Conky Tonkin' With Indiana Parrotheads

Back in February we heard that Jimmy Buffet was going on tour. Larry had been to a couple of his concerts over the years, but Jane had only seen him at the New Orleans Jazz Fest which is not a really great venue and the concert was quite abbreviated. We couldn't find anything that wasn't sold out until we got to August in Noblesville, IN, a suburb of Indianapolis. Since we have gone to the last three Indianapolis 500 races, we've become comfortable traveling to Indy and are fairly familiar with the area. Anyway, we bought a couple of tickets to the event on August 11 which was Jane's birthday present.

We headed up on the 10th and checked into a nearby motel. The next day we got up and decided to go shopping at a nearby mall. On the way to the mall we passed the concert venue and stopped by on the way back. We weren't sure what to expect because all we could see were corn and soybean fields all around. A young lady at the gate informed us that the gates would open around 1 p.m. for the 8 p.m. concert. We had planned on going out to a really nice restaurant then head over to the concert. When we got back to the motel, the parking lot was filled with partying parrotheads replete with fins, cheeseburgers, margaritas, and blow-up palm trees and flamingos. Well, this got Jane excited. She didn't understand what the gates would open so early until I told her that it was for the tailgating party prior to the concert.

Well, there went the plans for a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant. Someone from Louisiana just doesn't miss out on a tailgate party. We got changed into our parrothead clothes and got an ice chest ready then headed for a deli to pick up some fried chicken, a sub sandwich and an apple pie. Then it was out to the cornfields to get an attitude adjustment for the concert. We hooked up with some folks from the area and had a great time. We had great seats for the concert and Jimmy did not disappoint one bit. We got to hear some new songs due out in November and all the rowdy old favorites. The only downside to the whole thing was that we stood at our seats for nearly the entire 3 hour concert. Larry's knees let him know about that the next morning. All in all though it was a great time. We understand that this is a regular concert site for Buffet and so it just may become a regular trip for us too. Seems like we go to Indy so often now that we just may have to rent some place to stay...

We Begin Our Journey...

We begin our journey here on Blogspot trying to figure how this animal works. This exercise was started to share with friends an relatives our travel experiences and adventures that we are able to enjoy in our retirement. Basically we enjoy traveling around the country by car, motorcycle, and boat. In 2008, we embarked on a seven-week, 12,400 mile, 29 state motorcycle trip around the country and into Canada and during which we visited 24 U.S. National Parks. We were not blogging at that point, and in fact lost our computer on the third day of the trip in Big Bend National Park, TX. Unbelievably we got the computer back (yes, there are decent people out there!) after the trip, but were unable to share our experiences with everyone. Through these pages we hope to revisit our ride and share images and memorable moments with everyone.

Additionally, in April, 2009 we purchased a boat with the intention of traveling around the coastal and inland waters of the eastern portion of the U.S. in what is called America's Great Loop. This is basically a 6,000 mile plus boat ride which we plan to cover over a nine-month period in 2011. While we have owned boats for a number of years, our purchase represented a significantly larger boat and one with all sorts of "systems" that we are currently immersed in learning about in addition to trying to fathom what is involved in a boating adventure of this nature. We will share our plans and preparations as this baby unfolds.

Being retired allows us to take off on various excursions and some of the more memorable trips may make their way onto these pages. We hope it doesn't resemble watching old time vacation films, and will try to keep things as interesting as possible. However, if it does become tedious you can comment or choose to opt out. On the other hand, we are both hoping that this does not become drudgery in trying to maintain this blog. So bear with us and cut us some slack as we try and put on a show.