18 Nov 12

 Around Bahia Honda Key

On the bridge between BH and Big Pine Key, butch wanted to show where the motorhome was sitting.  Got a better pic of himself than the motorhome.

Henry Flaglers original railroad bridge. 

After a hurricaine in 1935 it wasn't used for trains anymore.  They did, however, pave the top of it and used it for vehicles.  Just looking at it, it would have been a nervous ride.  Now, most of the railroad bridges are used for fishing, with the new bridges running right next to them.  One way to make sure no one goes out onto them is to blow out a section. 

View from end of walking bridge.

Key Butch watching sunset

The No Name Pub

GREAT place on Big Pine Key just before the bridge to No Name Key.  It's been in existance since 1935 or so.  Was a brothel, rooming house, a gin mill, a bunch of stuff before it's current incarnation.  Now, it is customary to write your name on a dollar bill and staple it to something-a wall, the ceiling, picture frame, air ducts.  They even have a set of markers on request for your artwork.  I have pictures from inside, but they're on the phone, so I'll have to get back to you on that.  The locals say if the place ever burned down that the biggest loss would be from all that money burning, not the loss of building.

16 Nov 12

The Hospitality of the Smiths-Jupiter Fla

Little did they know, we're like bad pennys

You'd think that B would get tired of being squished out of her chair, but not if you know her.

The whole crew is here including an appearance by Blue-the devil cat.  See, look at the eyes, tell me he's not!

Aa and Zoey

butch and his baby sis

butch and that wonderful Aussie....Mum

Here,  Mum is questioning the choice of rum.  Well, it might be questioning how much the rum drinkers have sucked out of that bottle.

A 30 second lesson on how to do it, and N became a mother shucker extordinaire!

followed by some oyster sucking

As always, B&G opened up their home to us, and treated us unbelievably.  Especially when we started for home and were interupted by hurricaine Sandy.  I'm sure they were getting to the point of -"will they EVER leave???"

12 Nov 12

Daytona International Speedway

We made a detour after we left St Augustine.  Too bad it was like 8a and they didn't start the tours till almost lunchtime.  Couldn't stay that long, had places to go, people to see..

THE Man

These lay behind the statue of Dale. 

His gloves and his lucky penny that he had glued to the dashboard when he finally won.

I rubbed the penny for good luck.  It was obvious I wasn't the only one to do that.

8 Nov 12

Sunset from the front of the motor home, Bahia Honda Key

The motor home from around the key

Dem O's

oh, they're killing me!!!
i watch and they don't do well, i walk out of the room and they do.  so i'm hiding from the television so they don't know i'm watching! 
mom would be so excited.  she'd be so happy with her boys.  i so miss going to the games with her and lori up in our season tickets in section 43.

GO O'S!  BEAT THEM DAMN YANKMEES!!

Whatever Wednesday 6/27

 Harpers Ferry WV
Only about a half hour away from us, so we thought we'd spend the day there and geo-cache a bit while we were wandering.  What we wandered into was the Cycle across West Virginia.  2,000 bicyclists on the last day of their road trip.  Amazingly, they were all still happy.  I'd have never made it that far.  I stick to the tow paths, rail trails, and park trails marked easy.

Potomac River before it hits the Shenanoah River

At the point where the two rivers meet





 Did anyone ever tell you that Harpers Ferry is not on the side of a hill, but on the side of a cliff?  People born and raised there are part mountain goat.  We were down at John Browns, and up at the cemetery, and up even more on the Appalachian trail.

We've now been on the trail in 3 states.  Of course not all in one hike, what do you think I am, crazy?  Don't answer that.

butch is explaining something as only he can.  probably telling me about how they leveled off this little bit of actual grass in the entire town.

and then he found one of his favorite things.  i literally had to drag him away with the promise of a beer. 

So, hot and tired and knowing that my legs were going to be killing me the next day, we headed to a tavern named the Secret Six.  Named for the six men that funded John Browns raids.  The place had great beer taps.....worked for me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OH, and i forgot, somewhere along the way, i managed to get nailed with about 8 or 9 chigger bites.  those bites don't just itch, but they hurt and boy, do they BURN! 

Whatever Wednesdays

Well, I did it.
butch finally talked me into it.
i went and became unemployed to his retired.

so scary.

so, one of the things we are going to try to do is Whatever Wednesdays.  in other words, make sure we're off doing something.  it may be something that only interests the two of us as demented as we are, but
DO SOMETHING!

so i'm going to try to write up our travels here as i go.  i'm behind, so i'll have a bunch on here at a time.  (you didn't think that i'd actually be up to date, did you?)

Penn Dot

 PA has recently change it's state motto to this~

Yes, it's summer in PA.   



And of course, if they tell you what's coming, you can't get mad when it knocks your suspension totally out of whack.  really nice, cause there's about 10 of these damn signs in about 2 miles.

all i can think of is

"do the hustle"

may that be stuck in your brain now too.

weeks ago they tore up the roads and put in sewer plates.  they disappeared and never came back, leaving the roads a total shitass.  so this week, temps hit the 90's and up and guess who shows up?  Apparently, since they must be behind schedule now, they were working on a Saturday.  yes, we'll not just screw up your weekdays, we're going to take out your weekends......and get double time for it too!

Tsunami Subaru

The subie turned 1 year old in march, so i thought i'd splurge the 20 bucks and get it a birthday present.  Since i've been the drafter since like the invention of the internet, and now the subie would be towed behind the motorhome, this was twice as appropriate.

SURPRISE!

yeppers, I'm still kicking!

we slogged through the winter, we're dancing through the spring, and here we are at almost summer.
and with that, we're all caught up, so I'll start with May.

We went off to the Richmond race the first weekend.  We were surprised that they ran the race, as it had rained pretty much the entire day.  But, as soon as the cars started, the vortex kicked in and the rain held off.  Until the race ended. 

The second weekend was when the fun began.  We took the motor home down the road to the hagerstown speedway where they have the Fireman's Bonanza Extravaganza! every year.  We have a bunch of crazies that stay with us and i don't have to worry about anyone driving home.  butch actually took it down on Thursday.  while i worked all day Friday, the boys had spent the day recovering from Thursday night.  Way too much fun, and alcohol involved. AND once again, with all those prizes that they give away (at least 1,000 every 5 minutes), once again, NO ONE won anything.  had fun anyway!

we came home Sunday afternoon and made a quick turn around and unpacked and repacked the "beach house" and towing my little tsunami Subaru, we headed off to Hatteras island.  we spent 10 days down there in Frisco.  only came home the Thursday before memorial day, so we'd miss the crazies.

oh, I've got some pictures to post, and will fill you in on the monsoons of Hatteras next time.  but i will leave you with this.....

when we finally got home after 16 days, the first thing we did was to start unloading the refrigerator.  i loaded up a box, and handed it to butch and he left to take it into the house and never came back for the second box.  so i grabbed it and came in with it.  when i walked through the door, i didn't see butch.  then i saw his feet down on the floor sticking out behind the island.  i dropped the box on the table and ran around the island to see him on his hands and knees yelling at me to stay back, don't walk through it!  um, okay....walk through what?  well, it seems i gave him the box with eggs in it. 
oh....yes.... he...did. 
but as he was quick to point out, it wasn't a doz and a half like last time, it was only 3 or 4...or 6 (he sounded like he was at an auction)
(i knew you'd like that, V)