Surprise!

I wanted to get away for a few days because I wanted to get Annette away for a few days.

For several months, we've known that Annette would be facing a pretty serious surgery. It's kind of a followup to the surgery she had in 2011 following her cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. March was the projected time frame. Two weeks ago the surgeon's office called to let Annette know they'd had a cancellation in the doctor's schedule, and the surgery could happen November 22nd. Contemplating the understanding that her recovery would be long and difficult led me to the "ah-ha" moment that we should get away and have some fun before the not-so-fun time of recuperation began.

You see, I love my girl. For almost 38 years (2-1/2 dating and more than 35 married), I've tried to major on caring for her... providing for her... making life an adventure - and I wanted her to enjoy a few days away before the serious business of surgery became our short-term reality. I offered options. She chose. And off we went.

Saint Augustine was the destination. Knowing it was getting a little chilly for the beach, we opted to find a campground close to the old historic city. We found an open spot at Compass RV Park, made our reservation, got the coach ready, and set out for our short 90-mile drive.

We got settled at our site Friday and stayed in for the evening, having had the foresight to bring a frozen pizza and cookie dough along for the ride. After sleeping in on Saturday morning, we grabbed an Uber to the historic district. The plan was early lunch, take in the sights, early dinner, and an early evening.

Lunch was great. We strolled through the old city. We found a places-we've-been magnet for the coach. And - we're really excited about this - we found a really cool kite for the grands. As much as we were enjoying the time together, it was still overcast and cold. So I suggested an new plan: grab some takeout Mojo Old City BBQ, head back to the coach for a movie, take a nap, eat our barbecue, and call it a restful night. And then the phone rang.

When Lindsey calls, I let it ring for a while. Her ringtone is a recording of Lindsey singing, "I know that You are for me, I know that You are for me, I know that You will never forsake me in my weakness". That's a word that is encouraging for us these days, so I let it play before answering. And then I heard Lindsey asking, "What are you guys doing?" I explained, and she replied, "We're nine minutes away. We came over to surprise you guys."

And a good, relaxing day became a GREAT relaxing day.

George Bernard Shaw wrote, "A happy family is but an earlier heaven." This is such a YES for Annette and me. Being around our kids and their kids is like heaven for us. To know that our kids were joining us for a few hours... that they were driving 90 miles one way to hang out... that they were bringing Lorelai and Daisy to spend the afternoon and evening with us... brought sunshine to a cloudy day. I ran (part of the way) to the campground entrance to greet them and literally jumped up and down when I saw their car come around the corner.

Use the link to the right.

We made our way back to the historic district, and for just a while, we really did find sunshine on a cloudy! We strolled. Lorelai danced to the music of a street drummer. Watch Lorelai dance here. We had key lime pie. (Lorelai had the whipped cream.) We just enjoyed being together - because family is a little like an earlier heaven. And then we retreated to the warmth of the coach for real pizza and BBQ dinner before the kids put the little girls in PJs and headed for home.

Surprise! Yes, a good relaxing day became a great relaxing day.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said, "Nothing surprises me. One thing I don't have in my world is surprises". Oh, man - that's not me. Not at all. I LOVE surprises! Surprise parties, surprise gifts, surprise visits, and the surprise of hearing, "We're nine minutes away."

I hope we always long for the unexpected. I hope our lives continue to be filled with surprises. And I hope we never begin to view surprises as interruptions. Loving surprises is all a part of our spirit of adventure, I suppose. I hope the next surprise is just nine minutes away.

Our pond-side site at Compass RV Park.
I didn't fish.

Mimi couldn't come - but we wanted her to
know we were thinking about her.

We stopped in Ormond Beach and enjoyed great conversation
and a late lunch with long-time friends and pastor
Mark and Leigh and Marshall. This was like the whipped
cream on our key lime pie - a little extra blessing.

Good time with great friends.

A New Season of Recreation and Travel

I've been disappointed in recent months over the offerings from Hollywood. Sometimes Annette and I want to enjoy a date night that involves dinner and a movie. And we love movie popcorn (butter on my half of the bucket and no butter on hers). Recently, however, there haven't been many movie offerings that have captured our interest.

My sights are set on November 22, 2019, though, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a motion picture about Fred Rogers, known to young and old as Mr. Rogers. Tom Hanks, one of my favorite actors of all time in the lead role, heightens my anticipation. So I thought it would be appropriate to begin this post with a thought from Mr. Rogers:

"Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something. I've felt that many times. My hope for all of us is that 'the miles we go before we sleep' will be filled with all the feelings that come from deep caring - delight, sadness, joy, wisdom - and that in all the ending of our life, we will be able to see the new beginnings." | Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

This statement could apply to a number of transitions... endings and beginnings... our family is facing these days. And one day I might use this very quote from the gentle yet courageous Mr. Rogers to address other roads less traveled before us. But for now... for today... for this season... I write about the most recent end of an era and a wonderful new season we are embracing.

My last post was entitled SOLD: End of an Era. That post was all about selling our 2015 CVO Road Glide Ultra and moving into a new era of adventuring. Before I begin to describe our new season of adventuring, I should probably finish up some unfinished business.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
While we thought our motorcycle touring days were finished at the end of our 9,650-mile epic adventure to the Canadian Rockies in 2018, exciting news paved the way to my extending the motorcycle days just a bit longer. BOTH of our girls announced to us they were pregnant and BOTH were to give birth to our third and fourth grandchildren in the summer of 2019. While Annette was not thrilled, I managed to coerce her to allow me to keep the Harley for one more summer. I announced to my fellow riders that there would be one more adventure. And the planning commenced.

We started our trip - shorter and closer to home - in May of this year. I started posting about adventures along the way then abruptly stopped. There was no explanation and no end-of-the-adventure post. I just stopped. Here's the story:

Almost as soon as the trip began, I noticed that my motorcycle was leaking fluid. Finally determining the fluid leaking was from the transmission, I began to worry about the stress I placed on that gearbox navigating the roads of choice for us. These roads are characterized by sharp curves and frequent elevation changes. We ride these roads as fast as we dare - and all of this requires frequent downshifting and upshifting. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if my transmission failed on one of these roads. Yikes!

I had already made my decision to cut my trip short and head for home when a fellow rider and dear friend was injured badly in the mountains of Virginia. By the provision, protection, and grace of God he was able to stop the bike safely, preventing further injury to himself and preventing injury to his wife. With a leg broken in three places, though, his ride was done and I knew the right thing to do was to accompany him home. And just like that - in the providence of God - a season ended and Annette and I set our sights on what was to come.

A NEW ERA

Parked at the Creekside RV Ranch in Savannah

Annette and I had begun to dream some time ago about sharing the adventures we had experienced with our children and grandchildren. There wasn't a good way to accommodate our family that was soon to number ten on a motorcycle, so we determined RVing was the plan we would pursue. We had actually been exploring this possibility for about two years. And it was during the abbreviated 2019 motorcycle adventure that Annette called to let me know she had found a coach for sale near home that might meet our needs. I called the current owner from my hotel somewhere in North Carolina or Virginia (I can't remember where we were) and made arrangements to inspect the RV as soon as I returned home.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we inspected, drove, and purchased the RV, sold the motorcycle, and began this new season of adventuring.

SO FAR...
A death in Annette's family necessitated a visit to New Orleans just after taking delivery of our home on wheels. Not really sure what we were doing yet, we set out on our 630-mile trek to the Crescent City. We learned a lot on that trip. Lessons included learning to connect to shore power and having wasp and hornet spray on hand for the pests inside the electrical pedestal. All in all, the trip was a great success, and we knew we were on our way.

July 4th weekend found us - just Annette and me - heading to Savannah, Georgia to continue our learning about the complexities of what Ruthie and Lorelai call "Papa's Bus". We might have been spoiled by the luxury campground we enjoyed - and we experienced the wonderfully-soothing experience of rain on the roof as we slept. We cooked in the coach for the first time, spent a day in historic Savannah, ate at Paula Deen's place, and counted the experience a wonderful success.

Our next adventure took us to Nashville for the birth of Tess. We dry camped in Jaimee's and Travis' driveway for nine glorious days getting to soak in time with the newest addition to the Brown family. This trip required two quick visits to campgrounds to dump the gray and black water tanks, and we learned a valuable lesson about pulling the black water valve slowly so the coupling doesn't disconnect from the hose under pressure. I don't have pictures of this mishap. Use your imagination.

Next, we were off to Ormond Beach for an absolutely glorious weekend at the beach with Lindsey, Bryan, Lorelai, and Daisy. Our campsite at Coral Sands RV Park was just steps from the beach. This was our first overnight experience with kids and grandchildren, and Annette and I could not have been more delighted by the experience. We cooked on our RV grill for the first time. Burgers were a great success. Eggs and bacon on the griddle proved to be not so satisfying, so we cook breakfast inside now. Another lesson learned.

Our first experience at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground - again with Lindsey, Bryan, Lorelai, and Daisy - was so much fun that I started trying to make future reservations before we even checked out. We really wanted to try this kind of Disney experience with Jaimee, Travis, Ruth, and Tess. Getting reservations can prove to be challenging, but we've found that persistence pays off, and were already looking forward to the next experience at Fort Wilderness. We learned a lot about the transportation system at the Fort, and found ourselves loving this new form of recreation and adventure even more than before.

September marked a reunion for Annette's extended family. Reservations at a campground in central Louisiana had to be cancelled due to tornado damage at Jimmie Davis State Park, but we were not to be deterred. We drove to Lake Charles, Louisiana, parked in the large out-in-the-country front yard of the Fletcher family along with Annette's cousin from Houston, and we fell in love even more with our home away from home. Louisiana cuisine, meaningful time with family, and a quick trip back east to New Orleans for a reunion of sorts with some of Jon's college friends made for a perfect long weekend.

Our second trip to Fort Wilderness was, in some respects, the grandest adventure of all: Ten of us spent two nights in our little bus, and we survived! But we didn't just survive. We had a wonderful time together. For Annette and me, this was a big test, as our dream is for all of - with Mimi - to be able to experience the same sort of adventures we enjoyed on motorcycles with ALL of us together. All ten of us together was a dream come true for Annette and me, and we can't wait for the big adventure to come next summer.

Tomorrow, we'll make our way over to Saint Augustine, Florida for a quiet couple of days before meeting some friends back in Ormond Beach. And the adventures just continue.

We travel on six wheels instead of two now. We stay dry when it rains... cool in the Florida heat... and we find packing much easier. But the spirit of adventure and the quest to find roads less travels remains.

Aristotle wrote, "Adventure is worthwhile."

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them," said Walt Disney.

And Oprah Winfrey says, "The biggest adventure you take is to live the life of our dreams."

Most importantly, Jesus said, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

Adventure... dreams... courage... abundant life. These things are worthy of pursuit.

This moment made the Nashville trip
absolutely wonderful.

Jamma and Papa at Ormond
with two precious treasures.

"Open the door to the bus, Papa."

"Thank you, Papa!"

"Often when you're at the end of something,
you're at the beginning of something."
Mr. Rodgers

SOLD: The End of an Era

The 2015 Road Glide Ultra is sold. Gone. For the first time in a little more than 11 years, Annette and I don't own a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The experience of selling the bike was bittersweet and somewhat emotional for about a hour. And then I set my heart on a new course.

I sent a text to my family just moments after closing the deal. Lindsey, our youngest daughter, replied with this message: "Wow. End of an era. Glad you had such fun times on those guys. Thankful you stayed safe. But excited about the new adventures." This text message has informed my thinking over these last few days.

END OF AN ERA
In 2008, faced with the reality that my work schedule and the challenge of getting on and off of the lakes here in central Florida, we decided to sell our boat. After decades of spending much of our free time on the water - fishing, skiing, tubing, and enjoying time with family and friends - we had to acknowledge that we just didn't have time for what was most often an all-day venture. So I enrolled in a basic rider course, sold the boat, and embraced a new form of adventuring.

THOSE GUYS

We owned four Harley-Davidson motorcycles in our years of riding. We started on a 2003 100th-anniversary-edition FXST Softail Standard. This was our "see-if-we-like-it" machine - and it wasn't a bad bike at all for a "starter" bike. The plan was to ride this one for a year to see if we would use the bike. I rode for 1,000 miles before putting Annette on the bike, and rode this one 11,000 miles before deciding to trade it on something new. This was a very cool bike, and I would have kept her if I thought I could get away with it.

Eleven months into that year, we traded the Softail for a bike Annette would be more comfortable on - AND a bike that would allow us to do some long-distance riding. We welcomed our 2008 Street Glide into the family and rode that machine nearly 60,000 miles.

Concerned about the miles on that bike as well as the long-term affect of a horrible sand storm we rode through in Arizona in the summer of 2012, we decided it was time to sell the Street Glide and move on to the next motorcycle.

After a lot of reading and consulting with other riders - and always having something in me that likes to be a little unconventional - we decided to switch from the classic batwing-fairing Harley - the style of the Street Glide - to the fixed-fairing Road Glide. This was the first brand-new bike we purchased, a 2013 Road Glide Ultra. Annette let me do some pretty significant customization to this one (chrome front end, chrome wheels, custom floorboards and highway pegs, custom grips, and LED lights all around) - much done before I even took delivery. That was one beautiful bike, and I still miss her just a little.

Once again, high mileage became a cause for concern and we traded the '13 for a gently-used 2015 CVO Road Glide Ultra. Though we didn't anticipate hanging up the helmets so soon, we always thought we wanted our last bike to be a Custom Vehicle Operations motorcycle. These machines boast limited edition paint sets, a high performance motor, heated seats, and more chrome than any of us want to keep clean. But they are magnificent machines, for sure.

That was our line of "those guys" - the bikes we rode some 140,00 miles and enjoyed together for so many years.

GLAD YOU STAYED SAFE
By the grace of God, we survived all of those years and all of those miles. I had my share of "incidents".  I had one real "wreck" on the Street Glide when I went down in light rain as I lost control of the bike on some of these pretty (and very slick) big white arrows in the road. I dropped my bike trying to park on ice at the summit of Pike's Peak. I dropped my bike when I hit some deep sugar sand in a parking lot I thought was paved. (It was dark... no lights in the lot... I was leading... and I sprained my ankle.) But last year we had two incidents that really scared us. I was riding solo on the first and Annette was with me on the second. God protected me / us in both incidents. We didn't wreck, but we could have. These incidents made me appreciate again the danger of the sport. These incidents led me to thank the Lord for our safety over the years. And these incidents made me think that maybe it was time.

BUT EXCITED ABOUT THE NEW ADVENTURES
Boating was a season that lasted 30 years. Motorcycling represented yet another season that served us well for 11 years. In 2019, we adventure in a different way... with more wheels. I'll write about that later. But yes, we are excited. All of us this time - not just me... not just Annette and me.

The great philosopher Winnie the Pooh said, "As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was about to happen." I hope I am always viewed in this way. Wilfred Peterson wrote, "A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints." Eleanor Roosevelt said, "The purpose of life, after all is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience."

One season of adventure is over. And a new season of adventure begins. This time... together.

Day 4 - Most Intense Day of Riding EVER

We've ridden a lot of great places and we've encountered some of the nation's most challenging roads. We've ridden Beartooth Pass, Lolo Pass, Going to the Sun Road, the Million Dollar Highway. The list goes on and on, and we have fond memories of every experience. Never, though, have we ridden so many challenging roads back to back to back. Oh, my! I am physically and mentally exhausted. The Waterfall Scenic Byway, NC 215, the Rattler, Big Laurel Road, the Devil's Whip, the Diamondback... the roads characterized by sharp turns an elevation changes just kept coming and coming. We rode them all as fast as we dared and had the best of times doing so. Oh, my indeed.

We saw some waterfalls along the way. I'll post pics soon. Now we're safe in our hotel in Boone, NC - ready to find new roads tomorrow.

These were definitely roads less traveled. Very little traffic today and a lot of freedom to ride. And Monday is another day!

Day 3 - Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina

Today... long, cold (morning), hot (midday), challenging, fun. We laughed a lot. We perspired. We were filled with wonder and awe once again at the majesty of our God reflected in all He has created.

That's all I've got for now. Because it's late, I'm tired, tomorrow is another long day, and I must sleep.

My family continues to improve. This is the work of God in response to your prayers. Soli Deo gloria.

** A little something more now that I've rested: The day started exactly at 7 AM as planned. Leaving on time was critical this day, as we had so many overlooks and scenic stops in the ride plan. We rolled out of Cumming to surprisingly cool weather. I wear a mess jacket with armor for protection and for easy access to things in my pocket on these long protection. This type of jacket is intended to protect without being hot in the summer. I was actually cold as we started riding.

After a quick run north on Georgia 400, we rode a very nice part of the Suches Loop on GA60. This was the first challenging road I had been on since last year's sometimes-daunting adventure, so I was a little apprehensive. I hit it hard and had a GREAT time in the curves and elevation changes!

From there, we rode the scenic Cherohala Skyway, the top of Moonshiner 28, the Tail of the Dragon, the Foothills Parkway, and the bottom of Moonshiner 28. All in all, Saturday proved to be a great day of twisties. The Tail of the Dragon proved to be a fail. We found ourselves behind a bad driver in a Toyota Corolla the ENTIRE 11 miles. (Most of us, anyway.) With 318 curves in 11 miles, there's really not a good, safe place to pass. (For most of us, anyway.) Nothing we could do would encourage this inconsiderate-of-riders person to use a pullout - so we just endured it. In contrast to that, we ended the day with a run on the bottom of Moonshiner 28 where we were free to run with hardly a car in sight - and this stretch of road was more fun that The Dragon - so all was well in the big picture.

The temperature did become almost unbearable for a few hours at midday, but the temps cooled down considerably as the hour grew late. Originally scheduled to be in to the hotel about 7:40 PM, we actually arrived early to enjoy dinner and a night of rest.

Here are some pics. These are Tami's because I'm not going to touch my camera tonight. Nope. Must sleep. I'll add more later. For now... here ya go:

Good News - And We're Ready to Ride

First things first. Family comes before the fun and the friends. So many of you prayed for our family over the last 24 hours and we believe the power of God was released through your request on our behalf. Lindsey sent us this message today: "Prayers are working so much." She went on to say, "I'm really encouraged for the first time in days. And I think I'M being strengthened by people's prayers, too." Thank you all for praying. Most of all, we thank the One who alone can heal for hearing our prayers and moving in a powerful way.

Today was a short ride day. We hung out at the hotel until just before noon as we waited for the New Orleans guys to arrive. We had a really good lunch at The Hound, a place near the Auburn campus and then walked down the block to the famous Toomer's Drugs for lemonade.

We then started the short-for-us (the New Orleans guys had already ridden nearly 400 miles) ride to Cumming, GA - just north of Atlanta. Knowing we wouldn't have time to navigate Atlanta traffic in the morning, we braved Friday rush-hour traffic this afternoon. If you know Atlanta at all, you know that was not so fun. It was slow and hot - but we made it. We're here and ready to start the real fun tomorrow.

One more time... thanks for praying for our family. Thanks for praying for those of us who are riding. Tomorrow will be jam-packed and challenging. We'll ride the Cherohala Skyway, Moonshiner 28, Tail of the Dragon, the Foothills Parkway and more.

I didn't shoot any video today and took just a few pictures. Tomorrow will be a different story as see some great sights in north Georgia, East Tennessee, and western North Carolina.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

On the Road Again

On the Road Again. Just about everyone knows the old Willie Nelson song. The lyrics of verse 3 are apropos:

Here we go
On the road again
Like a band of gypsies
We go down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world
Keep turnin' our way

Nelson wrote the song about life on the road with his band. I think of the lyrics as representative of life on the road with our "band". And it's going to be a big band this summer. The last several years I rode solo to a predetermined rendezvous with five friends from New Orleans. This year, I departed Orlando with five friends from home, on our way to meet the South Louisiana guys. This should be fun!

We're in Auburn, Alabama tonight. The machines are free of love bugs after applying a bit of elbow grease and TLC. The first of the NOLA guys are meeting us here at lunch time. More will join us in Boone, North Carolina on Sunday. Today was all about getting here... turnpike to interstate to a pleasant secondary road. Tomorrow will be a short 150-mile day in consideration of the New Orleans guys, who will have already covered nearly 400 miles before connecting with us. We'll head north to clear Atlanta.

The real fun - curves, elevation change, and speed - will begin on Saturday. Let's do this!

I'll call it quits early this evening. Tomorrow, I'll sleep in and try to get rested up for the challenge of the the days to come while we wait for Randall and Steve to arrive. And then we'll do what we do. We'll pray together. We'll ride. We'll talk. We'll laugh. We'll deepen already-meaningful relationships. Yep. This is what we'll do on yet another grand adventure along the road less traveled.

Before I stop... for friends who follow along with us in words, images, and video... would you pray for our family tonight? I have a son-in-law and granddaughter in Orlando who are pretty seriously ill. And they're being cared for by a seriously pregnant wife, mom, and daughter of mine. I'll provide details when we have them. For now - would you pray? Thanks in advance.

Selah.