On the road again May 2015

 I know, late again. I've been busy, ok! We left Texas on April 25 (thank goodness, sorry Texas). We then headed for Shreveport Louisiana to attend an FMCA motor home rally.  We haven't been to a RV rally in years and this was sort of on the way home. It was small and we were sort of disappointed but we did learn a few new things  at a couple of the seminars that we went to and saved some money on our insurance.  They provided breakfast every morning and did have entertainment at night. There were all sizes of motor homes there from the little class B to the really big class A.

 We left there on Thursday and headed to Wichita Falls Texas (I know back in Texas but a necessary evil) to visit our grand- daughter Chloe at Sawyer A.F.B. This will probably be the last time we get to see her before she leaves for the U.K.  We were able to visit her for the whole weekend and had a good time  together. Holly made her some of the foods she likes and we even went out for ice cream a couple of nights. She sure looks different out of uniform.

 We went to the river walk and to the falls. The town isn't named after the falls.  It is actually a sculpture next to the river and water is pumped to the top to flow back down to the river. Due to all of the rain they have been having the water was the color of mud. After we said our goodbyes we headed to Arkansas to see our friends from the park in Texas, Bill and Penny. We meet them at a C.O.E. park called Jefferson Ridge. We had a chance to visit for a couple of days and then we headed for Decatur Indiana to drop the motor home off at the factory for some repairs and then headed home.

 Once home it was busy, busy, busy. I had lawn mowers to get ready for summer and brakes to put on the Jeep. Out to dinner with friends then a quick trip back to Decatur to pick up the motor home to get it home to get ready to leave again. But first a get together with family for Memorial Day. It also gave us a chance to see Beckie's and John's house after all the work they have been doing. John has done a nice job and I'm sure Beckie has a been supervising all the way.




Holly, Krista and Beckie decided to get a tattoo together.  It was Holly's first and last (that's what she said not me). It is a lady bug in the shape of a heart.

 We also had a graduation. That's right, Cameron graduated (I lost that bet). I tell ya, first Chloe graduates last year then joins the Air Force. Now Cameron graduates and is headed to college in the fall. These kids are making me feel old. Oh that's right, I am old...I just don't need my grand kids to remind me! Here he is entering with his class and getting his diploma.

 Here he is looking inside and finding out that it is empty (maybe I did win that bet). Heck, I guess they sent it to him in the mail.

 Here he is with Dad and Mom and his grandparents. We are very proud of him and wish him well in college this fall. That's it. May seemed to fly by and it feels as though I didn't get everything done I wanted to but it's that way every time we get home. Cam graduated on the 28th of May and we were on the road to our next adventure bright and early on the 29th. Headed to Libby Montana to be host at Libby Dam for the Army Corp of Engineers. We wish everyone a great and safe summer. Stop back next month and see what exotic places we have been to. It's going to be a dam great summer.

Schulenburg Texas, April 2015

Well, better late than never.  April was a slow month after Chloe's graduation from basic training. Before Krista and Mikayla headed home we went to Natural Bridge Caverns by Austin. Here is MJ getting all ready to go spelunking. It was a nice little stroll in the damp and cool underground.

The guide said we would be going down the equivalent of a 15 story building. Then of course that was the easy part. After that we had to go back up the equivalent of a 15 story building. Just a nice little walk to get everything moving.

We saw some really nice formations and a large underground lake. I was able to get a nice shot of MJ and Grandma. I think MJ needed to rest, you know how easy those young kids wear out.

These are the famous Blue Bonnets of Texas. These flowers pop up all over in the spring. We saw whole fields of them. Of course those Texans think that Texas is the only place that they grow. We had some in the park and when we were weeding the flower beds. Penny walked up and pulled a bunch of them up and I had to hurry up and replant them before anyone saw what happened and arrested for her vandalism.

Holly and I went to a AAA team ball game in Round Rock which is north of Austin. The Express is a AAA team for the Texas Rangers. They were playing the Tennessee Red Birds. It was a beautiful stadium. We had some really good seats, it was a double header and the Express won both games. The sunshine was fantastic as the past week in Schulenburg was just  gloomy and rainy.

This is the mascot for the Express and the park is called the rail yard, go figure. This is the mascot for the, wait for it, yes you're right....The Red Birds. We had a great time. We walked around the park between games and they had almost everything to eat that you can imagine. Of course I had my usual chili dog and and Holly had the nachos grande (they weren't very grand) and topped that off with funnel cakes. We would of rather had elephant ears but we have come to the conclusion that they are nonexistent west of the Mississippi. 

We took one last trip down to the Gulf before we had to depart Texas and start heading home. The kids (yes I know they are dogs but they don't understand that they are) just love the beach and Ruby loves chasing sticks into the water. When we said it was time to go Ruby went and hid in the water but we found her when she came up for air. Well that's it for Texas. We departed on April 25 and headed for Shreveport Louisiana for a 4 day RV rally. After that it was back to Michigan, but that's next month's blog. Remember, if you see a big motor home go by, wave, it could be us but if it isn't, that's okay, we've found that most rv'ers will wave back. That's just how we roll.

Schulenburg Texas, March 2015

As I said in the February blog, March was a busy month. Holly and I went to Houston Space Center. It was interesting looking back at history.The only difference is we were there when this was all happening. We remember the first time man went into space and orbited the earth. We watched the first time man landed on the moon. Yes it was strange thinking about this while we were looking at all of the displays. We had a great time looking back in time.

This is the moon rover and the two astronauts on the moon. The government would probably make you a good deal on the rover...you just need to pay the shipping cost to get it back here.

They took us on a tour of Johnson Space Center which is next door. We were able to go in the building where they have mock ups of the space station for the astronauts to train on. This is one of the  prototypes for the new moon rover.  Below is a robot they are developing to perform work outside in space to cut down on space walks, making it safer for the astronauts.

These pictures here prove that as you get older you start to get shorter. OK, maybe not that much shorter. They had a Ripley's Believe it or Not display. I don't remember what the  big chair was but the other is of the world's tallest man. He was 8 feet 11 inches tall. As you can see Holly is a little on the short side.

On another trip with Bill and Penny, we went to see the Battleship Texas near Galveston. It's a self-guided tour and they have signs explaining where you are and what different areas were used for, including the prophylactic room. Now that is almost self explanatory, but if you need a better explanation you can e-mail Holly. This is Bill looking forward from the gangway. It's amazing how much fire power they had on this ship, plus they carried two sea planes. 

This picture is looking towards the stern from the bow. This shows the first turret, the bridge and fire control above that. I was able to climb into the first turret and get this shot of how the shells were loaded. Now when I tell you that this was a very small area I do mean small. There were two seats for the gunners, one on each side. The area they had to sit in was smaller then a stall in a public bathroom. To get into the turret you have to climb under the rear of it and then climb up through a small hatch.When I stood up in the hatch with my feet on the deck I was half in and half out of the turret. Once you get that far you need to climb a ladder about four feet to get to the gunners position. Then if your like me, you sit down and think "how the heck am I going to get out of here".

This is Holly standing next to some smaller shells for some of the other guns on board. As I said, they had a lot of guns on this ship . Of course after exploring this mighty ship from stem to stern and bridge to keel we had to find lunch down on the Gulf and a good lunch it was.

On February 20 our granddaughter Chloe became on of the many Air Force's newest Airman. The Air Force has basic training in San Antonio Texas which is a 2 hour drive west of us. It was a no brainier to pack up and move to a RV park in San Antonio. Her mother and two sisters flew in along with Brianna's boy friend and Krista's friend Kim and her family. Chloe's dad and his wife also flew down,  This was a two day event. On Thursday they had the "Airman's run and coin presentation" and on Friday the formal graduation. This is Krista (Mom), Mikayla (sister), Grandpa, Grandma and Brianna (sister) holding Chloe's sign.

This was a special day as they graduated the last 8 1/2 week training class and the first 7 1/2 week class for a total of 1060 Airman recruits. They started with all of the recruits running into the stadium to the cheers of the family and friends. Each "flight" as each unit is called wore different colored shirts so you knew ahead of time what color shirt your airman was wearing. After they went past the viewing stands they ran way out on the parade ground and back past going the other way. After this this they changed into their ABU's and marched back in for the coin ceremony.

After all of this we were able to go find "our" airman and get short hugs (no more then 5 seconds) Grandpa cheated on this; what they going to do, and a quick peck on the check. That is Mom to the left wiping away tears, Grandma going in for the hug and big sister Bri wiping away the tears on the right. We are so proud of this young lady and everyone else that graduated that day. My Dad was a Tech Sergent in the Army. My brother was in the Navy, I was in the Coast Guard, Her Uncle Mike (our son) was in the Marine Corp as was her Dad. Now with Chloe in the Air Force I think we have them all covered.

Here are the sisters three. I know that big sister Bri and younger sister MJ are both very proud of Chloe and will miss her not being home all the time. But now days with cell phones and computers it is a lot easier staying in touch then when I was in.

This is Chloe and her Air Force coin that she worked so hard for. That is something she will have forever along with all of the experiences of basic training.

This is just one shot of the formal graduation. I have many more but just imagine a field covered by 1060 airman in Air Force blue and  that's it. A lot of marching, they took the oath one last time (I guess all of the other times were for practice so they wouldn't screw up this one), and they sang the Air Force song.

Here she is all dressed up and grown up. We were out somewhere with her and someone referred to her as an adult and it really caught me off guard. I always thought of her as Chloe my granddaughter. But they were right, she is an adult. Cute, confident, and smart but still my Chloe (now Grandpa is wiping away tears).   She  is now at tech school at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas after which she will go to her first duty station at Lakenheath Air Force Base in the UK.  How cool is that?

Here I am with her and I think my shirt says it all. I know that Grandma and Grandpa are very proud of her and we both know that she will excel at whatever or wherever she goes during her time in the Air Force.

That's it for now. We have about three more weeks here then we head home to see our grandson Cameron graduate from high school and then we will be off to Libby Montana. So you are all dismissed and may carry on. Just be sure and report back here next month and visit with us again.

Schulenburg, Texas Febuary 2015

Sorry for the late start. February has been a wet, cloudy and rainy month. The temperature swings have been 30 to 40 degrees day to day. We have not done much so this will be a short blog this month. As you can see Holly and the kids were able to enjoy some sunshine. But our day at the beach with Penny and Bill was not as nice.

The bad weather did give me a chance to finish my puzzle. It took about two months of working but I did it with out any help. Well that's it, I said it would be short but I will make up for it in the next month. We have already been busy traveling all over and we have a very exciting event coming up for our family and I hope to share it with everyone. See you next month.