MEXICO - COZUMEL Time

Cozumel, Mexico November 27 to December 4, 2009

Last Summer, before I was put on part time work, I decided it would be a great idea to hit Mexico over Thanksgiving. So, I booked a plane ticket (real cheap) and room (even cheaper!) to the Mexico island of Cozumel. A friend of mine has been going there for the past four years so..........I accompanied him and his gal friend. Wonderful idea (except we did not know about the First Annual Cozumel Ironman event).

An early flight out of Dulles to Dallas and then on to Cozumel had us arriving to: humidity, temps in the mid 70's, partly coudy and a not to busy airportby 2 pm. Cozumel's airport is totally different than Cancun's (absolutely NOT crowded and quick to exit). We packed luggage and persons into the HIGH priced (due to Ironman event) car and headed to the hotel (See left). Arrived in 5 minutes, unpacked and started walking the streets.

Cozumel is a BIG cruise ship stop and Friday is a busy day. Sunday is the ONLY day there are no cruise ships visiting - and that happen to be the same day as the First Annual Ironman event so the MAIN road around the island was 'blocked' from 5 a.m Sunday morning to midnight. (Woke up Monday to totally cleaned and washed streets. You would NOT have even know there had been over one-thousand runners etc) NO problem as there are tons of stores to visit.

The Hotel was right downtown, one block from the 'plaza'. It was quite economical and provided all the NEEDED ammenities at a very decent price. AC, Micro, refrigerator, TV (three English channels and over 30 others in Spanish. [its funny - I looked at the English channels to see the translation to Spanish to 'try' to learn (refresh) my Spanish language - I flunked so gave up], King bed, balcony with view of the cruise ship dock, Queen bed (for luggage) and view of the pizza hut across the street (nice short walk for pizza they think is Americanized but ....... not really).

Almost NO one is on the streets at 6 a.m. when we visited the plaza to watch the sun rise, listen to the birds etc. Oh, there are a few shop owners arriving (restaurants) and city cleaners/park personnel doing their early thing but.................hardly ANYONE else. Quite peaceful if I do say so myself.

Later during the week we took the car (twice) to a few beaches along the road that traverses the island. (With the cruise ship docks near town, there are really NO swim beaches nearby). NO problem.........there are plenty south of town and even a few across the island. The second visit to the East side of the island found us at this beach (see below). Quite nice considering it is on the East (rocky) coast.

On the West coast (below town) there are three real nice beaches with chairs, parasailing, jet skiis, bar, unmrellas, etc for relazing (above left). No FEE to use - just spend your MONEY there - but they don't 'gouge' ya. Decent prices considering - but then, based on the crowds, it is apparent that they 'work with the cruise industry' for bookings. Bus load would arrive but if you got there early enough - you could stake out YOUR area etc.

Well..........all good things must come to an end. We flew back from 78 degrees, thru a Dallas airport at 40 degrees (changed clothes there) to Dulles at midnight (38 degrees). Slept till 7 a.m. on Saturday and awoke to find: SNOW! (UGH). Back to reality.

Would I do it again? In a HEART BIT.

PARTIEEEEE TIME

Northern Virginia December 11, 2009

A certain 'young' lady had a Surprise Birthday party yesterday evening. She will deny it but - recently she had said that "No one every has given Meeeee! a surprise party. Waaaaaa". So..............between her mother and friends (and myself) we planned one.

The idea was for me to ask her out for dinner.....and pick her up a little later than I do normally. We had to allow time for her friends to get off work, as well and Rita to prepare the 'Birthday Dinner'. So I was to: 1. Tell her I was running late; 2. Advise her that a car ahead of me had hit a deer and we had to take a longer road back to my house because of......3. I had forgotten my wallet AND my bag of gifts; and 4. I had to hit the restroom 'real bad'. Bottom line: "I was having a bad day". So.....when we arrived at my house I then had to say "Oh darn, I left the front porch light on too...........see - my day is a mess". "Come on in while I hit the restroom". (The guests had parked in another cul-de-sac so there were NO cars near my house to appear suspicious).

TA TA............Surprise!

All in attendance totally enjoyed the feast that Rita had prepared. I commend her on accomplishing that task. Well done girl.

After dinner we viewed a number of videos of Kelly (and brother Matthew) that were taken in her 'youth' (a long gone period of time since Kel is NOW THIRTY BIG ONES). She was seen during the church Christmas event, several years of her 'dancing career' as a youngster, cheerleading, her Senior year Prom event (yea Zac) and several Easter egg hunts in the yard around Twin Springs Estates (the cabin in the woods - ahhhhh, the good ole years) with my parents in attendance.

The Birthday cake was donated by Arielle, Matt and Jenkin (who could not be in attendance due to Jenkin's recent aquisition of a cold). It was a GREAT Stone Cold cake (Vienna). The wild and crazy party broke up around midnight............a good time had by all.

So..............we will not hear "NO ONE GIVES ME A SURPRISE PARTY" anymore!

Happy Birthday Kelly. Love Dad

NOVA Visit to Auntie Kelly

November 13, 2009 Reston Virginia

Aunt Kelly was lucky on Saturday and had a visit by Jenkin while his parents visited a few other families in the area
and did some errands. Jenkin seems to enjoy playing with his tongue as evidenced in these pictures. I stole these pics from Kelly's Piscasa page.



I just had to have them.

Penguin Sited in Barboursville, Va

October 2009 Penguin Land

Rumors are there is a new breed of Penguin down in Barboursville, Virginia. It is a very gregarious breed and quite colorful. I captured a picture of one visiting a house of a friend of mine. They are quite small size wise and quite rare I hear. What is your thought of my findings?

Visit to Barboursville, VA

October 2009 Virginia

I was long overdue a visit to the Jones family in Barboursville so I decided to drop by one Friday evening on my way to the outdoor range below Stanton (which I never got to but that is another long story).

During dinner time Jenkin was talking to his dad and after hearing a story his dad told, I captured his expression (see left) of doubt as to its truth. Jenkin did not believe it one bit.

Later on after dinner Jenkin had expressed his possible desire to become a dentist. He was showing me his chairside manner during an examination of his dad's teeth. Quite impressive - although he forgot to put on his exam gloves during the exam.

Jenkin doesn't hesitate to advise you that the paparazi better not get in his way. Especially when he is between wardrobe changes. His feeble attack on me was a bit too slow and I was able to escape without being hurt. Its a good thing he had no items near by to throw at me.

There is no doubt that he will be a JOCK when he grows up. Jenkin loves his ball and playing with it.

Its obvious that Jenkin and his dad are tight. It was a wonderful visit and after dinner I headed to Luray to spend the night with a friend who has a house on the Shennandoah River. I can't wait to visit Jenkin and family again. He is soooo much fun.

MR KOOL

Summer, 2009 Virginia

Here is MR KOOL..........ready to hit the beach etc. He went to Myrtle Beach, SC with his maw and paw in July and had a good time. This pic was taken before they left and he just wanted to prove HE IS READY

JJ's VISIT

October 24, 2009 Vienna, VA

There couldn't be a better day than to have a visit by Jenkin on a rainy day. Since I could not accomplish much outside in the yard - what with the rain etc - it was GREAT to be able to spend some time with Jenkin talking about recent happenings.

While discussing the 'weight gain' BOTH of us have encountered lately, Jenkin showed me how to have "proper form"when doing the overhead PRESS when weightlifting. He has good form! He admonished me for the amount of weight I have recently 'put on'. I pointed out he was not far behind! I took a pic to prove it.

We caught a few minutes of the college football games but we were disappointed that BYU's game was later tonight so switched to SURVIVAL MAN on TV. During the show the 'Survival man' was in Alaska to which he pointed out that he and his Maw had recently returned from after a visit. He asked me to post a pic to prove the trip.

After grabbing a quick nap, bottle and few slices of banana he and his Maw decided to head to the mall to spend a few of the bucks his dad recently earned. He said he would have NO problem doing that.

We all got lucky and loaded up the car between downpours and they were on their way for a quick mall visit and then back to Charlottesville.

Jenkin..........thanks for making a rainy day BRIGHT. You are a blast dude.

Autumn is here!

September 25-26, 2009 Vienna, Va.

Well its that time of year when the yard needs lookin' after. So I get a call from my yard man who asks if I want to do the "aeration/over seedy thingy". I ask the price and decide that I could buy another M1 Garand for that price and pass. Knowing that it WOULD be a good idea to get done, I check out the rental company. YEP. $38 get it for three hours. It's a GO.

So, after beating myself to death (I had the throttle set on HIGH speed and just about lost the aerator down the hill) in the 2.5 hours I completed about .8 of my yard. Since I had no extra gas for the machine I just loaded it right up the ramp and into the truck. Let me tell ya. THAT machine will kill ya if: 1. You have the throttle set FULL and 2. You have the splines set to take a 2 inch plug. I found out that a 1" plug would have been sufficient.

OK..........now. What about the grass? I mean - why aerate if ya don't overseed! When I return the machine I am told my spreader at home will work. Need grass seed: 2 packs for $50. ALL set. Job done. Rain here (although I turned on the sprinklers just before the rain came :(

SO........yard all set. $$ saved for next Garand. Got the equivalent of a good workout. Bushes trimed (saved $ there too!) and sure hope I did them right and did not kill them. New plants put in on Thursday make the yard look much better. I had a DEAD Jap Maple and all the bushes along the porch had a FUNGUS (ugh). All in all much better. Now.......grow grow grow for the future sale.

Now..........let's just see how long the new plants last - what with the deer, snow, ice, etc. Time will tell. I have a one year guarantee - supposedly the plants are NOT know to be favorites of the deer.

Old Faithful Inn

Old Faithful Area, YNP, Woming July 23, 2009

This blog insert is slightly OUT OF PLACE as the previous blog (concerning the MC trip) was about the Road to the Sun . I will have some entries concerning the trip from that point TO this point - Old Faithful Inn. I just wanted to show you a picture I was able to take of the Old INN at Old Faithful. Also, included is a sample of the transportation that is available to visitors. It is a nice way of getting around the park. LOL

Enjoy.

Sittin' BIG

August 15, 2009 Vienna, VA

Jenkin dropped by today to say HI. I introduced him to HIS new chair that his Great Grandfather had used when he was a baby. After parking his butt in it...........he decided that he liked it. Now, he has a chair of HIS OWN to use while we watch the ball games - football and baseball. We might even catch a few "Wrestling matches".

After a few minutes he asked where his glass holder was located on the chair; but I told him he would just have to make do without one. After thinking about it........he said he had no problem.

I apologized to him for it not reclining but.....explained that back in the 1920's they did not even have TV so the recliner had not been invented.

After sitting it for a while he decided to immitate his dad...........that picture is the one on the far left.

All in all it was a great visit. He promised to

return soon.

Great day all around

6 Months and one Day Birthday

August 8, 2009 Barboursville, VA Birthday Dude

Attached is some GREAT pics of Jenkin Richard during my visit yesterday. He is one CUTE DUDE.

http://picasaweb.google.com/b78eemer/892009SixMonths1Day Jenkin at six months

Road to the Sun

July 17, 2009 Havre, Montana to Kalispel, Idaho


This is the day I (we) have been waiting for. We awoke (after a muchly needed sleep since the day before had been a 475 mile day) to find the weather CLEAR and in the 60's. Nice day to head to the ROAD TO THE SUN thru Glacier National Park - although it was suppose to be hotter later in the day.

We still had about 170 miles to accomplish before we began the ROAD run. And ...... there was the Museum of Plains Indian in Browning, Montana that was a MUST SEE. Well, we still might have time to get thru the ROAD run before it got too late - IF WE HUSTLE.

After breakfast in Havre we hit the road and arrived in Browning to 'do' the museum and get another grub stuffing. By 3 p.m. we were headed to the ROAD run. AHHHH........finally!!
The run up the East side to Logan Pass is quite gentle - at least
compared to the Western approach. The difference is like Night and Day...........no comparison. Your immediate view as you begin the ascent is St Mary's Lake. Quite impressive at both ends (top pic is lower elevation with left pic as you ascent). We stopped a few times for pictures. It turned out that there were few stops allowed once the pass was reached. There was a 30 minute 'wait' for a parking spaces at the Logan Pass Visitor's Center so...........we had to pass it up and continue over and through a recent snow avalanche area which was being repaired since the retaining wall (and road) was cleared out in spots. With NO (except emergency) pull-off spots I was unable to obtain any pictures of the views - QUITE IMPRESSIVE. Lynn was able to get a lot though.

After visiting the General Store at the West Entrance we sped on down the road - all the time looking for a decent motel to stay in. After a few stops and inquiries (all of which were ridiculous prices since the following two days the National Parks had eliminated the PASS FEE'S - a freebie and the motel operators were anticipating a crowd to gouge) we headed into Kalispel where we KNEW we could find a better selection and had more competition price wise.By 7 pm we had found the BLUE AND WHITE Mote and were checked in.

Total miles = 280 miles. Overall feeling: WONDERFUL DAY AND VIEWS (let's go back the other way now)

Footnote: It was expressed that we were "lucky" to have the inside lane up, over and down the ROAD TO THE SUN. WHY - IT seems that those portions of the road under reconstruction, which did not have a guardrail or low retaining wall, were QUITE intimating -especially since mountains in the east do not tend to have straight dropoffs like these. For those MC riders who have not ridden the mountain roads of the west, and are trying to see the views for the first time, I guess this road could be intimading. Since I had taken the road twice before (once on the OUTSIDE lane IN A VAN) I was totally enjoying it the whole way. If you want to see another TUFF MC road, check out MT EVANS, COLORADO webpage. THAT road ends up at an elevation of over 12K feet - this one only hit about 6600 feet!

Trip to Never Never Land

July 8 - July 30, 2009 Northern Virginia to The Dalles, Washington to Northern Virginia

Well..........the BIG MC trip of 2009 is history now. The ENTIRE trip (including the trailering of the MCs to Luddington, Michigan) totalled 7063 miles. Of that 6189 was by my Beemer and the balance of 874 was the van and trailer. I am going to have to 'think' real hard about doing another long trip like this. My ole bod just isn't quite up to it.

After visiting friends in Luddington we headed north to pick up our MAIN route - US 2 which was available in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This route was to take us to just before Glacier NP where we hooked up with a different route to take the ROAD TO THE SUN.

Day ONE got us to Escanaba, Michigan - about 335 miles. Was a cool ride weather wise and uneventful.

Day TWO got us to Bessmer, Michigan - about 188 miles where we visited with a college friend of Joe's that I had not seen in over 22 years.

Day THREE gave me my first sight of Lake Superior (just another body of water). We passed through Wisconsin pretty quickly and as we entered Minnesota we encountered rain. After traveling in the rain for about 3-4 hours we decided to obtain a motel room in Bemidji, Minnesota - instead of trying to get to what MIGHT be clearer skies in North Dakota. Miles = 280 (but glad to dry out)

Day FOUR- North Dakota. Need I say more. That is one state with NOTHING to offer. Oh....I had better restate that. For the lack of anything else to stake claim of - North Dakota has claimed the GEOGRAPHICAL CENTER OF NORTH AMERICA. WOW WOO HOO GEE WIZ YIPEE. More like the butt hole of NA. My dad had been stationed at Minot AFB back in 1966-67. I had visited there one Easter. Swore I would never revisit. The condition of that state in the Winter and Spring led my dad to finally submit his retirement papers with the Air Force. TOTALLY MISERABLE PLACE TO LIVE. Windy and snowy in the Winter, FLOODS in the SPRING and HOT in the SUMMER. I guess that leaves the AUTUMN season; but, why only enjoy a place for 1/4th of a year!??? (and 1/3 of that ya sleep!!) I was pleased to vacate that state. Total - 333 miles.

Day FIVE- A "CITY" TO FAR. Ahhhhhh..................this is the day to forever remember. We left Minot, ND with cool weather, encountered about 20 miles of highway construction at the Montana/ND state line[pic at left] (slow, dusty, muddy travel but uneventful for me) and motorcycled on to see the Ft Peck Dam and Dinosaur Museum. Nice break for sore butts. On to see the next Dinosaur Museum in Malta, Montana. Since it was only 5:30 it was decided to push on to the next TOWN of Havre, Montana which probably had a better selection of motels. WELL.........that 2 hour push was a mistake. Oh, we were able to GO 75 mph with no problem......just a 'bit' too far. We arrived in Havre, Montana at 7:30 and found a nice motel off the beaten path. Total - 475 miles.

SUMMARY TO THE DOOR TO HEAVEN: 1611 miles. It has taken us until July 17 to get this far along the 2009 MC TRIP. Tomorrow is one of the THREE MAIN portions of this WHOLE TRIP. ROAD TO THE SUN over Logan Pass in Glacier National Park. The other Two being Yellowstone National Park and the Teton National Park. I can't wait until tomorrow!!

Headin' Home

Pennsylvania - July 30 2009

This is about the "Bestest store" in the world. They have EVERYTHING related to the outdoor. It is R E A L sad that the nearest one is up in Pennsylvania. I just HAD to stop by here as I was heading home (was in dire need of a rest and.........with the possibility of obtaining some more ammo, it was worth the stop).

I should have taken my camera indoor as they have a WONDERFUL collection of trophy mounted wildlife. You name it - they have it. I did get a picture of a wolf while on the ride though. He had to be convinced that it was best NOT to mess with me.

OH..............And a nice LIBRARY of old (and newer) rifles and pistols and revolvers - most over priced but great to look at).

But....sad to say, they TOO were out of the ammo I needed. SO..............later.

Road to the SUN

JULY Something....who cares! 2009 Montana

Finally DID it. Took the ROAD TO THE SUN on my wonderful baby.....and she did well. Twas as nice a ride as I had dreamed.

Went thru Idaho into Eastern Washington state. Expanses of NO FENCING for miles and miles. Just immense fields of plowed fields or grain..........grain which grows RIGHT UP TO THE ROAD. And with no fencing......quite impressive.

Past the Grand Coulee Dam and down over the Columbia River to Oregon where we stopped in Pendleton for the night. Going to try to get to Boise tomorrow for a new front tire. The existing one is getting pretty worn. Gotta do it there or Denver and Denver is too many more miles and days ahead.

PS WEST 2 is the route we started on in the UP of Michigan. It took us BYE BYE WEST 2.

Wish me luck in Boise for a new front tire.