Our Indiana Connections Continue...

We live about 30 miles from Madisonville, LA which hosts a magnificent Wooden Boat Festival each year. This is always a fun event because it focuses on water activities, wooden boats, and has a real family orientation (although you don't really need many family connections to just go there and drink beer!). This year we went and met up with Milana and Tracy who were hosting friends, Danny and Sherrie Johnson from Indiana. The weather wasn't exactly cooperative, but worked out that we were all able to do most of what we came to the festival for.

After looking at all of the food and craft booths, we hooked up with Milana & Tracy's crew and boarded the Robert E. Lee party boat which was brought to the Madisonville wall by Capt. Donnie Weiss. The Weiss's hosted a really nice party and provided riverside seats for the festival's fabricated boat race. In this race contestant teams have two days to construct a wooden boat that team members launch in the river and sail and paddle over a course to claim victory. Of the approximately 18 boats that were launched, about 12 actually completed the race with about a half-dozen sinking sometime between the launch and the start of the race. After the race we left the boat and wandered over to one of the band stages to listen to some music. The band was really good, but it started to rain and Jane & Larry decided that it was time to head home. However, before we left we invited Danny & Sherrie to join us for dinner at our place in Florida when they come over for Danny's graduation at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in a few days. It turned out to be a really small world as Danny's parents were flying in from Detroit Lakes, MN to attend the ceremony which was where Larry was stationed for 5 years at the White Earth Indian Reservation. We all got together and talked just about everything including Larry & Jane's motorcycle trip through MN last year, ice fishing, Water Carnival, Lake Sallie, and even lutefisk! It was a real hoot. We had a really wonderful time and Larry's shrimp fettuccine and black bean dip, and Jane's Bavarian cream were real hits. We parted for the evening, but we are all pretty sure that we will run into each other again in the future.

Overnighting on the Tickfaw

The weather got cooler and the humidity dropped from the summertime sweatshop level, so we decided that a night on Bavarian Cream was in order. We checked out the weather forecasts and thought that we had a really good weather window. Then Jane got a call from her grandson, Brennan, inviting her to his middle high school football game on Saturday. Jane told him about our plans and he said that we were crazy and were going to get caught in some lousy weather. We were pretty sure that we would be back at the home port before the weather turned on us. Cutting to the chase, Brennan was right and we were wrong! But the interesting part of the trip was the fact that we took Jane's dog, Tarzan, for an overnight on the boat for the very first time, which proved to be a really challenging experience as far as the controlling his bodily functions are concerned.

We headed out to Lake Maurepas late afternoon. Once there, we let the boat drift while we consumed the 1 1/2 dozen of blue crabs we bought and drank a lot of beer. Jane did her usual outstanding job of cracking the crabs, so all Larry had to do was eat and spit shells. We also grilled some steaks and potatoes, but decided that the sun was setting and we needed to get to an anchorage. We ended up anchoring just a short distance from the lake opposite of the Prop Stop. The Prop Stop is a really popular "river bar" that is only accessible by water. We got the boat secured just as the sun was setting, then enjoyed our steaks and potatoes. After dinner and a few drinks and admiring our first full moon on the boat and river, we turned in for the night expecting to get up in the morning and return to the boat slip. Around 0330 we were both awakened by thunder, lightening, heavy wind, and a hard downpour of rain. Our first storm on the boat. Larry was up for over an hour fretting about whether the anchor would hold. Jane hardly sleeps at all when we are on the hook, and the storm only exacerbated the situation. We really encountered a nasty storm and felt lucky that the anchor held and we didn't have any major problems. In fact, the anchor held so well that the windlass could not dislodged it the next day. We had to pull the anchor out with the boat which was a first, but gave us confidence on our anchoring abilities. After a light breakfast, we head for home with Jane at the helm. She piloted us home and even had the confidence to back Bavarian Cream into the slip. All in all it was quite an experience and much more than we bargained for.

Goin' to Buckeye Land

We are all getting old. This was pointed out so clearly when Larry headed up north to celebrate his 40th high school reunion. While he had made almost every reunion to date, he really felt that this one was special. All of the following reunions will start to show fewer and fewer faces just based on the actuarial tables. Anyway, we trekked back to Ohio for the reunion which was scheduled to coincide with the Wyandot County Fair. Jane was ecstatic to finally be able to visit the fair which she had heard so many stories about. If any of you really want to see a very fine county fair, try this one. It's always the second week of September in Upper Sandusky, OH and is, our opinion, the very finest fair you could every attend. Anyway, we went to fair with Larry's sister, Deb, and saw all of the animals, farm equipment, quilts and oversized pumpkins and had a really great time.

On Friday of our trip we had a family get together. Larry's nephew and fiancee, Brian and Janelle, came up from Columbus. They were joined by Janelle's parents who live up by Lake Erie and Brian's grandparents along with Larry's niece, Katie, and her son and two daughters. With his sister's Deb's help, he cooked a traditional jambalaya complete with white beans, garlic bread. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food as we cooked for about 20-25 people, about 15 showed up, and there was practically no leftovers. The party lasted well into the evening.

We spent Saturday morning enjoying Ohio State's victory over the University of Toledo, visiting with Deb and John, then heading off to the reunion. What a hoot! Everyone was so old, yet seemed to be so young and full of life. Jane had to comment that our group was unlike any that she had seen before. We danced, ate, drank, and visited until the late hours. It was so good to see all of those old f**** again!

On Sunday we said goodbye to Deb and John and headed to Columbus to spend the day with Brian and Janelle. Brian took us to a "blues bar" called the Thristy Ear and we got to see him play the drums with a blues band on one of the sets. We headed back to their place and had pizza and beer and a good night's sleep. Monday morning we got up and head south with the intention of going through the Smokey Mountains, hopefully for some glimpses of fall color. We were a little early for the seasonal change, but got on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina for some spectacular scenery. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and a good part of the ride on on the Blue Ridge Parkway was in very foggy conditions. Needless to say, many of the scenic overlooks didn't produce the scenic vistas that we had seen before. We got off of the Parkway just before Asheville, NC and got on what might have been the most convoluted road I've ever encountered. We ended up in northern Georgia where we spent the night. The next day we expected to jump on some faster roads in the Atlanta area, but recent rains had caused some flooding, and many of the major arteries were closed. We had to snake our way along the Alabama-Georgia border for a good part of the day in order to get back to our place in Florida. We finally made it in the late afternoon. The next day we headed back to Louisiana to finish the trip. It was a really great trip!

Labor Day Cruising with the Family

Labor Day always signals the end of summer and most of the activities that occur on the water. Oh sure, you can still have some very pleasant days, especially at the more southerly latitudes, but things start to wind down after labor day. We decided that we had not got the family together on the river since the Mardi Gras boat parade back in February. So the invites went out for a day on Bavarian Cream and a leisurely cruise down the Tickfaw River to Lake Maurepas for some swimming and relaxing. We were joined by Jane's daughter Milana and partner Tracy and Larry's son and daughter-in-law, Nathan and Kristin, and their two daughters Hannah and Sadie.

We cast off and were not very far from the slip when Hannah, age 3, eagerly accepted the helm and "drove the boat." Capt. Larry had to scramble a couple of times to keep us in the channel, but basically she had the helm for about one-half of a mile. Hannah was thrilled and it was fun to watch her steer the boat like she would a Barbie Car. Further down the river there was a lot of local traffic, so Larry and Nathan took turns at the helm. We broke out snacks and drinks and took a very leisurely 8 NM ride to the lake. Once we got out there, we angled over to a shallow anchorage that is very popular for swimming. Capt. Larry is still a little conservative when it comes to anchoring in shallow water, so the chose spot actually turned out to be a little deep for swimming. However, with some floats and life jackets and the ability to get into some "toe-touching" depths about 30 yards astern, everyone got into the water and had a good time. Even though the water was deep, it didn't deter the girls, especially Sadie who seems to be about as fearless as a pit bull. We enjoyed a couple of hours on the lake then weighed anchor and cruised back to the house. After securing the boat in the slip, we fired up the grill and had a simple meal of hamburgers, hot dogs, and pasta salad. Oh, and the beer and wine flowed freely into the evening. When all was said and done, a good time was had by all.

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.