Coasting along the Gulf - Dec. 16 to 20, 2014

This post covers my travel along the panhandle of Florida: Panama City, St. George Island, and Cedar Key. In an ongoing effort to bring posts closer to real time, this entry consists primarily of photos with a few captions thrown in. I temporarily break that rule, though, to describe meeting some new friends.

Naval Gazing - December 15, 2014

For quite a while now, I’ve been doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I’m referring to my sisyphean efforts to catch up on blog entries. So, it’s time to try something different. Until I get reasonably close to real time, upcoming posts will be predominantly photo essays, with a caption thrown in here and there to set the context. I know readers will miss my mellifluous prose ;-) but something has to be done. Perhaps one day I’ll have the time to come back and fill in more complete descriptions.

The first entry representing this new approach documents my visit to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola. I went on the recommendation of my friend, David, a retired Navy pilot (Thanks!). A very complete, but very crowded (with exhibits) museum.

Alabama State of Mind - Dec. 11-14, 2014

After an extended stay in Memphis, my next goals were to visit some friends in Montgomery, Alabama and then head for the Gulf Coast. There were some sights along the way, and some great camping spots.

The King - Dec 10, 2014

Graceland. What more need I say? By the way, since it seems I’m going to be perennially behind on these posts, I’m going to start attaching dates to blog entries to indicate when the experience occurred.

Birth of the Blues

In this post, I pay a visit to Beale Street in Memphis where much of Blues and Soul music recording got its start. I also resolve the cliffhanger about what happened to the RV plumbing when I carelessly let it freeze.

Points South

After a bitterly cold Thanksgiving in Omaha, I was eager to get back to warmer temperatures by heading south. Along the route, I stop by Branson Missouri, Fayetteville Arkansas, and Memphis Tennessee, taking in sights and visiting friends along the way.

One Thing I Do Well

I’m an introvert. That helps explain how I can travel by myself and never ( well, hardly ever ) feel lonely. I’ve never considered myself as someone with a lot of friends. But this journey is reminding me how lucky I am to have the friends I do. And they’ve very considerately spread themselves out across the country, so I seldom go more than a week without catching up with one of them. This post is dedicated to a string of visits I paid to friends (and family), some of whom I haven’t seen in forty years. Without exception, the affinity is still there, and we pick right up from where we left off. If there’s one thing I’ve done very well in my life, it’s pick my friends. A word of warning: This post is quite long, has few photos, and very little to do with travel per se. But it’s a great pleasure for me to put these memories into writing, so if you’re interested in old friendships renewed, read on.

East End

I woke the morning of my third day in Big Bend National Park with a mixture of excitement and sadness. Excitement for sights I was going to see, but sadness that it would be my last day in the park. Many of the sights I’d seen before, but so long ago I’d nearly forgotten them. By the time I headed for the exit from the park, it had been such a full and rewarding day that I felt satisfied - at least, until my next visit.

New Territory

Though I’d been to Big Bend National Park three times before, I’d never made it to the west end of the park. So I was particularly excited that the second day of my visit would take me to Santa Elena Canyon and the other sights in that area.

Top Spot

I first camped in Big Bend National Park forty years ago, and it’s been my favorite place in the world ever since. This was my fourth time to visit the park and there were still corners that I hadn’t explored. I intend to return much more often in the future. In this one park you can find deserts, mountains, pine forests, deciduous forests, marshes, and river gorges. In this post, I’ll cover my first day in the park, a visit to the mountainous Chisos Basin.

Underworld

I’ve been to Carlsbad Caverns before, but it’s been decades and I was definitely ready for another visit.

Out of this World

Roswell, New Mexico. That name had always brought to my mind the image of a small town crazed with UFO fever. I was curious to see that spectacle. The reality turned out to be considerably different.

Cosmos

It was a happy surprise that the route to my next stop, Socorro New Mexico, would take me past the Very Large Array, a radio telescope with an antenna array that spans miles. Of course, as an electrical engineer and an astronomy buff, this was a must see. It was quite impressive viewed from the highway, but when I got to the visitors’ center, it turned out to be possibly the best technical tour I’ve ever taken.

Some Things Never Change

In this post I’m back on the road again, headed across the Southwest. I visit a friend I hadn’t seen in nearly 30 years, meet her husband, and together we visit the Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona.

Home Again, Home Again

First of all... a change of plans. The preceding couple of posts have promised that a review of my motorhome is coming, and it is. But it's a big undertaking and I'm getting further and further behind on posts about where I've been and who I've seen. So, while I continue to work on the review, I'm going to plunge ahead with travelogue posts and let the review come when it's ready. This is a short post about my return to San Diego after my trip north as far as Banff.

SPOT On

I'm working on the promised review of my motorhome, but there's a new development I wanted to share immediately. I planned to have a SPOT device with me from the beginning of my travels, but after I'd tested it once at home, it refused to even power on when I hit the road. Now I've received the replacement SPOT and it appears to be working. If you look below my retirement card at the right, there's a new "View Map" link. Clicking on this takes you to the SPOT website that tracks my travels.

Return to Fiddletown

On my return south to San Diego, the one side trip I took was to Jackson, California, east of Sacramento, to visit my friends Wade and Cheryl Hurst. The O'Hagan's and I had visited the Hursts back in August for a Cowboy Campfire BBQ and concert, but I was happy to have the opportunity to see them again. There was no concert this time, but I had more opportunity to explore the area, some on my own and some conducted by Wade and Cheryl.

Interlude

Originally the plan was to take two weeks loitering down the West Coast on my return to San Diego. But while I was in Canada, I got confirmation that an on-again off-again consulting job in Las Vegas was definitely on. So, after three quick days in the Seattle area, I parked the van and hopped a flight to Vegas. At the end of a very worthwhile week at the convention, I flew back to Seattle and began an abbreviated trip south.

All Downhill

Though there were still some great sights still ahead, I had turned a corner with my trip to the Columbia Icefields, and it was clear that the remainder of the trip would be mainly about returning home and seeing some friends along the way. This post is about the last three days I spent in Canada before returning to the states.

High Point

After spending the morning at Lake Louise, I continued north to the Columbia Icefields. This was a highpoint of the trip for me, certainly in latitude, but also in an emotional sense because it was the most beautiful scenery I'd seen, and it was the furthest I would journey from my start in San Diego; I felt like I'd accomplished what I'd set out to do at this point, and the rest was just wrap up. This post recounts my excursion to the Columbia Icefields.