Abbey's Road

The biggest adventure we had involving Monteverde was the drive there. That’s not to say that Monteverde wasn’t exciting. But it was hard to beat the drive for hair-raising adventure. It started out great. Sandra had been dying to find a place that served coconut milk right out of the coconut, so she was pretty excited when we stopped for lunch at the closest thing we could find to a rest stop and, there in the parking lot, was a guy selling coconuts. After eating our lunch, packed from the French bakery of course, we lined up for some fresh coconut milk. The guy pulled out 6 coconuts, whacked off the top with his faithful machete, and popped a straw in each one. It was pretty good, but we were a little disappointed. Sandra said it just wasn’t the same as the ones she and Michael used to get in Sri Lanka. Maybe those were better because the guy used to climb the tree to get them while you waited. After you finished drinking all the milk, you handed it back to the guy who would then whack it in half so you could peel out the coconut meat. You can tell the coconut we eat in the US is sweetened because this only had a hint of sweetness.

From the main highway there are two main routes up to Monteverde, both of which turn into gravel roads after a while. We wanted to be sure we took the best gravel road so we even stopped to ask. Believe it or not it was Michael’s idea. After driving through a town we soon hit a gravel road and just figured it was going to be like that the rest of the way. We then saw a sign to Monteverde painted on a retaining wall (why waste money on a post?) so we turned and started climbing up into the mountains. The road got pretty steep and we were starting to wonder why they had told us to go this route. We finally decided that the only way up the road was for all of us to get out and walk on the steep spots, except for Michael who was driving. After 2 or 3 rounds of this, and letting the engine cool off, we figured we were at the “top” and were on the way down now. Well, the down slope didn’t last long as we came up to the steepest hill yet. This time Michael and the minivan had met their match and got stuck 50 feet from the top. He somehow managed to back down the hill halfway without running into a ditch and got turned around. By the time we got back down to a safe spot the brakes were burning and barely stopping us. While we were waiting for the brakes to cool we talked to a guy and found out we weren’t on the road we had thought we were. We had missed a turn in the last town. We also noticed that the front tires were shredded, so we figured we had to get new ones or at least rotate them to the back. When we got back to the town we saw the sign, but it was half-covered up, so it was no wonder we missed it. We found a service station and while rotating the tires they noticed one was worn down to the radial. So the guy drove my brother to another shop to buy 2 new tires, brought them back and put them on. The whole thing only cost us $165. Not bad considering we were worried we were going to get stuck up on that road and would end up spending the night there. We finally pulled into Monteverde around 9, in the rain, finding the right road this time. It was far better than what we had ventured up earlier. It’s too bad the first road was so rough because we had some spectacular views from up there.

Monteverde is high up in what they call a cloud forest. Many times when you think it’s raining, it’s really just the moisture in the clouds that are passing by. They call it horizontal rain. The next day we decided to take the free shuttle to one of the nearby preserves instead of attempting the roads again on our own. There are two preserves there which they use to study and protect the unique ecosystem, but they also open up a small percentage of the area to tourists. We went on a self-guided tour through the forest crossing several suspension bridges. We didn’t get to see much in the way of wildlife, but it was a pretty cool perspective being high up in and above the trees – sometimes as much as 180 ft. above the ground. The vegetation is so thick, though that you never know how high up you really are. It’s like that all over CR. I’d hate to have to bushwhack through that stuff.

Arco Iris Lodge (a popular name), where we stayed in Monteverde, was another cool place. It had a number of small buildings each with a few individual rooms or apartments in a very pristine setting with great views. The rooms were all wood including walls, ceiling and floor. I found out just how slippery the floors were the next morning when I got up to go to the bathroom. In my room the bathroom was down a few steps and when my heel hit the first step, I went flying and hit the steps myself. Yea, I went to CR and went surfing, body surfing and did zip lines and how did I get hurt? Falling down in the room. I wasn’t hurt seriously but was way too sore to do another canopy tour that we had planned for that day. I was bummed but such is life.

I was well enough the following day to go on a guided hike in the cloud forest preserve. Our guide, Bernal, actually grew up in Monteverde and you could really tell how much he loved the flora and fauna of his native land. We had an older couple from London in our group and it was easy to tell by the size of his camera lens that they were avid birders. Bernal first took us to the hummingbird garden where in just a few minutes we saw several different beautiful species. I never knew there were so many or that they could be so colorful.

After a short walk down the path into the preserve we found out what really got his heart racing. He took us to an area where there was the best possibility of seeing a quetzal. The quetzal is the national bird of Guatemala though it is no longer possible to see it there. It is an endangered bird with much of its remaining habitat in CR. Many people believe it is a magical bird so you can imagine how excited the Londoners were when we spotted the first one after only a few minutes wait. Bernal was jumping around trying to find the best spot to view the bird through the scope he carried along. First a female showed up, then the more colorful male. Then, another male, and another female. You could tell how excited he was, like it was the first time he had seen one of these birds even though he’s probably seen them dozens, if not hundreds, of times. When the London woman saw them through the scope she was nearly brought to tears. In her thick British accent she exclaimed, “My God, my heart is still palpitating!” The birds were beautiful, but we were ready to move on and see some other wildlife after hanging out there for 20 minutes or so. I guess we didn’t quite grasp the gravity of the sights we had just witnessed. The rest of the hike was less eventful, but we did get to see a tarantula and some other birds. After the tour we tried to eat our lunch in the hummingbird garden. Not long after we sat down a coati, a relative of the raccoon started wandering over. We had some bananas which we found out is one of their favorite foods. We packed up our lunch and left the area, but before we knew it the coati had followed us and jumped on one of the bags Michael was carrying. We ended up having to eat the rest of our lunch in the car. We had first seen coatis on the road to Tamarindo and had thought they were so cute. Now, in our minds they had been relegated to a mere pest, much like raccoons.

While in Monteverde we found a great place for helado. That’s Spanish for ice cream. It was pretty darn good and so cheap. It became our afternoon ritual. The 31st was our last full day and we spent most of it driving back to San Jose where we started. It was New Year’s Eve so we were worried about finding a place to eat that night. We had good reason to worry, but not for the reason we had thought. The restaurants were not all booked because most weren’t even open. It turns out that most of the Costa Ricans eat at home with family on New Year’s Eve. The one restaurant we found open was very nice, but there were only 4 tables full including ours, and all with tourists like us. It’s funny how holidays are celebrated so differently in different countries.

When I told my Dad about the things that had happened on our trip he said, “It sounds like a nightmare to me.” I guess I should’ve started with the good stuff instead of the most adventurous parts. After thinking about it I realized it did sound a little bad, but in reality we had a great trip. I would definitely consider going back. We heard about several places that we didn’t make it to that sounded great. I do want to brush up on my Spanish first, though, and next time I’ll be much more alert with my stuff.

Posted by Ed at 8:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Except for the years I lived in Austin, I’ve always been in cool or cold weather areas for Christmas so being at the beach at this time of year was a strange experience for me. Being in a foreign country made it even stranger. We did see some houses decorated with lights, but nothing like you see in this country. In Tamarindo, which is a beach resort (I use the term lightly), Christmas was even less obvious. The funniest thing was hearing Santa Claus is Coming to Town in Spanish. Well, that was almost as funny as hearing Billy Joel’s The Piano Man in Spanish and hearing the waiter sing along with it. For a place that is not easy to get to and one that has one cobblestone street and a bunch of dirt ones, there are quite a few new buildings going up and quite a lot of tourists. There are many beaches up and down the coast but we got the feeling that most were pretty remote, even compared to Tamarindo. I don’t think it’s the most scenic of the beaches, though it’s not bad at all, but it probably has the most to do. At first I was a little turned off by the dirt, dust and slightly grimy feel (it didn’t help that it was a holiday so the garbage wasn’t picked up for a few days), but I really started to take a liking to its unique charm. It’s funny how places like this spring up all over the globe from time to time and they attract a certain sort of people. Most of the businesses in Tamarindo seemed to be owned or run by expats from places like Germany, France or who knows where. We stayed at Villas Macondo which was owned by a young German couple. He had traveled all over the world, but ended up staying when he reached Tamarindo. On a later visit to his home country he met his girlfriend and she made the move too. They were quite laid back as far as Germans go, but the place was clean, comfortable and friendly. It was a collection of apartments and rooms encircling a pool area that somehow seemed secluded and private even though it was right in town. We got more use out of the pool than we had imagined because it was pretty hot and very humid there too. In the morning, we usually let the kids sleep and Michael, Sandra and I would go down to the French bakery, owned by a Frenchman of course, and have an espresso or cappuccino. We usually couldn’t resist the temptation to also try one of the pastries. It pays to get up early. They also had great things for lunch so we went back there a few times so the kids didn’t miss out completely. She couldn't do anything without her calculator.

Tamarindo is known for surfing so when we found a special deal on surfing lessons we couldn’t pass up the chance. If you go to Tamarindo you have to go to the Banana Surf Club and talk to Guchi. He’ll take care of you. Our instructor was a CR guy named Elmer (go figure) with blond-tipped highlights in his hair. When we rented a board the next day and tried to do it on our own we realized how much of a difference Elmer made. It helps a lot if you have someone holding your board, telling you when to paddle, giving you a good shove and yelling “Get up!” at just the right time. Rachel won the surfing queen title. I didn’t do too badly, but Michael and Sandra won’t be hanging ten any time soon. On the other hand, Michael won the body surfing title. The beach at Tamarindo was great for body surfing and on our last day there he was unstoppable. I don’t think he missed a wave all morning. The rest of us could barely catch one. If you know Michael, you know that he certainly wasn’t shy or humble about his self-proclaimed “best day ever” of body surfing. One of the days we drove to a different beach that was supposed to be good for snorkeling. The “road” to the beach actually was right on the beach in parts. It looked like it was good enough for the locals so we figured we’d be fine as long as we stayed away from the deep sand where someone else was busy trying to extract their car. We rented snorkel gear right on the beach. It wasn’t exactly like snorkeling in the Caribbean because the water wasn’t real clear, but we still saw quite a few colorful fish and even a blowfish. Most of us managed to enjoy it without sucking in too much salt water.

The Villas owners set us up with a guy named Henrique who took us on a boat tour of Las Baulas National Park. It’s a mangrove swamp that is only accessible by boat. We were worried we weren’t going to see much wildlife, but Henrique didn’t disappoint. The first two crocodiles we spotted swam off before we could get a real good look, but he later spotted a baby croc hiding out in the mangrove roots waiting for its parents. He also took us ashore at a spot known for having howler monkeys and we were in luck once again. He did a great howler monkey call which got the male going for a while. We later tried to repeat his call, but if there were any males around to hear us they certainly weren’t threatened enough to respond. Like most of the places we went we saw quite a few birds, many of them herons. Costa Rica is great place to go if you are an avid bird watcher. We also enjoyed a fresh pineapple on the boat expertly sliced, in a matter of seconds, by the multi-talented Henrique.

Most of the meals we had in CR were quite good. The kids usually were able to find something they would eat too. For Rachel this normally meant pasta or pizza. I decided I didn’t want to leave Tamarindo without trying Pedro’s, a seafood place next to the beach. The kids were a little skeptical, and we had a backup plan of letting them go for pizza, but they managed to find some pasta dishes on the menu so we all stayed. It was quite the interesting place. As Alex said, it’s easy to find. It’s the shack on the beach with a tent and some tables. The menu was on 2 big placards standing on the ground out front of the tent and lit by a bunch of candles. The tables were lit by a single light bulb dangling from a wire in case the moonlight on the water wasn’t bright enough for you. They don’t serve beer but the walk up bar right next door was more than happy to serve you. You just had to make sure to return the bottles if you wanted another. As with many places we found, the service was very slow but the food was well worth the wait. And you couldn’t beat the setting with the waves crashing on the beach. It was definitely the best meal I had on the trip. One thing about the food in CR – it is very reasonable most places and other places it is downright cheap. We never really had a bad meal, though we were often quite starved by the time it was served.

The last night in Tamarindo we walked to a promontory at the far end of the beach to watch the sunset over the Pacific. Next time we go to CR, and there has to be a next time, we’ll have to get up early for the sunrise over the Atlantic. Unfortunately, the sun rises pretty early there. That night we ate at a vegetarian place called Arco Iris. It sounded a bit funky to us and it certainly lived up to our first impression. They stretched the vegetarian theme a bit and served some fish. Luckily beer and wine are made without hurting or relying on any animals so they were fair game (no pun intended). The food turned out to be great and once again we found it was worth taking a little risk.

Mom liked this one so I had to put it in.

Posted by Ed at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think just about everyone I talked to in the last few months either had gone, or knew someone who had gone, to Costa Rica. Everyone said how great and beautiful it is so I had high hopes for our trip. I went with my brother, Michael, and his family – his wife, Sandra, and the kids, Alex, Krista and Rachel. We got in pretty late the first night so we stayed in a hotel right near the airport and went right to bed. We had been warned about the poor roads, lack of road signs and crazy drivers so we were prepared for the worst as we headed out the next morning. We were headed to La Fortuna, a small town and the main touring base for the area around the Arenal volcano. The road that the hotel had suggested was very windy, but at least it was paved and the signs were just fine. The windiness was tough for the unlucky ones stuck in the back of the minivan so we had to take a few breaks along the way. At the first one we had our first experience with a batido, or Costa Rican milkshake. It’s not what you would expect. There is tons of great fruit in Costa Rica (CR), and as a result, there are a lot of great fruit juices. Real juice, not the kind with all the sugar and junk added. Well, they also like to mix these with milk, and not the lowfat variety. In Spanish they call it “en leche” or “con leche”. You have to understand that Michael and family are all fruit fanatics so they dove right into these batidos. A little while later we saw a small stand with piles of pineapples and bananas. There was no sign and no one was around, but we stopped anyways. Remember, I told you they were fruit fanatics. We soon realized that the bananas were actually plantains, which are great for cooking, but not for eating raw. A guy came out from the house to help us. My brother, in his limited but improving Spanish, asked if he had any bananas. So he bent down, reached under a shelf and grabbed a huge handful and gave them to us – no measuring or counting. He asked if we wanted any pineapples. We said sure, but there was one problem. We had no knife to cut it with. No problem. He smiled, took out his handy machete, grabbed a pineapple and sliced it up in seconds and we were chowing down on fresh pineapple and bananas. When Michael asked him how much we owed him, he basically said, “Whatever.” Giving him the equivalent of 2 bucks he protested saying it was too much!

La Fortuna isn’t completely taken over by tourists, but there are a lot of tour companies offering everything from ATV tours to canopy tours. After the drive we were starving so we found a restaurant in town serving “tipical” CR food. We figured we might as well sample it right away so we tried something called “casados”. It turns out that means something like tapas, or samplers, and usually consists of a grilled meat or fish, rice, beans, and different types of vegetables and salad. We ended up getting this a number of times because it was real reasonable, with a good variety of food and for the most part very good. Our hotel turned out to be a real nice place with a great view of the volcano. The rooms were more like little cabins spread out over the grounds. They had a series of small pools, fed by hot springs and feeding into each other so the hottest ones were at the top. We decided to start near the bottom and work our way up. The pools were kind of secluded being surrounded by plants and trees. We tried out a few different ones and were really enjoying it until we were getting ready to leave. I went to grab my towel and stuff but couldn’t find my wallet. I hadn’t stuck it in the room safe because it was locked already when we got in the room. After searching around at all the pools we had gone to hoping to find that I had just dropped it, my heart sank as reality set in. It must have been the guy who was by himself and only stayed in the last pool a few minutes. He was real quiet and he was the only one who had come in besides us. I was pretty bummed but very grateful that I wasn’t there by myself. At least he didn’t take my passport so the vacation could go on. After canceling my credit cards and my ATM card we went back to the room to play cards. The front desk called a little while later saying that someone had turned in my wallet. The cash was all gone, of course, but he didn’t take anything else. Of course, my credit cards were now worthless, but at least I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to replace my South Dakota driver’s license!

The next day I was doing much better. We took one of CR’s ubiquitous canopy tours that was right on the property of the hotel. On a canopy tour you glide along, dangling from cables strung between platforms high up in the canopy of the trees. You’re actually strapped into a harness and attached quite safely to a pulley on the cable. Think zip lines on steroids. This one had 11 cables, some as long as 500 ft., and one that crossed over a river. One little girl was too small to go by herself but she couldn’t wait ‘til the guide would take her on the next cable. On the steep ones you could get going pretty fast, but if you “braked” too much (by pulling down on the cable with a leather glove) you came up short of the platform and had to pull yourself up the rest of the way. Michael, Sandra and the kids had all done a zip line before, but they said this was far better. I was looking forward to going on another one.

Later that day we took a short hike to La Fortuna waterfall. The waterfall was nice, but didn’t seem that spectacular. So far the weather had been hot and real humid so a swim in the natural pool around the waterfall sounded like a great idea. The water was pretty cool so I figured the best way was to just dive right in. The rest finally followed and we swam over to a cave across the pool. Getting there wasn’t easy because we had to fight the current formed by the force of the falling water pounding into the pool. At least swimming so hard helped me warm up in the water. It also helped us work up an appetite so later we headed back to our “tipico” restaurant and tried some other good CR food. As usual, it didn’t take them long to figure out that it doesn’t take long for me to get hungry. The one exception was the night I got my wallet stolen. I didn’t have much of an appetite that night. Just as we were coming to the restaurant it started pouring down rain. The restaurant was like most in La Fortuna in that it was covered, but it was open on most sides. Unfortunately, the roof was metal so the sound was deafening. The waitresses pulled a couple of small tables together near the center so we wouldn’t get hit by the spray of the rain. The rain had slowed a little by the time we ordered, otherwise I don’t think she could have heard us. When we asked if they had beer, she responded with an emphatic “Si” which made us quite happy as we were dying for some. Later we noticed another waitress running back, in the rain no less, from the store across the street with a brown bag. Inside were a couple of six-packs. This gesture of service above and beyond the call of duty, and the fact that she was quite cute, won our hearts and, not to mention, earned her a good tip. It definitely helped me forget about my wallet for at least one night.

The next day we headed out for Tamarindo, but not before taking a hike at the Arenal Volcano National Park. The top of the volcano was covered in clouds, but the hike through the lava fields were pretty cool, and it didn't stop the rest of the gang from finding there one and only geocache in CR.
Coatis. More on these later...
The maids are aspiring artists
If we had only known....next time we stay here!
My new motto.

Posted by Ed at 8:34 PM | Permalink

I can’t believe it’s that time of the year again, already. This year has really flown by. Abbey and I have had a very interesting year. At one point I thought I had had enough of life on the road and was thinking that I would sell my RV at the end of the year. But since then I’ve had a change of heart. I do want to slow down and stay in a much smaller number of places for a longer period of time – a few months or more – but I plan on using the motorhome as my base still. If you missed it in a recent post I just bought a car which I can tow. This will be a lot more convenient for me, especially since I won’t be moving around as much. I hope to continue working with Habitat and possibly some other non-profits. I have already signed up for another stint with Habitat in the Florida Keys starting in the end of January. I figure if you’re going to work hard, you might as well do it in a nice location. Speaking of working, I have made a deal with my brother to start doing some work for his company come January. The beauty of it is that it will be part-time, very sporadic and I can do it from anywhere, including from my RV in a remote campground somewhere, as long as I can get satellite reception. So, rest assured if you’re starting to worry that I might be going back to the coporate grind. I’m hoping never to have to do that.

I didn’t visit as many friends this year, but I was able to catch up with many that I didn’t get to last year. I also made some new friends along the way, especially from my two Habitat builds. I’m not sure where this year will take, or who I will meet or what old friends I will see, but I’m looking forward to it with excitement, and also a little bit of apprehension. When I started on the road a year and a half ago I wasn’t sure if I would last more than 6 months, and at this point, I still don’t know if I will last another 6. But I’m trying to take things a day, a week, a month at a time. I try not to plan things too rigidly so when the “right” thing comes along, or I find the “right” place, I’ll know and I’ll be able to take advantage of it.

I’d like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. May 2007 be a year of peace and good health for you and your families.

Posted by Ed at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

It’s been a few months since you last heard from me. I’ve been mostly visiting family and friends on my way back East since I left Jackson. I stayed for a few nights in Grand Lake, CO with Jim and Jeri Moat, some friends I know from my Austin days. Jeri was out of town the first 2 days so Jim and I were having a grand old time doing guy things like hiking, fishing, shooting skeet and, of course, drinking beer. It was my first time ever shooting skeet and I was more surprised than Jim when I finally hit one after 6 or 7 tries. I owed it all to Jim’s helpful advice – “try looking at the thing and pointing the gun where you’re looking!” Actually, what he said was a lot more constructive than that. We had done enough of the guy stuff by the time Jeri got home so she didn’t spoil our party.

Trail Ridge road through Rocky Mountain NP was closed so I had to drive down and around and back up to get over to Loveland to see the Gibbons. They start to get nervous if I don’t stop in every so often and I hadn’t been there since March so I didn’t want to push it any longer. I happened to be there over Homecoming Weekend for Ryan and Andrea. It was Andrea’s first Homecoming dance and I could tell it was killing Dan that his “little girl” is growing up. Being her godfather I am quite proud of how she has turned out, even though I’ve had nothing to do with her upbringing.

After Colorado I stopped at my brother, Michael’s, outside of Chicago. A few weeks before, when I was telling my niece when I would be coming, she asked me if I was going to the St. Zachary Fashion Show. St. Zachary is their elementary school. Not being able to say no to her, I said “Sure. Of course I am.” Then I added, “Well is your dad going?” It turns out he had never been to one before, but had always talked about going. So this was the year that the guys invaded the show. There weren’t enough of us to get our own table (Michael’s friend, Johnson, was the only other brave guy) so they stuck us way in the back with some unruly women. They were a bit standoffish at first, not thrilled at being stuck with “some guys”. After a few drinks our table was rockin’ though, and we ended up being the talk of the show. We did get a little out of hand and someone, who will remain nameless, tried to abscond one of the door prizes, but things calmed down when it mysteriously reappeared. Our table mates have already requested to be at our table next year.

After Chicago, there was a one night stop in Buffalo at the Tomasiks, a two night stop in Syracuse at the Rahims, and then finally on to Amsterdam to my brother-in-law, Bob’s. A month or so before, my nephew, Robbie, had conned me into taking him and his friends to a “Death Cab for Cutie” concert in Rochester. To be honest, he didn’t have to do much conning. I have heard the band a lot on the radio and I actually like them. I figured his father was happy he didn’t have to make the 3 hour drive with 4 teenagers, but I found out he would’ve liked to have gone. But Robbie is in those teen years when it’s not too bad to be seen with your uncle, but it’s definitely not cool to be caught with Dad. There were 3 other kids and when they showed up at the door I found out that Robbie’s new girlfriend, who I had just found out about, was a last minute substitution. Good thing Dad didn’t come along. That really would have been embarrassing! I had never heard of the opening band, “Ted Leo and the Pharmacists” (have any of you?), and after I heard them I didn’t really care if I heard them again. They were at least tolerable. On the other hand “Death Cab”, as they’re affectionately known, didn’t disappoint, and I didn’t even have a headache or ringing in my ears after the show. The only bad part was the 3 hour drive home in the rain. There was one tense moment when a security guard came over and told one of Robbie’s friends, who was not so discreetly filming the concert, to bring his camera and step outside. I wondered for a minute if I should go with him, but quickly remembered that he wasn’t my kid. It’s so much easier not being a parent. Besides, I would’ve picked him up if they had taken him down to the station. They only took the tape away, so sorry, no pictures from the concert. Click here if you're dying to hear some of their music or how they got their name.

I stayed in Amsterdam two weeks, saw a lot of friends, and managed to get to Saratoga once or twice. I stopped in Kingston on my way down to my parents to have dinner with some friends from my early IBM days. It’s become a bit of a ritual when I’m in the area. I got there pretty early so I went by our old house in Woodstock and decided to stop in and see our neighbors, George and Sara Smith. It had been quite a few years since I had seen them. That was our first house and they were always willing to give us a hand or guidance when we were looking lost. And George had a great snow blower that came in real handy since we had a fairly long driveway. It was real nice catching up with them and finding out what was happening with some of our old neighbors.

I made it down to Delaware in time to see my nephew, Greg, run in the Delaware State Cross Country Championships. I know, it’s not exactly a big state, but he ran a great race and came in 9th. Not bad for only a sophomore! Congratulations, Greg. He made 2nd team All-State, too. His mother doesn’t like to brag, so I’ll do it for her. Cross Country isn’t the best spectator sport, but I still like to go and watch. It reminded me of when I used to watch my brother, Jim, run in his high school days. I ran one year, but found I wasn’t as excited when I was the one who had to do the running.

The following day I went to a mini-reunion of some of my high school friends. They had a band when we were in high school and used to play at a lot of dances. Back in the spring they reconnected with some members that we had lost touch with and decided to get together and play again. They did it the first time in June, when I was on the West coast, but I was happy that they did an encore in November so I could make it this time. Some of the old “groupies” even showed up (including myself). We’ve aged quite a bit, but many of us thought they sounded as good, if not better, than they did all those years ago. Maybe it’s just our hearing is going, but we still had a great time. My parents even stopped by to see my old gang, though it wasn’t exactly their kind of music.

We celebrated my Dad’s 80th birthday the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Most of my family, and a bunch of my cousins, made it down for the big event. We knew my Dad had a great time because my Mom actually was ready to go home first for once. While I was at the Gibbons they showed me a video that their kids put together for Dan’s father and I thought that this would be a great idea for Dad. I even volunteered to do the work since I don’t have a job. My brother Jim doesn’t either right now, but at least he’s looking. Anyways, it turned out to be more work than I had hoped, even though everyone got me pictures on time. The software we chose was a bit buggy and my sister’s computer was a bit temperamental, but we managed to put together a pretty nice slideshow despite all the problems. I quickly remembered why I don’t want to work in the computer industry any more. I think I prefer working on roofs. I sure felt like I needed a vacation after that. All this work is killing me!

Last week I bought a used car, an ’01 Subaru Forester. No, I’m not getting rid of my RV. I plan to tow it so I won’t have to drive my RV everywhere. In case you’re wondering, I plan to keep at this next year, though I hope to stay in places a lot longer than I have been – like a month or more at a time. Having a car will make that a lot easier.

This is not my car, but it looks exactly the same. Stole the picture off the web.

Posted by Ed at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hi all,

For those of you I haven't talked to in a while, I sold my house on 4/25 and headed out on the road. I bought an RV in Tucson and had to pick it up by 4/30. After 5 straight days of driving, Abbey and I picked up our new home on 4/29, with the help of my friend DeeAnne. We stayed in a state park near Tucson the first night, and in the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico the 2nd night for our first adventure. The RV is a 24' Itasca Spirit. It's a class C if that means anything to any of you. It has quite a bit of room, though much smaller than our previous house. Abbey seems to have taken to it
rather easily and she's already found her bed under the dinette.

We're hanging out at DeeAnne's in Albuquerque for a week or so to get situated, get stocked up on stuff and to try and get the RV registered so I can stop worrying about driving around with an expired temporary tag. After that, I'm not real sure where we're headed, but probably west from here towards Arizona and then California. If you're out west don't be surprised if you get an email or phone call from me someday saying I'll be in town. I would love to see as many of you as I can.

The best way to get in contact with me is through email or cell phone. I am
using a mail forwarding service, but it wont' be real fast.

I've attached a few pictures. Hope you like them.

Take care and keep in touch,
Ed

The move
First Camp
Abbey's Bed

Posted by Ed at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)