We made it back home to Oshkosh Wisconsin!   Unfortunately it was in time for the temperature to be dropping!   But not too bad,  we just had to break out the warm coats we were wearing when we left in December!  But it has been good to see old friends again and start visiting our old ‘haunts’.  It seemed a little ‘weird’ for both of us to be back in the apartment.  We lived here just last year and then were gone for 6 months, so it is still new.   Everything was good when we got back and we are into some more ‘cleaning’,  there was a lot of paperwork and files related to our old work lives that will not be needed anymore.  So we plan some changes to rid ourselves of some file cabinets and a desk this summer.

We had a very nice ride home.   We had no reason to hurry so took in some sightseeing.  We started our trip in Jacksonville Florida having a nice evening with Jeff VW, an old high school friend of mine.  We all had lots of weekends together over the years and lot’s of stories to reminisce about.  Jeff showed us some nice spots along Jacksonville Beach and we talked about his hopes to retire this year.   We will be getting together more in the future.

Upon leaving Jacksonville we headed for Northern Georgia.  We made plans with more old friends, Dave and Stacey and Curt and Lynn.  Dave and Stacey have a home in the mountains north of Atlanta that we met at.  We drove north to Savannah and then through Georgia.  A pretty ride and interesting as we drove north to see hay being cut and knee high corn.  Now in Wisconsin we see fields being worked and some just planted.  Northern Georgia is in the mountains and the town we stayed in bills itself as Helen Georgia a Bavarian town.   And it was very nicely done.  After grilling out one night at Dave’s we all spent a day walking through shops and restaurants.   It was a rainy day so we did spend some time in some establishments.   And in a nod to our younger days we spent some time in a German bar playing sheepshead and telling stories!

On leaving Helen we took small mountain roads north.  We were in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky.  Our destination was Danville Kentucky.  I have an old boss who lives there that had told me to stop by if we made it to the area.  And since Kentucky always looked interesting when I drove through it, and they happen to have some bourbon there, we decided to make it to the area!   We did some sightseeing in Danville, visiting the house where a Kentucky doctor did the first successful abdominal surgery in 1809 and our first distillery! And my old boss drove us around the area giving us a tour and we had a tasty dinner with another old work mate.

Leaving Danville was a short trip to Louisville where we planned our next stop so we wanted to see some country side.  Kentucky is horse country with green rolling hills and lot’s of limestone water which makes good bourbon.  We stopped at Four Roses distillery and Wild Turkey distillery.  We had lunch in a small Kentucky town.  When we got to downtown Louisville we stayed across from the Louisville Slugger baseball bat museum and had time to take the tour!  It was fun and we left with our souvenir bats and back to the hotel in time for the Manager welcome party and local beers and wines.   Which prepared us to make it to a nice restaurant for dinner.  Downtown Louisville has a large selection of restaurants and they all seem to offer bourbon flights for tasting which gave me a chance to try some new bourbons, and I took advantage.  The next day we visited the Muhammed Ali museum and Churchill Downs. Both were well worthwhile.  The tour at Churchill Downs was very interesting and the guide was very knowledgeable having gone to the track all the years since his mother started taking him as a little boy.  Great stories. And we saw where the millionaires sat on Derby day and where the other 180,000 people were.     Beside the beautiful seating there is even a crystal reproduction of Churchill downs on display.  And I had my first mint julip with lunch.

The next days plan was to get through Chicago traffic which we did safely.  The usual slow downs but we did OK and stayed in Kenosha Wisconsin overnight so we could get home fairly early the next day.   Now more plans and a continuation of our learning about retirement life.   Marie comes into Wisconsin this weekend and we will spend a couple of nights in Milwaukee.  Then next week up to Hayward for my fishing trip with Dick and Carol.   And later in the month over to Detroit, July to Door County and a few side trips to fit in the next couple of months.  Life is good!