AAhhh we have internet

Yes, we are back on line! I had to go back to see where we were for the last post. We did shuffle off to Buffalo ~ more on that in a minute but first ....

Congratulations are in order to ~

My nephew Andy and his wife Mia on the birth of their first child on September 7th - Marissa Geraci-Peck (can't wait to see pictures 'cause I know she is a beauty)

Second to Joshua, Trisha and Connor who are finally out of base housing and into their own brand new house (photo above, which I have no idea why it uploaded so small) and below. There is a cute video Trisha posted on facebook of Connor putting down the official welcome mat!

Below are photos (from about three legs of our journey ago!!) as we traveled along the Mohawk River from Schenectady to Henrietta. It really was pretty. Especially in some parts where the leaves have started to turn.

When we left Henrietta we did, in fact, go to the Lodge in Ashtabula. WHAT a Lodge, WHAT a location. Right on Lake Erie with its own private beach ~ which of course Sir thoroughly enjoyed as often as allowed. It was quite rough/choppy a couple days and we discovered that Sir Arlo is quite a surfer dog!

Yesterday we left Astabula and arrived in Petersburg, MI where we are booked for two nights, but will likely extend that to three nights. We had originally planned to head directly north from here to stay about 22 miles from Trisha's parents (they live in Stanton and we will be in Sumner). We have likely changed plans a bit and think we'll head over to the east coast of Michigan for a couple days so we can see Lake Huron then after we leave Sumner we will head to the west coast to spend a couple days on Lake Michigan. I can't figure a way to get Lake Superior in the plan though, but as we all know it's pretty much subject to change with us so we shall see!

I think we are headed to Monroe, MI today - seems to be the big town in these parts (without going to Toledo or Detroit). I guess that is where General Custer grew up so Rick may want to see the Custer historic sites. After not having strong electric (we only had 20 amp the last four days) and no city water or dump station available for the last week, there seems to be a lot of cleaning that could be done here, as well as a good vacuuming!

I have about 100 photos to load from the camera and need to select some (from about 250 over the last week and a half) to post, which I plan to do later today.

That's all for this one .....

We're shuffling off to Buffalo

Tomorrow. Buffalo and beyond. Our "plan" is to end up in Ashtabula, OH (Elks Lodge).

Today we went 15 miles north to Irondequoit to play in Lake Ontario. Great trip, Arlo had a blast and we took some fabulous pictures. After playing at the lake we went to downtown Rochester to a barbecue place that Chad recommended (he was there last week!!). Great place on the Genesee River, great food, space cadet waitress ~ she brings Arlo water in a cup!!! DAH - she didn't even bring him a straw! Oh a good day we had.

NOT to whine, but to explain lack of photos ... we are so north that apparently (this is the explanation from my technical pea brain) our dish can't get a strong enough satellite signal to allow uploading photos. So until we are at a campground with WIFI or Rick calls the satellite company to switch satellites while we are north (he said he won't) ~ there won't be photos until we get a bit south. UGH, there are some great ones the last week or so! Gotta trust me I guess.

Later all - from Ohio.

There's something about ...

a man wearing a skirt. Rick says if the men heard me refer to it as a skirt they'd likely not be happy. But anyway ~

We are at the Guilderland, NY Elks Lodge, just south (??) of Schenectady. We came in here Friday and will leave in the morning on our westward journey. We have no hook ups here so it has been a good "test" for us to try to conserve water, our gray and black tanks and electricity. We have been running the generator a couple times a day for an hour or so to recharge the batteries and so far we've done quite well (I think we have, but then again we may smell like goats and don't know it). We wouldn't be able to do this if it were hot out - well we would, but we'd be running the generator constantly and I HATE it - it is loud ~ but I sure am glad we have it. NO Chester I am not whining!

When we came in Friday there were people preparing for a private function dinner for some of those involved in the Scottish Games that are being held a few miles down the road. Seriously, how the heck does anyone eat haggis? The thought of it makes me want to hurl, beyond that - how does someone come up with this combination and consider it edible? It had to have been out of serious desperation wouldn't you think?

The photo above is some of the people arriving for the dinner. I, unfortunately, didn't inquire about the history but we saw several woman wearing scarves/shawls whose plaid matched their husbands kilts. We also, of course saw several women wearing kilts.

We did go to the games yesterday - how fun it was. We took several pictures, which I will try at another time to upload. There were Irish step dancers performing- just precious little girls out there - some as young as, I'd guess five or six (Moelicious did YOU ever be a step dancer?). I loved watching them and there were several Irish and Scottish bands - ( LOVE LOVE LOVE that music - too much fun ... and the later in the day, the more fun the music becomes and the rowdier the performers become!) As well as the music there was a dog agility performance (that we missed) and of course the "traditional Highland Games - most of which we missed - I wanted to see the log throwing one but we DID see hay bale (I think it was) throwing. As well as that there were, of course, LOTS of vendors ~ many of which were selling kilts - even tiny little almost Muffin sized kilts - size 1 - imagine how cute! The men's kilts take eight yards of fabric - as a "seamstress" this blew me away ~ I can't even imagine making one (as in there wouldn't be money enough in the world to talk me into making one). They were gorgeous and beautifully made. I remember having one when I was little - have no clue where it came from, but I remember the kilt pin and I just was certain I was "the bees knees" when I wore it - Kimmerly, was mine handed down to you?

We will be leaving here in the morning, headed to another (I think) Lodge in Henrietta, NY just south of Rochester as we head west to Michigan.

Happy Happy Josh

That would be (as Josh just pointed out on Facebook)

THIRTEEN years in the USMC ....

WOW .... congrats GySgt Lovett

parts of me feel like it was about 113 years ago you went in and other parts feel like it was 13 months ago ....whichever - we are very proud of you ....

let's all join in with Willie ......... follow the bouncing ball

"On the road again -

Just can't wait to get on the road again.

The life I love is making music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again.

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been.

Seein' things that I may never see again

And I can't wait to get on the road again.

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 turning our way"

DARN, I NEED TO PUT THE AUDIO OF THAT ON THE BLOG. My cousin told me after reading the blog she can't get the wheels on the bus tune out of her mind ....... would "on the road" again be worse ~ especially if you were hearing it while trying to read a blog post? HMMMMMMMM

And truly, I can't wait to get back there - the road is calling. As my sister Candy reminded me when I was whining about having to be in one place (seriously, hard to believe but I WAS whining) she was there to remind me that very little moss grew under our feet while we'd been "off the road". Beyond that, my positive thinking is .... we did what we had to do and the outcome was a positive one so in the "big picture" the delay was nothing - so Tracey STOP your flippin' whining.

Right now we are putting "stuff"in the coach in travel mode - storing what needs to be stored and Rick took care of the "outside stuff" today while I was out picking blueberries (OH YEAH) and having lunch with a dear friend ~ he (my friend) and I go back to junior high school. Our parents were friends, our mothers worked together and we were "buddies" who recently reconnected - thanks to facebook and a third party connection there. Rick, Robert and I all got together when we were back in these parts in July, and fortunately our schedules worked out that we could get together again today. There will be blueberry pancakes and muffins for a while thanks to our "outing" today. Thank you Robert, Sean (what a great kid he is) and Dawn and Tim ... It was a nice trip down memory lane.

Our travel tomorrow will take us to, we think, an Elks Lodge in Schenectady NY - holiday weekend so I didn't' even bother to stress over trying to find a campground with a space for us .... can't deal with it ~ trying to chill about this planning stress I put on myself - well for now anyway!

what have I created???

A mess I believe.

I've been trying to "update" the blog layout a bit - BUT I do this starting around midnight or so - NOT good - NOT GOOD AT ALL ... I've uploaded some new photos but they all seem to remain at the top of the right side - I want them dispersed throughout that side - or even better I want to try a three column layout, but that could be a real bad change .... CHAD - come on work with me for a couple hours on this. Well guess not - Chad and Amy have their hands full with their new house! (and all that "Tracey's special sauce" - albeit with a heavy does of garlic) but they DO have their hands full!

With all that said .... I'm off to bed now - got a busy day tomorrow - lunch with a dear friend from "way back" and "buttoning down the hatches" to HIT THE ROAD bright and early Friday morning.

So, stay tuned for blog layout changes - sometime within the next six months. Then again, with my rearranging, it is quite possible that I'll totally wipe the blog out!

a weekend

So off we went to New Hampster this past weekend - gotta gotta gotta get that "muffin time" in while we're here! Thought we were only going up for Friday night but we ended up staying Friday and Saturday nights.

Friday night we went to a baseball game - minor league. The Fisher Cats (Double A for the Toronto Blue Jays) vs Portland Seadogs (Double A for our beloved Red Sox). As Bethie explained it was quite a dilemma who to cheer for - their home team (Fisher Cats) or OUR team the Red Sox. Bethie, of course, had a perfect solution ... her cheer was "GO TEAM" ... isn't our Bethalene brilliant!

As with the other major league stadium we've been to (Sioux Falls Canaries) these stadiums are outstanding, reasonably priced and very family friendly. What a great take for $10 - $12 per person!

Below is a Hilton Garden Inn that is built at one end of the stadium - with , of course, outside dining - what a great take that would be sometime. Brilliant concept huh!

Above is a photo of our Muffin - trying bananas for the first time. For some reason she is not happy with the spoon - the bananas were alright in her book - the spoon, well not so much! I suggested perhaps if she could hold and play with the spoon it may help ... some success was gained by that I think (???). Pat and Beth tried rice cereal with Paige a week or so ago - with NO success. Apparently Paige wanted NO, absolutely NO part of that cereal. Saturday she did consent to eat some cereal if it was mixed with lots and lots of bananas. How precious is our Paigie Pie, Muffin face Princess!

And below is Ms Muffin drinking from a Paige cup that my friend Candy sent up to her.... not bad for a first attempt.

So at the moment we are still in Middleboro but will definitely be leaving here Friday. Our plan, at the moment, is the head to the Great Lakes - and seeing our friends Larry and Sheila (my daughter in law's parents) in Michigan. After that we will be headed to our winter stay in the Florida Keys - perhaps via Louisiana to have the bedroom television replaced with a digital so we can once again have a full time functioning TV in there. Oh horrors - television withdrawal .... UGH!!! She says so facetiously .... I prefer a book - then again, as Rick is quick to point out, I can't read in bed for more than about 15 minutes before I am snoring and drooling!! yeah yeah yeah ...

So in a few days, we'll be on the road again (darn I wish I could figure out how to put music on this blog!!). Seems like it's been quite a while since we've been traveling, really traveling ....