Mother's Day 2011

Don't you just love Mother's Day? First of all, yesterday flowers were delivered from the kids. Not just any old flowers, but the longest stemmed, biggest blooms of perfect yellow roses that you ever saw. They are truly amazing!

Then today, we set out on our long-planned road trip to Ludington to see their new art park. This trip had been postponed a couple of times because Old Man Winter refused to give way - but today was an absolutely perfect day to do it.

Dick got out our new yellow jeep ragtop (we love that jeep) and off we went on our adventure. We started close to home with breakfast at Rico's. They had a very nice buffet - it was yummy. We hadn't planned to go there, but a little research showed that Hofbrau opens at 10 on Sunday, and Dinghy's at noon. We were itching to get started, and Rico's filled in very nicely.

We headed straight to Ludington, so we could geocache our way home. There was one interesting detour where a bridge was out. It put us down some roads we'd never been on before, and that's fun, too.

At Mesick, there was some kind of festival/carnival/art fair/flea market going on - don't know what that was all about. I googled it, and it turned out to be the Morel Mushroom Festival - http://www.mesick-mushroomfest.org/. Already at 10:30 in the morning there were tons of cars and people - the rides were all running - it was quite the event.

We found 4 or 5 caches on the outskirts of Ludington before we entered the town. They were all fairly easy ones (those are the ones we like best). We went by a water tower, a lookout tower, an old cemetery, and a memorial to Pere Marquette for starters. At the lookout tower, we found some mind boggling graffiti - we don't have a clue!



Our jeep at the lookout.



We were so impressed with Ludington! (http://www.visitludington.com) The town itself is beautiful, with many big old homes. Their Lake Michigan waterfront is just amazing - a really nice, sandy beach, two breakwaters, and of course the best lake in the world. It's so sandy that there are wind-blown drifts of sand left after the winter piled four feet high in the parking lot, and even on the steps of some nearby condos. We enjoyed driving around town, taking it all in. Ate lunch at the House of Flavors - gee I wish Traverse had one. They're just in Ludington and Manistee - great place to grab a sandwich.

After lunch we found the Ludington Municipal Marina - what a beautiful spot. Instead of an Open Space, they have Waterfront Park, which has a playground, walkways, and a sculpture garden. The sculptures were the real reason for the road trip. They are placed around the walkway by the water, and they are all so well done. The statues are approachable and touchable, and there were many families in the park today taking pictures.







T.C.'s Open Space pales by comparison. We were jealous of Ludington - and I didn't even mention the murals, the carferries and the sandcastle museum.

We found a few more caches on the way home. We also saw swarms of bugs - clouds of bugs, actually - have no idea what was up with that. There were so many clouds of tiny bugs that at times it looked like a forest fire. It went on for miles and miles - quite unbelievable.





We stopped in Frankfort for dinner at Dinghy's - the perfect end of a perfect day. Got home around 8:30 - a 12 hour Mother's Day!

Some of Dick's cache logs for today:

Geocaching

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05/08/2011 You found BIG BLUE 'M'---WT 3 Visit Log
After a long Mother's Day caching and sight seeing excursion, we were ready to push on to Frankfort for a much anticipated dinner at Dinghy's when we noticed the name of this cache. As life-long die hard Wolverine fans, we could not resist. Tired or not, micro or not, we could NOT just drive through town and ignore a cache named BIG BLUE M. Thanks for the fun.

05/08/2011 You found Tram Law Ludington Visit Log
After a great lunch at the House of Flavors we spent some time in the park enjoying the sculptures and the families. We are jealous, what a great feature. Sadly, Traverse City has nothing to compare. Running out of time and with many miles to go before we slept, (as well as a dinner at Dinghy's in Frankfort) we had time for only one cache in town. We had never heard of Tram Law before. Another first. I must say that the description is more exciting than the cache. This poor gal needs a new skirt. TFTS

05/08/2011 You found The Peoples Cache Visit Log
On this warm, sunny Mothers Day, we drove down to Ludington to see the sculptures in their beautiful waterfront park. No excursion would be complete with out a cache or ten. Not being great fans of micros or skirt lifters, we sought out this one for a stop on our way home. A nice stroll in an interesting spot. No fisher folk today and a quick easy find. Signed the log, took nothing and left our card and Apache Tears. Thanks for the fun!

05/08/2011 You found Grant township Cemetery Visit Log
It is so much fun to cruise around in our Jeep with the window off, not quite top down weather yet but it's getting close. We really enjoy the Spirit Quest/Cemetery caches, with out them we would just drive on past. We find however that a stroll among the stones is extremely interesting. The section of the stones of some Native Americans was the highlight for us. The size of the downed trees near the cache is amazing. They have been down for quite a while, wonder how old they are. We signed the log, traded sigs, and left a matchbox car. Thanks for bringing us to this unique spot.

05/08/2011 You found Phillips Rest 1866 Visit Log
We enjoy Spirit Quest/Cemetery caches. We had planned a trip to Ludington back in March. We wanted to visit the downtown park and view the sculptures. No excursion would be complete with out grabbing a few caches. When we drove up there was a muggle mobile parked at the entrance but no one in view. As I walked to GZ, a couple came out of the woods. No GPS was evident, only a camera, wished them a Happy Mothers Day and went to the cache. We discussed their appearance and the mom on our team spotted their name in the log. By the time we figured it out they were long gone. We signed the log and left our card and pathtag. After replacing the cache I strolled to the edge of the bluff. WOW! that drop makes the one at the Stocking Drive at Sleeping Bear look tame. Thanks for bringing us here.

05/08/2011 You posted a note for Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust Visit Log
We were checking some of Ludington's caches and worked on this. After grabbing the required information, we "solved" the puzzle and set out to find the cache. Unfortunately, our results took us to a cache we'd just found! We decided to work on it over lunch at The House of Flavors. We think we've solved it but ran out of time before we could go to the final.

05/08/2011 You found Suttons Landing Visit Log
Well we've seen their Bay but this is our first trip to their landing. Out and about on a beautiful Mother's Day to visit Ludington and grab a few caches along the way. We signed the log, took only trash, and left our card and some Fool's Gold. Thanks for showing this spot to us.

05/08/2011 You found LookOut 2 Visit Log
Mother's Day and the weather could not be better! We had planned a Ludington excursion for late March but the weather would not cooperate. Our main goal is to visit the park in town and enjoy the sculptures but we might as well grab a few caches while we're at it. The cranes were active in the marsh. We got accustomed to their racket down in Florida. Found the cache in good shape, left our card and some Fools Gold. Took some trash that was lying about and a picture of the name Marissa Nicole Steiger that is scrawled on the tower. Wonder if we could be related.

05/08/2011 You found Under the Water Works Visit Log
In January or February, we saw a report on the sculptures in downtown Ludington on Destination Michigan and planned an excursion. Originally planned for March, the weather was not kind and so we put it off until Mother's Day. It has been great fun. Traveling in our new cachemobile toy, an 02 yellow Rubicon and attempting to use our new paperless toys including a new iphone, we have had a blast! This is one of the last places where we'd expect to encounter muggles but some happy folks were out on a Mom's Day stroll. Signed the log, left our card and pathtag. Thanks for adding to our day.

05/08/2011 You found A Titan Visit Log
What a fantastic Mother's Day! We came down to Ludington to see the sculptures in the town park as a result of a TV program we'd see last February. After a couple of postponements, today was the day. Of course, an outing would not be complete without a cache or two. (Or 10) Took nothing, left Apache Tears. Thanks for the fun

The Lights Are On

A Prairie home Companion with Garrison Keillor was on NPR this morning. He was broadcasting from Detroit. One of the featured musicians was a song writer named Joel Mabus. This song about Michigan touched my Michigan heart. It doesn't mention T.C., but it's still a grabber:

How Dick Spent His Snow Day

I was on the computer early this morning when Dick came upstairs and said he wanted to show me something shocking. I followed him downstairs, thinking I was going to see some deer, or a bobcat or even tracks of a bobcat. He opened the garage door and the driveway was blocked by a fallen tree! It really WAS shocking!

He plugged in his small electric chain saw and went to work removing it piece by piece, branch by branch and hauling all of the bio-mass off to the side of the driveway.











It's all cleared away now - at least enough so we could drive the car out if we wanted to. Dick is really good at clearing away downed trees and brush!

This is Spring?

Dick and I are ready for winter to be over. Over - really over - no more snow and freezing temps. He sent this letter to the kids. It's a good description of what passes for Spring in T.C.

We have had a few signs of spring, all the normal ones; robins, redwing blackbirds, even a butterfly, but we still have 6+ inches of snow on the deck and the pile outside the front door is chest high. This week however, we've seen the first human signs of spring. The biker boys are cruising River Road on their Harleys, based on the noise level back here in the house, their lives are not at risk. ("LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES")

On Wed, after an 8 inch dump and with the temp about 35, in the mall we observed a group of young women (girls?) in flip flops. Sure they were wearing jeans and hoodies, but heck, they wear that in July.

After our walk in the mall, we made our mandatory Tour du Traverse. One has to observe the Bay and one of the States top ten Main Streets. Our overnights have been in the teens and the water mass in the bay is near 32 so each morning, if the wind is calm, there is a skim of ice that traps the floating ice masses. Well, on Wednesday, there was a fellow out in it using his kayak as an ice breaker. Nobody swimming yet but there are usually some folks walking the beach.

Down town there have been boys in shorts and tee shirts but the brew pubs might explain that. Then, yesterday was the topper, Although it was sunny, nary a cloud to be seen, the temperature was still in the 40's. Outside the mall having her smoke was a young thing in flip flops, tee shirt and shorts! Who needs Florida? Spring is here. (Ignore the snow in the forecast!)

Oops! It's falling. Big wet flakes but it's not sticking.

Anyway, the folks making syrup are happy.

Leelanau Day

Nice day for a drive! The sky is blue and the sun is shining, but there's still plenty of snow on the ground.

Of course our favorite drive is around Leelanau County. We began in Suttons Bay - went to Hansen's grocery store because they have exciting, exotic, and different items. We got some exotic items and headed for Northport on good old M-22, and then a leisurely drive to Leland.





It was a quiet day, so Lake Michigan was very calm and beautiful.

Oh hooray! By the time we got to Glen Arbor it was lunch time, and you know what that means! ART'S !

Hooray for March 22

Picket

Our new Governor wants teachers and other public employees to make salary and benefit concessions so that he can give all kinds of tax breaks and enticements to corporations. He also wants to severely curtail state school aid, cut the number of police and public safety personnel. These measures ae so counter-intuitive to effective state governance that it would be laughable if it weren't so very sad. As in Wisconsin, he wants to eliminate collective bargaining from the negotiating process - wiping away union rights which have been hard won over the past 50+ years.

Today there was a demonstration in downtown T.C. by teachers, public employees and sympathizers. I don't know how many there were, but there were many.

My favorite picket sign was "Real Nerds Love School".

A close second was "UNIONS - the people who brought you weekends."

Only a teacher would carry a sign that says "I am very upset."

They are chanting "Recall Rick".





We see these actions by newly elected Republican governors as an all out attack on public education. They are also attacking established institutions which are usually supporters of the Democrtic Party. I love this post by my niece Pam on facebook:

Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and gave themselves billions in bonuses while paying no taxes? Yeah, me neither.

Pictures, WoW,Puzzles, Caches, Haircut, Library and Groceries

Our whole day is in the title!

I started the day at the computer, first emailing Mike R. with a report about the beta testing I'm doing on his crossword puzzles. Puzzle making is his new hobby, and he's quite good. Then I spent an hour uploading old photos from the scanner to my photo program - object: preservation. Next of course I had to play Wow for another hour - then it was time for cache maintenance.

Dick is working on Expanding Your Universe, which has one stage for each planet. It needed some post-winter upgrading and coord checking. It was a nice day to drive around town from one planet to the next!

Dick had scheduled a haircut, so he dropped me off at the library. I read 5 different magazines - some of it was fascinating stuff.
I found some recipes, some great sounding websites to visit, and a great story about a foundling home 18th century London.

On the way home we stopped at Oleson's to pick up one item, and wound up with two bags full.

My knees still don't hurt and my back is about 75% better. Tomorrow the injection should take full effect. I'm still optimistic.

Shot in the Bum

Still working on getting rid of low back pain. Today's effort consisted of 2 sacroiliac injections - a real low blow! I should know if it's working by Friday or Monday. Already my back is better and my knees don't hurt - a nice side effect.

The injections are very unpleasant, but if it works it will be worth it. Today' shots were number 8 and 9.

I can still feel the "footprint" of the chronic pain - kind of a shadow discomfort, not really pain. I'm patiently waiting for that to go away, but I'm optimistic. Skipping gym tomorrow to give it a chance.

Small Town

We've been walking at the mall every day that we don't go to the gym. It's very pleasant there, and you're out of the weather. In a small town like T.C. when you're at the mall you're bound to run into friends and acquaintances.

Ron W. and his wife Joyce walk the mall around 4 days a week, and it's fun to run into them. Ron and I were classmates from Grade 1 at Union Street School until graduating from Central High, so we have a lot to talk about.

Today we met up with cachers Bird's Eye View and Bluejay Team - a lot to talk about there, too. Then the best part - Gerri F. walked in and we had old home week. When I volunteered at Munson, I worked at the Information Desk with Gerri for 5 or 6 years, and we became quite good friends. I haven't seen her for 11 1/2 years so we had a lot of catching up to do after the hugging was over. She's had some sad times - but we had a great talk and I was so glad to see her again.

At the gym, Carol R. showed up. She hasn't been there for months, and it was a real treat to see her and know that she's ok. She's on oxygen, so we were all kind of concerned when she stopped coming. She just stopped in to say hi. She now goes to the "Lung" gym to improve her breathing.

Wis-cairo

Financial or Political?

Union busting or fiscal responsibility?

The Wisconsin teachers have agreed to the budget cuts, but are standing firm for the right to collective bargaining. Their governor refuses to consider that, even though collective bargaining has no impact on the state finances.

WinterWowFest

The only part of the WinterWowFest that we did this year was to check out the snow sculptures. Such talent! I can't imagine how this is done. The artists had to battle above freezing temperatures, too.

This is my favorite - and I don't really know why. Maybe it's a World of Warcraft thing.

Although the lion and the mouse sculpture is really cute too.

This one is clever. It's a little hard to see in the picture, but it's showing how Michiganders use their hands to show people where they live in the State. The girl is pointing to Traverse City, of course!

9th Annual MiGO Winter Social

Where else can you go and be greeted by hugs?

My first hug came before I was even inside the door - (Justin of Wolverine Warriors). The second was just inside the door -( Jodi - LiteonCache).

And so on, and so on, and so on! So many great hugs and friendly faces - Heather, James and Sheryl, Tim and Susie, Gary and Donna, Rosie, Melissa - it was a great gathering. We are estimating that there were between 150 to 175 people there. We both had a super time - it's the perfect winter weekend get-away.

I really wanted to have a chance to play with Braylon - or maybe just hold him for a while - but he was very sleepy, and the wrong age to warm up to a stranger! Maybe next year.

This Bingo game is a fun, effective ice-breaker

Justin and Braylon - Wolverine Warriors

Crowd shot

James and Sheryl of...well...James and Sheryl !

Turkey for Valentine's Day ?

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours. These turkeys came by to give us greetings.

Icicle Icicle

If there were an icicle contest, I think we might be in the running!

Snow, Snow, Snow

Today is Laurie's Birthday. Happy birthday Sweetie - hope you have a good one.

If you were here, you could enjoy our snow, snow, snow.

On our cruise of down town we noticed a little ice and snow at the Marina and Clinch Park Beach.

The railing on the breakwater walkway is covered with ice from splashing waves

The beach is piled high with ice from wind and wave action.


Please don't try to launch your boat today.

The Corporate Barracuda

Our corporate barracuda has been like a fish out of water for the past 2 years.

The first year she spent most of her time flopping around and gasping for air. The flopping around was interrupted at times by classes on how to conduct a job search, and by the occasional job interview.

The second year was highlighted by working under contract in a comparatively small barracuda aquarium for relatively small amounts of sustenance.

The Powers That Be noticed the excellence, confidence, and competence of our barracuda, and decided that they could not proceed without her. She has signed on the dotted line. Now she is floating around once again in a big pond with suitably adequate compensation!

The Corporate Barracuda Swims Again !

Snow Snow

In Which We Still Have Plenty of Snow

A Minor Miracle

Jan. 27, 2011

Site: East Lansing, Mich. (Breslin Center)
Score: Michigan 61, #25 Michigan State 57
Records: U-M (12-9, 2-6 Big Ten), Michigan State (12-7, 4-3 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, Jan. 30 -- vs. Iowa - Care Package Drive (Crisler Arena), 4 p.m. (TV: Big Ten Network)

Big Games from Novak, Morris Send U-M to Triumph at No. 25 Michigan State
1/27/2011
Nineteen points from Zack Novak and 17 from Darius Morris guided the Wolverines to a 61-57 road victory at No. 25 Michigan State.

Winter Wonderland ??

We're very snowy here in Northern Michigan. We easily have over a foot of snow blanketing our deck. More snow falls each day, and the 10 day forecast shows snow every day. Our usual daily snowfall varies from 1-3 inches and seems quite manageable to me, who merely watches from the window. Our snow is white, beautiful and fluffy, and I hear it's great for skiing.

However - the East Coast has been getting gigantic snow storms this winter. They say that 19 inches of snow fell yesterday in Central Park!

At first Jana reported a Winter Wonderland in D.C. - but then things got really bad - here's the email from her that was waiting for us this morning:

On the 4:00 news broadcast yesterday, the VDOT lady said, if you are in DC and you haven't left your office, don't. Just stay there, don't add to the number of cars on the road.

The anchor said, what do you expect them to do? VDOT lady said, go have dinner, get a hotel room if you can.

The anchor was gobsmacked -- that was unprecedented advice.

I passed it along to a friend on IM, he said, pah, I only have a few miles, I will be fine. He was not yet home by 10 PM. Dork.

Now there are power outages all over (not here, I have never, knock wood, lost power here), so the traffic lights are out and the slush on the streets has frozen. It's anarchy. And supposedly there are still people stuck on GW parkway, who spent the night there.

The news keeps repeating phone numbers to call if you had to abandon your car -- apparently streets all over md, va and dc are just littered with abandoned cars that have to be towed before the plows can be effective, but the tow trucks can't get there because the streets aren't plowed.

Apparently the presidential motorcade even got stuck in traffic! He cut his visit to Wisconsin short, but it was already storming when AF1 landed, and the helicopters couldn't fly. So they joined the gridlock and got back to the white house a few hours later. (Luckily, the president did not have to relieve himself by the side of the road ;)

Sad -- a tree fell on a car at about 6:30 last nite killing a woman. By the 11:00 news broadcast, police and emergency vehicles had still not been able to make it to the scene. She just had to just sit there and be dead all that time :(

Now, as for this snow -- it was heavy and wet and fell fast. Really heavy. It was like falling slush, and it accumulated fast into inches and inches of slush. hard to say how many inches because it didn't stack up all fluffy, it sludged into the existing slush. But right now I have about 6 inches (of crusty half-frozen slush).

This morning after gym we had breakfast with some geocachers from Indiana - two women and 2 kids, Joe and Kacey. We had a really good time talking to them - Vonnie is the real geocacher of the crew - and we spent about 2 hours swapping tall tales.

Snow

In Which We Find Plenty of Snow on Our Deck:

MLK Day

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Favorite MLK quotes:

1. Hate cannot drive out hate.

2. The time is always right to do what is right.

3. Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity.

4. If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

5. The whole "I have a dream..." speech.

6. Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.

*****************************************************************************************************************


Routine mamm screening in the morning. No fun, but necessary I'm told. Anyway, it's over, so that's a good thing.

We did the downtown cruise, went shopping at Tom's West Bay, and then my reward - lunch at Bubba's. It was crowded, noisy, yummy and fun - the perfect reward.

The Hat

At Christmas time, Jana gave Tom a hat. Both Tom and Dylan fell in love with it, and they took turns wearing it.

Dylan was quite taken with it, so we were all doing searches on the internet to find one for him with not much success.

Grandpa Dick found the perfect hat in T.C. at Diversions, and so now Dylan is the proud owner of his own stingy-brim hat!

Hoke = Hope

From Wikipedia:

In February 1995, Brady Hoke was hired as an assistant coach at Michigan under head coach Gary Moeller. He was the defensive ends coach in 1995 and 1996 and became the coach for the entire defensive line from 1997 to 2002.

In May 2002, Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr named Hoke as associate head coach, the only member of the staff with that distinction. At the time, Hoke told the press, "Every year you learn more and more what the head coach has to do. I'm very honored to represent this school. I grew up a big Michigan fan, and I think it's a place that's special in a lot of ways."

During Hoke's eight years at Michigan, the Wolverines compiled a 75–23 record, went to a bowl game every year and won the national championship in 1997. While at Michigan, Hoke was assigned to recruit in California. One of the players Hoke recruited to Michigan was Tom Brady. Hoke recalled: "Tom wasn't the greatest athlete, with those skinny legs, but there was something about him.

The Harbaugh Derby

He Who Shall Not be Named has been fired at last. I wish him well - some place far, far away.
Happy day indeed!

Harbaugh is dangling out of reach at the moment. Sports columnists keep trying to read his mind. There's no telling what he'll do.

Jana did her best to persuade him via email. Here's her letter:


From: Jana Steiger
Date: Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 4:19 PM
Subject: A personal note for Coach Harbaugh
To: nadler@stanford.edu


Hi Niall, I got your e-mail from the Stanford web site. I hope you wouldn't mind passing this along to the Coach.

Hi Coach!

You won't remember me, I lived in South Quad with you, along with 1200 other people. But I have a confession to make. I have held a little bit of a grudge against you for 20 years or so.

It was all because of my nerdy boyfriend, Rich Bryant, who you probably do remember. He used to dominate the Kelsey House common room to watch The Three Stooges and The Twilight Zone several hours a day. Until one day, when just as Twilight Zone was about to start, you came in with your girlfriend at the time (who I do not remember at all), and Changed The Channel!!

Now, in hindsight, I can see this was probably an act of empowerment for you, confronting the tyranny of Rich's television turfiness. But at the time it seemed like the studly QB stickin' it to the nerdy guy, and saying "Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?" Grr.

So, yes, I have harbored resentment over this little incident ever since. Whenever you came on TV, or came up in conversation, I would say, "I don't like Jim Harbaugh, he changed the channel and wouldn't let my nerdy boyfriend watch Twilight Zone."

But, I am prepared to offer you my forgiveness, because it is all I have to offer, if you will come be the Michigan head coach.

It may not seem like much of a carrot to dangle. But it's all I've got, and I have to do my part. I will change my story. Instead of you being the bully, I will tell how you stood up to a bully for your girlfriend, so she could watch whatever dippy prime time network show was more important than Twilight Zone that night. Rich won't care. I'm not even in touch with him anymore.

I am hoping this little bit of good karma just may be the thing that tips the scales for you, and keeps you away from the NFL. Because, seriously, the NFL? How does that help turn boys into men, create opportunities for underprivileged youth who could never afford an education but know how to work damn hard on the field, nurture and mentor, influence and inspire, uphold fine traditions, and bring a beleaguered program back to the prominence it deserves? Besides, the NFL will always be there. It's not like you're gonna blow out a knee as the head coach of Michigan and ruin your NFL dreams.

As a bonus, I will forgive you for that statement you made a while back about the Michigan football program slouching on schoolwork. And you know what? The rest of the alums will, too. Because how can we argue with a head coach who has voiced his commitment to academics? That's what we all want.

So think about it. That's two forgives for the price of one. And all you gotta do is take the best job in football. My fingers are crossed.

Sincerely,

Jana Steiger '89
Go Blue!

And remarkably, two hours later Harbaugh responded!


from James Joseph Harbaugh
to "janasteiger@gmail.com"
date Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 6:08 PM
subject Re:
mailed-by stanford.edu


Jana

I really enjoyed reading your e mail and also cringed quite a bit at my neandrathal behavior at the Kelsey house TV room. The amazing thing is I love the Twilight Zone! I can also tell you that Im really not the same guy as then, we all grow up, hopefully improving as we go. I don't remember exactly when I gained humility but after much humbling I know I have. Thanks for the email and the sentiment. Go Blue - Jim Harbaugh


We were all encouraged by the Go Blue thing, and only slightly saddened that he can't spell Neanderthal.

January Home

Back in the Snow Belt

It was a perfect day to be on the road and traffic was light except for Cincy and Dayton. We saw snow first just north of Dayton - just pockets of snow on the north side of things. We felt that we were truly up north at Coleman - gray overcast skies and that misty foggy kind of snow where everything in the world looks gray. That's January up north all right.

Dick's report on the grand finale of our drive home:

We left Florence Ky this morning with every intention of stopping in Jackson. We had reservations and everything. As scheduled, we had a leisurely lunch in Dundee. Thought about Cabelas but this soon after Christmas, we couldn't think of anything we need or want. Back in the car and north on 23. However, when we got to 23/94, I couldn't get the car to turn. It just kept going north like a horse to the barn. Maybe we could turn at 96. Nope. It just kept going north. We were able to stop for coffee and gas but not even dinner. Pulled into 888 and discovered that someone had plowed the drive. Yeah!!!
So here we are. I think we will "hunker" for a couple of days.

Just click your heels together and say it three times...

Dalton, Georgia to Florence, Kentucky

Super nice traveling conditions - light traffic and nice weather. We saw gas for 2.86 in Knoxville - the cheapest we've seen for a long time.

We ate lunch at the Dinner Bell in Berea, Kentucky. I loved that place! The food seemed genuinely homemade - I had ham, and it was delightful.



The Clarion Hotel in Florence gave us a bit of a problem. Our room was far away from the office, and the wi-fi was not working. I tried for an hour to get on the internet and it just wasn't working. Called the office, and we were moved way down the hall to a room very near the office. Voila! Instant internet. The motel was very accommodating and understanding of our problem.