Visiting Mammoth Cave

We had a great visit to Cave City, KY and Mammoth Cave. The weather was great with no rain and cool breezes. We are here for 3 nights and the campground is so nice, clean and quiet. The young man checking us in was very helpful and nice.

For some reason, Nicky likes to hang out on the back of the captain chairs. This morning when I woke up he was sitting straight up on the back of the chair. What a character.

 Mammoth Cave was very impressive. We had no idea it was so large and so long. The park area around it is just beautiful.

 The cave walking was easy, getting in and out was hard due to the number and steepness of the steps going down and then back up on the way out. I knew it wasn't going to be easy when I saw a bunch of young people huffing and puffing on their way up and out.

                                   We had Ranger Ryan leading our tour into the cave.



                                                       

After the cave visit we had a nice Kentucky Hot Brown sandwich at the restaurant and then back to the motor home for a nice nap. Then we sat outside with the kitties in the stroller and playpen. 

Bentley enjoyed a nice stroll around the campground. The weather was perfect.

Quick Trip to Tulsa, OK

Over Labor Day weekend we made a quick trip to the Tulsa area to pick up a used longarm quilting machine. When I say quick, I mean 5 days which is as quick as we could do it. Two and a half days there and two and a half days back. We like to travel no more than 300 miles  a day, so that's the way it worked out. The first night we stayed in Tom Sawyer's RV Park which is right on the Mississippi River. It was right after Hurricane Harvey and we were a bit concerned about the river flooding or being too high, but it was fine. It was a pleasant stay. We always enjoy watching the barges go up and down the Mississippi.It's one of our favorite campgrounds.

On the road while traveling I always have to have a project to work on. This trip I worked on a pair of tweed gray socks. I try to do a couple of pairs for each winter.

Bentley enjoyed riding on the dashboard and looking out, at least for a little while.

The kitties each have their favorite places to lay while traveling. Finny likes the back of the couch or on the couch. Bentley likes riding in the bed under the quilt or on the couch and Nicholas likes under my chair or in David;s lap.

At any rate, we made it safely to Tulsa and back with a new (to me) quilting machine.

A Wonderful Visit in St. George Island

We had such a great time visiting family and new friends in SGI. We were only able to stay for a couple of days, but it was a fun time all around. My cousin Becky and her daughter Emily and SIL Ryan rented a 4 bedroom, 4 bath house on the beach for a week. We stayed in our motor home in Eastpoint, but visited the family during the day.

The house was really nice with a big great room and kitchen in the middle and the bedrooms split on opposite sides of the house. There was lots of food and friends all around. Becky and her other daughter Elise shared one bedroom, Emily and her family (Ryan and daughters Graysen, 4 and Katherine, 2) shared another, Ryan's parents (our new friends) Millie and Allen shared another and two new friends, Dina and Gaby arrived from Guatemala and shared the 4th bedroom. Also,Kathy and Alan Windham, Becky's in laws were staying at a local hotel. Lots of people, lots of fun.

Graysen and Katherine had a wonderful time on the deck feeding the birds.

It was a perfect beach vacation spot with lots of room for family and friends.It was also a perfect place to share memories and honor the life of Mike Windham, Becky's husband and Emily and Elise's father and Alan's brother. Mike passed away in September and this beach and the fishing here was one of his favorite places and things to do. It was only fitting that friends and family gathered here to remember him and enjoy each other. Mike would probably never approve of us even mentioning him in any way. He was always the one to stand in the background and observe and let everyone else take the spotlight. He had a great sense of humor You often could not tell if he was serious in making a remark or not, which would catch you a little off guard. He had a tremendous work ethic and energy and always loved and supported his family and friends in every way no matter what.

My first visit to Chattanooga was because of Mike Windham. When he and Becky were newly married, Mike was in the National Guard and would leave for camp training. I would come and spend time with Becky while he was away in whatever small town they lived in . Once when Mike came home from NG and they lived in Trion, Ga he said "let's take a ride to Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain". So we rode up to Lookout for the day. I remembered that day fondly and when I received a job offer in Chattanooga that memory popped in my head. So, in a way Mike was responsible for my love of Chattanooga and my moving here. You just never know in how many ways a person can change your life.

Here is a rare picture of Mike, probably giving me some sage advice at Ryan and Najla's wedding.I think about Mike a lot. He has left a massive imprint in the lives of everyone he has known and is greatly missed.

On Our Way to St. George Island

We are on our way and so far have had a very uneventful and smooth start. Packing our food, clothes and things and gathering the kitties seemed to be the easier ever. We have everything packed in the motor home yesterday, so all we had to do today was straighten up the house, sweep, mop the floors, load up the kitties and head to the motor home.

I gave Finny his ACE in his first bite of food in the morning and he was good to go. It was easy, peasy loading them into the carriers for the ride to the motor home and away we went.The traffic in Atlanta was a usual mess, but once we got through Atlanta it was smooth sailing. We stopped at the KOA in Tifton, GA  for the night. We've stayed here before a couple of times and it's a nice CG. It's not fancy, but nice and quiet and has a nice walking trail around the back of it complete with a pond, horses and cows. We took Bentley for a walk in his stroller and he enjoyed the walk and his visit with the horses and cows. We called them and they came running over to the fence to say "Hello". At one point the cows backed away from Bentley. I guess they had never seen a cat in a stroller.

A Stop In St Augustine

On our way back to Tennessee we stopped in St Augustine, since we had to stop somewhere. We had trouble with our slide on the bunkhouse and bedroom wall and although David was able to "fix" it, it still needs to be adjusted by someone who knows how to do it. We called 4 places in Jupiter, but no one even returned our call until we left on Monday. I called ahead to have someone in St Augustine come look at it, but we may not be able to have it looked at here. There has been a horrible rain and thunderstorm going on here since right after we arrived. It will probably last all morning here.

We did get a chance to go out to dinner with Ryan and the kids last night. Najla was not feeling well, so she stayed home. We missed seeing her. The kids were so much fun. Trevor likes to copy everything Emma does, so I had dinner with Emma on one side and Trevor on the other. They were so good. I didn't get a chance to take any good pictures since we were running in the rain and thunder to our car. I did get a couple of silly face pictures, but not good enough to share,

Hopefully, the rain will be gone this afternoon, so we can get our side repaired and get out and about for a little bit.

A Wonderful Retirement Party

Mark's party on Saturday was fantastic. There were probably 150 people there from cancer centers in South Florida and current or ex Varian employees that both David and I knew. Having lived in the the area for 20 years, you meet and work with a LOT of people. It was embarrassing since many and I mean many came up to us and gave us a hug and we had no cue who they were or where they were from. If we were lucky, they introduced themselves.Several people came up to me and said, "I'm______, I was one of your students or I worked with you at _______. Uhhh clueless. There was a Radiation Therapy program in Broward county that turned out about 15 to 20 students per year for at least 15 years. That's a lot of students and they are all at least 12 years older, including us!!!! Usually after they walked away it dawned on me who they were. It was a wonderful night. Nancy did a fantastic job getting the word out to everyone and organizing the party. Mark had a great time and it was like a big reunion of friends. We just wish our memories weren't so bad. Everyone was really happy to see David. Everyone clapped and cheered when Nancy thanked us for coming so far to be at the party. All the people really missed David. He got a tons of hugs. This is a picture of Mark and Nancy's 3 "kids" (or they were "kids" when we knew them.

Sarah, David, Nick and Leah

The motor home park "resort" we are staying in is right across the highway from Mark and Nancy's house. It is a very fancy, smancy place which is only half completed & still under construction, but is renting out sites, The sites are actually for sale for a very high price. The pads are brick pavers, it is very nicely landscaped and  well lit. It's a beautiful resort, but your motor home has to be a Class A, at least 34 ft long and relatively new to get in. Yesterday when we looked out the window there was a man walking across the grass being followed by a sand tail crane. No matter where he went, the crane followed. He must be feeding him or something for the crane to be so loyal.

We had a great night on Sunday visiting with Mark and Nancy and are headed to St Augustine now. This is the way our Nicky likes to travel.This is a really quick trip, but the kitties are probably more relaxed than ever before.

On our way to Jupiter, Florida

We are headed to Jupiter, Florida for a retirement party for our friend Mark Morris. David "mentored" him when he was new with Varian and Mark is retiring after 30 yrs with the company. We haven't seen anyone in South Florida since David retired 12 yrs ago, so it should be fun.

The traffic headed to Atlanta was pretty backed up part of the way. We found out later that a section of 85 had collapsed due to a fire. Thankfully that happened AFTER we passed Atlanta, We arrived in Lake Park at the Eagles Roost RV Park in the daylight, thank goodness. The last time we stayed here it was pitch dark, the office was closed and there were not good numbers on the campground sites. We had a terrible time locating out site. It was so bad, David just parked the MH and I wandered through the CG with a flashlight until we found out site. The really need lighting and BIG site numbers in the campground.

This stay was not so bad, except that we thought the heating element on the water heater was burned out. All was well in the end and it was fine. The kitties got us up and 5AM which will make for an early started as we head to Jupiter.