA! We camped here for about a week for a variety of reasons, but one the weather was so cool, as was the town (population 395 on the sign entering the town). The town just had a cool vibe – what… Read More Lee Vining (CA) – June 2018
Sequoia and King’s Canyon (SEKI) NP is a paradise of contradiction. Or maybe there is no contradiction; maybe it is just balance. One thing for which there is no dispute: this place is beautiful. We spent four nights camped at the Lodgepole campground in the park. There are no hookups in the campground, although water is… Read More Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP – June 2018
We continued our trek west. How shameless is it that we are heading to the west coast for a free meal at a wedding? I’ll have the chicken, please. We left Kansas and made the transit across eastern Colorado to Denver and stayed at Cherry Creek SP (highly recommend). Here is where the story goes a… Read More Westward Ho! – June 2018
As mentioned previously, we are headed west, the first meaningful stop being to visit our son (the poor thing) in Denver. From there we will head further west to Santa Barbara to torment the daughter of one of my best friends at her wedding. We headed west from our highly regarded (by me only) escapade… Read More Heading West – May 2018
Bang a gong, smoke a bong – let’s get this party started! Tell me I didn’t just write that! Jeez. I was recently re-reading some of my prior posts and was thinking – who writes this stuff? Some of my comments go careening off the guardrails, while others feel like an errant missile with a blindfold… Read More Summer Kickoff – May 2018
In today’s environment, it is hard not to talk about the goings on in Washington, our nation’s capitol, without some snarky comment. But the fact is this is a magnificent city! You need a month or two to do any justice to this city, touring neoclassical monuments, endless historic sites, and world-class museums. We visited… Read More Washington, DC – May 2018
Holy Crap – Frank is 80! I won’t lie – it gets more than a little weird when you actually know someone who turns 80 years old. How can that be? Like my father before me, I am still only 39. Along the Airstream road, we have met many incredible people. Of course Frank isn’t one of… Read More Frank turns 80! – Apr 2018
Not a big story here, just a few pictures from TCPC on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. Spring has sprung! Or maybe not so much. On Monday (happy belated Patriots Day for my peeps in and around Boston) we had just a beautiful dusting of snow on our wonderful (sorry, Airstream only) campground…