We left Asheville and had a pretty good ride through North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky.  We hit some rain that day, but still we were able to take in most of the scenery.   A very pretty drive.  We went to Georgetown, which is outside of Lexington in north eastern Kentucky.  I wanted to take a tour at Buffalo Trace distillery near Lexington, and Chris agreed to get up a little earlier so we could make it there in time to take a tour.  It is one of the oldest continuingly operating distilleries in Kentucky and has several tours available.  We took the general tour and it was enjoyable.  They include a video about the distillery and took us in one of the barrel aging rickhouses.  We were able to see the line where less than a dozen people were finishing the bottles of Blanton’s bourbon.  Each bottle hand labeled, wax sealed and cap added.  Of course some bourbon tasting was included!  For Chris we went to supper at Local Feed in Georgetown where we ate last year, and Chris said had the best Mac N Cheese she had ever had.  Great food and drink again.

The next day was off to Indianapolis.  We had never stayed in the city and took this opportunity.  An easy ride from Georgetown, up to Cincinnati then west.  We were both impressed.  We stayed right downtown and were a block away from Monument Circle in the center of the city.  The Monument was put up in the late 1800’s to honor Indiana’s veterans from the Civil War and before and it is beautiful.  We walked the area and took a look into the State Capitol.  Plenty of bars and restaurants in the area and we took a taste.

The next morning off to Winfield Illinois to visit with Jeff and Donna.   Being in Indy made this an easy ride again that day(even though we forgot our I-Pass in Florida).   A little rain again but nothing terrible.  It was good to catch up with Jeff and Donna and share a couple of meals.  From there it was heading home the next day.  We made it back to Oshkosh to some beautiful Spring weather.  We had been able to see the difference in Spring blooms as we came north.  There are still trees we see outside our window that have not budded out.  But the first days of unpacking and getting situated were in that beautiful weather.  It is a chore to remember what is in which drawer when you get home after 6 months (or is that age?).    But we are figuring it out.  Still doing some cleaning and still have local favorites we have not made it to yet.   We did make it to Milwaukee for Judy’s birthday party.  Her family put on a super party, at an establishment some of us have a little history with.  Chris and I enjoyed ourselves.  Over the last 2 weeks we saw many of our oldest friends and life is good.  Thanks Noel and JoAnn for giving us a place to stay, and congrats on being honored for 50 years at St Pius.  So Chris and I are home, MJ comes in later this week for a few days, and Marie the following week.  Then we start our summer travels!

Historic Buffalo Trace

Bourbon barrels

labeling bottles

Monument Circle

Judy’s family

We are on the road!  It was a great winter in Florida (some of us forget what season it is) but it was time for us to head back.  We have some appointments that need to be taken care of in Wisconsin.  We were able to get new windows installed in Marie’s condo before we left.   Unfortunately we attended a funeral, but we were happy we saw Tom recently.  Jackie fulfilled his wishes and it was a moving ceremony at the National Cemetery in Cape Canaveral. 

We try to have patience in our travels.  Long days in the car are not fun, and as we get older our joints are not happy with long sedentary hours.  So we plan our trips with what is next 5 hours away.   That gives us time for a relaxing morning and to be settled before rush hour and cocktail hour.  So our first day was to visit old friend Jeff in Jacksonville.  We had a nice hotel and spent a number of hours in his favorite brew pub.  Good meal and lots of good discussion.  From there on to Charleston SC.  There is a lot of good press out there on Charleston and well deserved.  One of the pre-revolutionary colonies it has a ton of great architecture and history.  We started our investigation of Charleston by taking a horse drawn carriage tour in the city.  It was very informative and we got a feel for the beautiful city.  Chris and I took a long walk through the marketplace and down King Street and had a lot of choices for a relaxing dinner.  The next morning we planned a boat trip out to Fort Sumter.  Jeff joined us as he has visited a number of Civil War sites.  Seeing the site of the start of the civil war was very interesting.  Being in Charleston made us very aware of the history surrounding the start of the war, and how Fort Sumter continued to play an important part through that war.  Then the Spanish American war, fortified for WWI and WWII to protect the coastline.  Being the first boat out in the morning involved us in the raising of the flag at the fort and a moving speech from a National Park warden.  The rest of the day was more touring of the city, a visit to the Charleston Museum (the first museum in the US) and of course more food and drink.

Tonight finds us in Asheville NC.  A good ride through the Carolina’s today, green and very pretty.   And no problem getting a beer in Asheville!  A large selection of breweries and brew pubs.  And we partook of some this evening.  Tomorrow on to Kentucky.

Main window delivered

install

Tom’s procession

a Moving experience

Charleston

flag raising

the Fort and our ride

The time continues to fly by for us.   It seems like February just started but it is really April.    The weather is consistently beautiful and we are always outside.   We probably have had a few days of rain, but mostly just short bursts of rain and then back to sunshine.   MJ has been here for breaks and she and Marcy just left from their Spring break.   I have had a few small projects around the condo’s, and now will do a little painting that I had planned to get done this winter.   Just some moulding trim and doors to spruce up in our place.   Since time is getting close to the end I had better get to it.  Some of our neighbors are starting to head north.  January February March is the height of the tourist season here so many people rent for those months, and people start to head home for Easter.   Our condo buildings have permits approved to replace main electrical panels (the insurance company mandated!) and that will start in a week.    That will hurry some folks home as they are preparing us for the power to be off for 5 days.  So it is sad to be saying good bye to friends.  But exciting to be traveling back to another set of friends and family.  Time seems to go quickly for us retired folks, so it won’t be long before we all will be back in Florida.   Chris and I are making some plans to be gone from our condo for the electrical week, then will be planning our trip back to Wisconsin.   Probably some new stops on the way home this year but no solid itinerary yet.  Already a number of plans for the summer; Hayward, Door County multiple times, Canada, Detroit.   Likely hitting the road in early May, so see our Wisconsin friends soon!

Saturday Feb 2, 2019

We are well into 2019 now.   And it is off to a great start.  We had a relaxing Christmas.   MJ was with us and her friend Marcy spent some time also.  We  had some fun and included taking Marcy to Butterfly World for a therapy session.   We had some fun, drinks, and food!  Marie came to visit after MJ and Marcy left.  We have kept busy.   Our neighbors here are also good friends and we love spending time with them.  We look forward to group breakfasts, grill outs and happy hours.  And I have gotten in some golf this month, which is a wonderful benefit of retirement!   I am still trying to get back to what my game was when I was playing with John this summer, but I am starting to hit the ball better.  My friend Dan makes reservations for us and finds new challenges for me!   And he let me fill out a foursome with his Massachusetts friends while they were in town.  I did not do as well as Christy would have if her elbow was back to normal!  Weather has probably been a little below normal for the month, but all in all pretty great versus being home in Wisconsin!   Sorry guys, we don’t want to be there for -25 F.   We did take a trip to see Chris and Marie’s cousin Jackie and husband Tom.  It was fun to see them again, especially since Tom’s health is so much better than the last we saw him.   And Chris, Marie and I took a tour of Kennedy Space Center that was awesome.

The bigger news is that we convinced Marie that since we will be spending more of the year in south Florida it would be better for all of us if she spent more time here also.   So Feb 1 we closed on a condo for her.   Just downstairs from us, and she can come and spend as much time as she wants here.  It is a nice unit that has had some very nice renovations.   Our neighbors gave her a great welcome to the neighborhood after closing.   Just a sign of more good times to come!

MJ  and Marcy

Butterfly World

great golf courses

Mark and Terry visited

Kennedy Space Center Saturn V

Marie’s surprise party

Marie’s toast

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas !  This should be a joyous time of year, well for some the year may have included some hard times,  we hope you can find some of the joy as seen through the eyes of a child.   Chris and I are blessed to be healthy  and have been able to travel  and spend so much time enjoying good friends.  Life is good.   MJ is with us for Christmas and we will grill out by the pool.  We hope Santa finds your stocking; and blessings are given to you on this birthday of the Christ child.

-Randy and Chris

Now into December we are in our second home.   Or our other home.   Or our only home, since we own this condo and rent in Oshkosh?  What is important is it is warm and we have had the windows and doors open the few days we have been here.  70 degree temperatures with a breeze and cool nights.   We are looking forward to the next 5 months.   We were starting to get anxious to get here after about a month of traveling.   We started out the first day and stopped for a late lunch and museum tour in Potosi, Wisconsin.  Then on to the Amana Colonies in Iowa for a couple of nights.  The Amana Colonies were started in the 1800’s by German Immigrants who left religious intolerance in Germany.  Originally living as a shared community it is now an area of neat shops, wineries, and restaurants.  Their heritage has been maintained and we feasted on wonderful German food meals.  When it was time to leave Kansas City was our next stop.  Our good friends Steve and Nancee now live there and we had a chance to see their beautiful new home.   We toured the National World War I museum which was fascinating.  And eye opening when you read about the Nationalism and intolerance that helped lead to the war, and the terrible conditions for the boys sent to fight it.  We also did a tour of the Hallmark museum which was much lighter but still very interesting.  It is still a family business that does a lot for the city it calls home.  Of course we managed to have some very good beer while we were there also!   We had some snow while we were there and looking ahead at the weather we decided to do 2 nights in KC and then try to get some miles south.   So the next day was seeing a lot of Kansas and down to Oklahoma City for a night.  It was a nice sunny ride though and we had a nice new hotel in north Oklahoma City.  We planned a shorter ride the next day so we took our time that Sunday morning and stopped at the National Cowboy and Western Museum in OC.  That turned out to be a good choice, lots of beautiful artwork resides there and lots of history.  Even an area dedicated to Western movies and TV and the iconic actors.  But we did want to make Amarillo before night fall so we did not see all of the museum, a next time.  A nice ride got us to Amarillo and again a fairly new hotel, and a free upgrade to a suite.    That turned out to be very nice, because after a good meal near the hotel the forecasted change in weather caught up with us.  That night Amarillo had 7 inches of snow and I-40 West was looking pretty bad on the New Mexico state web site.  So we booked an extra night to give the road crews a chance to catch up.  We did some shopping and mall walking.  I finally found a new pair of US made boots (El Paso), we had another great meal, and enjoyed our large hotel room.   The following day was sunny and the roads were dry.   So the trip into Albuquerque was uneventful, the way we like it.  We settled for a while with Marie, about 2 weeks.  We had many more great meals (Chris and I love southwest cooking, although our older stomachs are not sure), helped out Marie a bit, and spent some time with her friends.  MJ flew down for Thanksgiving and we did some more sightseeing, shopping, eating, drinking!   MJ was to leave on Sunday but another snowstorm was headed to Chicago and her flights were canceled.  So another day of eating until she could fly through Denver on Monday!     Chris and I left Albuquerque the next day and started our Texas trek!  The first day was Eastern New Mexico and to Lubbock Texas.  A wide range of landscapes; from mountains to desert to cattle grazing to cotton.  We were in a new hotel in Lubbock on the Texas Tech campus.  That made it easy to find a place for a quick meal and a beer! The hotel was very nice and provided a relaxing night to prepare for the next day of Texas driving.  Lubbock down to Austin is on State highways but a good ride.  Through some towns but otherwise with  75mph limits and moves along easily.  From the flat cotton fields to dairy farms and the hill country north of Austin.  Austin was enjoyable again getting to spend time with Craig, Andria and Evelyn.  Chris and I also toured our first presidential museum, the LBJ Museum in Austin.  It was enjoyable and thought provoking.  Well worth the trip.  New Orleans was on our trip plan but the weather to the East of us was looking rainy.  So rather than make the long ride to NO we took a short trip to Houston to spend a night.  That was again relaxing and enjoyable.  And lots of news in Houston that night as local resident George H W Bush passed away.  The next day’s ride to NO was pretty easy.  Traveling I-10 is interesting, from the Texas gulf through Beaumont and across Louisiana.  The lengths of the Louisiana bridges across bayou’s can stretch over 10 miles.  Driving into New Orleans late on a Saturday afternoon is not recommended.  But a little patience and we found our hotel in the French Quarter.  Since Chris does not like the smell of seafood picking out a restaurant in NO adds some complexity.  But a concierge recommendation 4 blocks away was a good one.  So good we went back the next night.  We took a 3 hour bus tour of NO which was interesting.   We saw large areas which were underwater in hurricane Katrina, the small tight neighborhoods of the city, walked a historic cemetery and a city park.  A great way to get a good overview of the city.  We did lots of walking the rest of the day.  Seeing the French Quarter, shopping and eating.  Bourbon Street is full of ‘sights’ even during the day.  The nights get crazier but I would not say I felt safe at night.  Besides the tourists are the homeless and druggies dealing on the street.  We went, we saw, but won’t be back on our list soon.  The next day was on to Defuniak Springs Florida for a meal with Gail and Larry and our last night on the road.  At this time Chris was getting anxious to get to Boynton Beach so we planned an early morning up and driving through Florida.  It was good to get here.  Weather has been great, windows and doors open and enjoying the refreshing warm air as we unpack and settle in.  Now more fun to come!

Boulevard Brewing Kansas City

Steve and Nancee Kansas City

Western Museum Oklahoma City

Western Museum award winner Oklahoma City

Kaktus Brewery Albuquerque

Marble Brewing Albuquerque

LBJ Library Austin

LBJ Library

LBJ Library

Evelyn

New Orleans cemetery

New Orleans history

New Orleans sculpture garden

Jazz breakfast

We are into November.    Summer has gone quickly and it is starting to feel like winter already!  It has not been as nice a fall as we would have liked.   But we have had some fun in spite of the weather.   In September we had some guests.   Old friends Jeff and Jeff stopped by for some golf.  VW was headed to Spooner to winterize his cabin.   Right after that Tiffany and Steve came by for a couple of days and we had a chance to give them a taste of Oshkosh.    Then I dried out for a few days!  And we started hitting our blood tests and doctor appointments.  We came through just fine there.  Dental appointments got a little more interesting.   I did get to bottle a big batch of beer with my friend Mark,  a Russian Imperial Stout we will try to store until next summer. Chris and I also did some Oshkosh tours of the Museum and then the Paine Arboretum.   The Arboretum had special Tiffany collection presentation that was beautiful.   And Chris and I spent a couple of days in New Glarus (southwest Wisconsin) for their Octoberfest.   We visited Monroe WI  for a nice lunch and visit at the National Cheese Museum.   Chris has been going to Swiss influenced New Glarus since she was a young girl and we really like the small town.  Of course besides great Swiss food it is home to one of the best breweries in the country.  After New Glarus it was home for a few days and then up to Door County.  Judy kindly hosted us for a night and tried to keep us there by having a tree drop down on the driveway!  A storm blew through during the night and dropped a number of trees in the area.  But with some help from a friend that was cleaned up pretty easily, and Chris and I headed to Washington Island for our annual trip with a great group of friends.  We took the car ferry over and arrived on a nice day and got in some outside time and corn hole.  The next days were not quite as nice but we still got in some biking and hiking.  And of course lots of good food and beer!  Steve even brought out his accordion and we had a musical evening sing and dance along!  It is nice to be able to take over the full resort.  We all renewed our bitters club membership by having our full shots of bitters!  Once back from Door County I headed south.  Chris and I planned to redo our Florida bathrooms and wanted to get that done before we arrived in December.   So I worked with our Florida contractor to set up the day after I flew down and they were there as promised.  I did as much preparation as I could removing racks, handicap bars, and sink cabinets.   The main goal was to remove the tub in the guest bathroom as we never use it nor do any guests.  And as some of us get older it is much easier to not have to step into a tub.   We picked out the same tile for each bathroom and the guys did a great job.   They stripped down to the studs and put up new concrete board and built new shower pans in each bathroom.   They finished ahead of time for me and we love the way it looks.  Everything is finished except ordering glass doors for our shower, which will be a special order.  I did a lot of wall patching and have everything cleaned and painted.  There will probably be a little touch up needed when I get a fresh look but I feel good about what was accomplished.   I wanted to be home for Chris’s visit to an oral surgeon.  Our dentist found an issue under a crown she had over several teeth.  Unfortunately the issue turned out to be a tooth that needed to be extracted and the area needs to have bone growth helped so next summer a post can be added and then and implant placed some months later.   First step is done and so far she is doing well.  She just got a single crown for one tooth next to the issue.  If she continues to progress as well we will head out on the road next week.  The forecast is for high temperatures in the 30’s later next week and we prefer not to be here for that.  So the initial plan is to Cedar Rapids for a couple of days, then Kansas City to visit Nancee and Steve, then decide on the route to New Mexico for a couple of weeks.  After Thanksgiving we will head out again for Florida.   The next month will be more fun and excitement!

Tiffany glass at the Paine

Tiffany lamp

Paine lumber stair rail

Welcome to New Glarus Brewery

Washington Island fun

bitters shots

evening musicians

old guest bath

new shower pan

new wall and pan tile

tile going up

new guest bath

old master bath

new tile in master bath

finished guest bath

It must be time for a quick update.  Football season is starting, the days are getting shorter, and we have actually had some cool weather!  It was a good August for us.  Relaxing and busy.  Chris had a cold/infection to work through but some anti biotics did wonders.  September will be more trips to the doctors for our annual visits.  Lab work and physicals, eye doctor, dentist.  I had to give up my cobra coverage and am on temporary health policies so I need to stay healthy for 18 months.  We will be close to home most of September as we get to our appointments.   In August we made it down to Milwaukee for Irishfest and some walks downtown.  Old friends Jeff Van Wie and Donna and Jeff Pindel joined us at Irishfest, the first time in many years we were all together at Irishfest.  And we had a good time!  We have had some time to listen to some area music and enjoy local friends and establishments.  Summer is a wonderful time in downtown Oshkosh.  And of course I have had some time to enjoy some golf!  Prior to Labor Day weekend we hit the road again to head for Detroit.  We took our time as is our practice.   Stopping the first night north of Chicago and then on to Sterling Heights the 2^nd day.  We had fun with MJ and John and helped with a little work around their house.  When we left there we stopped in Grand Rapids, number 1 beer town in America.   We had some good beer and food!  And then took the northern route and stopped in the upper peninsula of Michigan on the 2^nd night.  So now back home and preparing for those appointments and some upcoming visits from friends.  We still work on cleaning the apartment and downsizing, I have made several trips to the St Vincent DePaul store to drop off.  Our winter clothes can be better used by others.  In October I have a trip planned to take care of some bathroom remodeling in Florida.   We have not talked very much yet about what happens when I get back to Oshkosh from Florida.   We are pretty sure some traveling will be involved before we get to Florida in early December.  We certainly don’t want to see any snow!

Friend Steve won the Oblio’s bike!

Rooftop relaxing

Milwaukee lakefront

sending our daughter off to the first day of school

Michigan backyard projects

Vines and Rushes winery and music

July is nearing an end, which is sad because it has been so much fun.  And it also means the summer is going by quickly.    We spent our 2 weeks in Door County.  It has been many years since Phil and Judy first invited us to join them for a weekend, and we have returned every year since.   But this was the first year we did not camp.  Cedar Court provided our lodging this year.  Campsites were scarce during last years reservations and we decided it was time for a change.  We have rented campers the last few years so we applied that money to the motel and had less camping equipment to bring.  Marie had a motel room and Chris and I a cottage.  And MJ and Denise joined us for one week and shared a motel room.  It turned out well, not hurt at all by the fact we were in downtown Fish Creek and could walk to a number of favorite shops and establishments.  We spent time with old friends, ate and drank too much (too much??), and had lots of quality time.  I managed to get some golf in with friends.  We had some quality card games and quality walks.  Each day went quickly.  Sorry we did not spend more time with everyone, but we have a big group and everyone is pulled in many directions.  We hope to see them again sooner than later and be back in Door County soon.  We took an earlier 2 weeks than some of our group so we could be home yet in July.  That allowed us to catch the end of EAA Airadventure in Oshkosh.   Our location downtown and close to the airport allowed us to catch a lot of the airshows.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlMXo0eqx6E) The day and night shows featured lots of different aircraft and aerial acrobatics.    A number of military aircraft were featured this year and all were awesome.  It was a great weekend.   Now on to August.  Friends to catch back up with, courses to golf, beer to brew.   Marie heads home this month, Irishfest is mid month, and we will see what other adventures come up.  Love life!

Fish Creek bay

Cedar Court

our cottage for 2 weeks

new turf at Lambeau field

On the field

4 super bowls, so far

the Most championships

touring a box

Golf in Door County with Noel, Al, and Vinnie

Lambeau leap ??

wine day

spaghetti nigh in the campground, the next generation

flights over Oshkosh

aerial acrobatics

night flights

night aerobatics and fireworks

military aircraft everywhere

the new generations are the size of buildings and nimble as a drone

The summer seems to be quickly moving by!  Since coming home we have stayed busy and yet relaxed.  Marie joined us after we arrived home, and to start off June we spent a week in the Hayward area with our friends Dick and Carol.  This year we rented a house on the same property as Dick and Carol’s trailer, which worked out wonderfully.  We had lot’s of fun, played lot’s of cards, ate a lot, and Dick and I caught lot’s of fish.  No Crappie this year but lot’s of Perch and Walleye.   We have had a fish fry since coming home and they taste great!  More fish fries to come.

Back in Oshkosh we are still catching up with friends and favorite spots.  We made it to the Oshkosh Farmer’s Market which we love.   And now there should be more and more vegetables coming to the market.   We spent a relaxing afternoon at a winery, having some tastes and listening to music.  We have made it to some local breweries, and a chance to congratulate our friend Jody on becoming the head brewmaster at Bare Bones.  Old friend Jeff Pindel came up from Illinois for an evening and we showed him a little of downtown Oshkosh.   We took a tour of the Oshkosh Opera House (https://thegrandoshkosh.org/history/) on the  debut of next seasons schedule.  We still have not made it to all of our favorite restaurants, but are trying.  I have tried to golf at least a couple of times a week with my old friend John.  We get our exercise walking 18 holes and my game is getting a little more consistent.  We met my brother and his wife for lunch half way to Milwaukee.   I picked the spot in West Bend and who knew the day I picked the streets would be closed for an all day bike race.   But a little extra walking did not hurt us and we had an enjoyable afternoon.  This last week we spent near the Detroit area visiting MJ and John.   We had a little project to work on and visited some local establishments.   And we spent a couple of nights in Ann Arbor staying at a bed and breakfast and walking around downtown Ann Arbor.  We had a lot of fun and I probably need to dry out for a few days.  The drive home on the 4^th went well, it turned out to be a good day to drive through Chicago.  So life continues to be good.  This next week hopefully a little golf and a little biking, and preparing to head to Door County for our usual 2 week trip.  Hopefully the last 2 weeks of July will not be as hot as the start of July here in Wisconsin.   But we will find a way to survive anyway!  Looking forward to seeing more old friends and relaxing.

We do hope you all are off to a good summer start also.  We know a couple of friends having some serious issues and we keep them in our prayers.  The rest of you make sure to enjoy every day, don’t waste time on the negatives!