Another Grand Adventure

With great anticipation Lester and I are readying ourselves for another grand adventure a.k.a. an extended driving vacation through many states involving family, friends, fun, site-seeing, and yes, the motorcycle. With this in mind we decided to fire-up the old blog. Here we can expound longer about our exploits without as many eyes rolling towards the heavens as they may if we were to write it all on Facebook. By the way, we were not even on Facebook when we began our big roadtrip in 2009! Times have changed….

This trip we will be travelling by truck with the motorcycle in the back due to time constraints. We will start out travelling to Louisiana, then head to North Carolina, Michigan, West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Kansas. Of course there will be a few states, many stops, and lots of fun and adventure everywhere. Our grand adventure begins -- [insert drumroll here] -- Wednesday, July 17!

Trip leg #4 Roadtrip 2009

View Iowa-day 2 in a larger map

This map should have been included with the last group of pictures (trip leg #3) as it represents our second day in Iowa.

Trip leg #3 Roadtrip 2009

View Iowa in a larger map

Our trip through Iowa took the best part of three days. Beautiful countryside!

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Slideshow also found at: http://frombrendaandothers.shutterfly.com/948

Blog posts related to Iowa:
June 14 - Flag Day from Red Oak, Iowa
Camping near Newton, Iowa
June 17 - Evening

Trip leg #2 Roadtrip 2009

View Kansas to Nebraska in a larger map

This is the second leg of our trip taking us from Kansas through Nebraska. This must have been a long day as we didn't stop until we were in Iowa. We did enjoy the views though as you will see by the pictures below:

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Or view pictures at: http://frombrendaandothers.shutterfly.com/900

Original blog post for this leg of the trip with some overlap to the leg I'll post next:
June 14 - Flag Day - From Red Oak, Iowa

Trip leg #1 Roadtrip 2009

View Texas To Kansas in a larger map

This map shows our route the first few days this past summer from Texas to Kansas. The slideshow below has the pictures from this leg of the trip.

Click here to view these pictures larger

Or: http://frombrendaandothers.shutterfly.com/859

Original posts for this leg:
Night 1 - Texarkansas, Arkansas
Night 2 - Henryetta, Oklahoma
Night 3 - Manhattan, Kansas
June 11 - Still in Manhattan, KS

Slowing down

I've been asked to continue this blog, so I guess I'll give it try, although our travels have slowed down.

We did go to a chili cookoff this weekend near Wills Point, Texas. No pictures though. I cooked chili. Lester cooked our lunch. We had a great time even though I did not place. Out of 32 chili's I came in somewhere in the bottom 19th to 32nd place. Chili tasted okay, just not good enough for the cut. Not surprising, I just dumped and poured this time. I only have one point this chili year (October 1 - September 30). We have only cooked 3 or 4 times now this year. Mostly we cook for fun and to donate to whatever the charity of the day is. This time it was the Myrtle Springs Volunteer Fire Department. Of course placing is fun too.

Since the beginning of April we have gone out of town all but four weekends. This coming weekend Lester will fish and I get to stay home! Then we head to Michigan for daughter #4's wedding. You can bet we'll have pictures for that trip! Meanwhile, the alarm is set as I prepare to head back to work tomorrow. Lester will be celebrating not being joined at the hip anymore at the golf course. Something is not right about that!

Garfish Rodeo 2009

We had a fantastic time at the Garfish Rodeo at the Blind River Bar in Louisiana!!!!!!!! There were thirty-five boats with about 60 fishermen entered in the rodeo. Almost 3,000 pounds of fish were weighed-in! I think the big fish was 99 pounds. Garfish are caught by placing bait-fish such as mullet on large hooks which are suspended from jugs (recycled soda or bleach bottles). After being weighed-in some of the fish was filleted, cut into chunks, seasoned with mustard and hot sauce, dipped in "dust" (a commercially prepared fish fry batter) and fried in a big fryer. Dust is a word coined by one of the fellows in our group who has limited English skills.....the word works! The Garfish was served along with about 40 gallons of Jambalaya. The group I was with prepared the fish while another group did the Jambalaya. I don't know how many people were there for the party, a few hundred at least. A great time was had by all! A few pictures:

A couple of turtles on a log.
A small fishing camp on the river. Many are actually built over the water.
Alligator Bayou lives up to its name in the morning hours. We saw several gators!
Undisturbed waters with reflection!
A splash of color among the shades of greens and browns.
One of those pictures I put on here just because I like it!
Garfish weigh-in area at Blind River Bar.