Third Month in Virginia Beach - 06/04 to 07/04

The warmer temperatures of summer have come to Virginia Beach and so have the guests at the KOA. As the approach of Father’s Day and the ending of school came, the number of guests in the campground through the middle of the week increased. With the schedule firmly in place to accommodate the business of hosting guests, our regular days off fell into place. Each Monday and Tuesday we have been allowed the opportunity to rest and to see the area. Our KOA work camper friends, Russell and Sherry, are off on Tuesdays. That day became our day to “hit the road” for an adventure in the area.

During the final week, we took an evening to see the LanternAsia exhibit at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. It featured a walk through a mile of large Asian lanterns; silk-like fabric stretched over framing to create large objects of colorful artwork. Of course, the exhibit was set up in the midst of the Garden’s landscape which made it a bit of a double treat. The exhibit had been in Norfolk in previous years. New this year were some underwater scenes, representing Coastal Virginia. In all, there were nearly three dozen displays. What follows are several photos of the LanternAsia exhibit.

Entrance to the exhibit.

The whale actually changed colors three times on a revolving basis.

A depiction of a dragon being carried in a New Year Parade.

 An elaborate frog (enlarged to see the intricacies of the patterns of colored fabric.

 The largest display (in length) was of a dragon that stretched for nearly 150 feet.

Our next visit was to Cape Henry and First Landing State Park. The original lighthouse at Cape Henry was built as America’s first public works project. The building of a lighthouse was first proposed in 1720. Cape Henry sits at a point on the Chesapeake Bay and can be seen from Maryland as well as Virginia. It was not until the USA had won independence that the original lighthouse was constructed. The 90-foot structure is significant in that the stone for it was from the same quarry that provided stone for Mount Vernon, the US Capitol, and White House. It was completed in 1791 at a cost of $17,500.

The lighthouse is no longer in operation but remains as an attraction for visitors.

In the late 1800's a “new” lighthouse replaced the original. It is still in use

today under the control of the US Coast Guard.

It went into service in 1881.

Martha stands beside a monument at First Landing State Park. It was in

this area that colonists first landed and spent time before moving

inland to Jamestown and an adequate supply of fresh water.

On our visit to the NASA Langley Welcome Center and the Virginia Air and Space Museum we purchased tickets for a harbor cruise on Miss Hampton II. It was a nice day, as to the clouds in the sky, but a little warm. By the way, it was just a three-hour cruise.

Miss Hampton II at the dock before leaving on the cruise.

Two of three carriers seen while on the cruise of the ship base. The George H W Bush on the left and Abraham Lincoln on the right. We also sailed past the Gerald R. Ford which has yet

to be deployed but has made the initial “sea trials” cruise several months ago. It is now

about one year from commissioning.

A supply ship and two destroyers in port. The supply vessel is named

USNS Medgar Evers and did sail out later that afternoon.

Fort Wool, originally constructed prior to the Civil War, was also

on the cruise itinerary. This shows a view of the battery made

of stone. The fort was built on a man-made island, quite

a feat for the time. We were allowed to walk around the

fort which is on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Some portions of the fort have additions built from concrete

added during World War II. Those portions are crumbling

and will not last as long as the stone areas.

After lunch with our friends, Russell and Sherry who also work at the KOA, we then went to Fort Monroe, another historic fort in the Hampton area. The fort was also constructed during 1834 at the same time Fort Wool was being built. Fort Monroe is now decommissioned. Much of the housing has been sold to developers who have made renovations. The fort sits on Old Point Comfort. Around the fort is a five-sided mote. A portion of the fort is now designated by the National Park Service as a National Monument. Within its wall is the Casement Museum. Jefferson Davis, who was president of the CSA, was imprisoned here near the end of the Civil War and remained here until a couple years after the war.

A Civil War display in the Casement Museum

The mote around Fort Monroe though built at the southern tip

of the Virginia Peninsula.

One day a good friend from our RV resort in Kissimmee showed up at the campground. She was a grandson in the area and wanted to get by to see us. Byron saw her walking across the parking lot and did a double-take. Martha did the same from within the store while looking out from her position at the registration desk. During the summer Minnie lives near Syracuse, New York. Thanks for dropping by, Minnie. We’ll see you when we return to Great Oak at Kissimmee.

Our final trip of the month was made to Jamestown Settlement. The museum and outside display of Jamestown Settlement is operated by a private agency and different from Historic Jamestown, which is operated by the National Park Service. Still, there is a lot of history shown that is worth the trip. We did make a mistake, however, in that we viewed the outside displays immediately after viewing the introductory video. As a result, we came into the museum building and went through the gallery, which is set up chronologically, in reverse order starting with the end of the seventeenth century. It is better to go through in chronological order as it begins showing a contrast between England of the 1600’s and the native Virginia area under the control of the Powhatan tribe.

A plaque inside the Jamestown Settlement museum.

The replica of the Powhatan village. Huts, constructed as shown,

provided covered housing for the Powhatan inhabitants.

The settlement village is inside a fort that was built in order

to comply with English laws for financial support though there

was no hostility between the inhabitants and the Powhatan tribe.

A display showing the path of the voyage of the three ships that

originally came to Virginia.

This is a true-scale replica of the largest of the three ships that

came across the Atlantic Ocean after leaving England in

March of 1607. The colonists first landed in Virginia

on May 13, 1607. After a period of rest, the continued on

up the James River until they found an area where fresh

water was in plentiful supply. Oddly, the settlement

did not survive into the 1700’s.

To those of you that have made positive comments regarding our blog, we thank you. We are glad you enjoy traveling with us in a virtual manner. Our blog started as a way to allow our children to keep up with us. It has also become a good supplement to our memory since it provides a digitized way of looking back at where we’ve been and what we did.

Second Month in Virginia Beach - 05/08 to 06/04

The area of Virginia Beach (the city) where our KOA is located is interesting. While we are near the end of one runway for Oceana Naval Air Station, we are almost adjacent to Camp Pendleton-State Military Reservation but just a mile or so from suburban shopping and eating establishments. On days the Navy jets aren’t actively landing or taking off, it feels like we’re in a country setting. Other days, we’re very aware of the “sound of freedom” as planes come and go from Oceana or the shooting range at the nearby reserve camp is active.

Our first, busy weekend was over Mother’s Day. There were lots of activities for kids and mothers on Saturday. The campground hosted a visit from a petting zoo with a wide variety of animals and fowl. The Bike Shack was open making electric bikes, beach bikes, trikes, tandems, and pedal carts of varying different sizes and configurations available for rent.

Martha and Sherry try out one of the pedal carts during a

break one afternoon. They were helping clean out

the Bike Shack for opening it after the winter months.

The inflatable water slide was opened on Mother’s Day weekend.

On Tuesday, May 15, we set out with our work-kamper friends, Sherry and Russell, for Chincoteague National Wildlife Reserve and Assateague National Seashore located along the Eastern Shore of Virginia/Maryland/Delaware. The trip took us on and through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel which is a 23-mile link crossing at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. It lies between the Atlantic and the Hampton Roads harbor and nearby mouths of the James and Elizabeth Rivers of the Commonwealth of Virginia. By the way, each tunnel is one mile in length and with a depth between 25 and 100 feet below the surface (ocean tides change the depth, of course). By the way, we have learned that Hampton Roads is not a town but an area comprising at least five cities in southeastern Virginia.

The Eastern Shore has the Chesapeake Bay to the west and 

the Atlantic Ocean to the east. To the south is the 

mouth of Chesapeake Bay and to the north is the land mass

where Virginia connects to Maryland and

Maryland to Delaware.

We had a very sunny day for the trip. It was also unseasonably warm as the temperature hovered in the upper 80’s. At the Chincoteague National Wildlife Preserve the perspiration on out bodies brought the flies out of the landscape – swat, swat, swat – on our walk around the pony viewing loop. Before going on the trail to the Assateague Lighthouse, we sprayed ourselves with repellent. It certainly helped. It also helped that the trail was shaded by tall pine trees.

Tradition has it that the large ponies along the Eastern Shore were

offspring of those that survived a shipwreck. The horses, feeding

on the salt-rich native vegetation, drink more water than others

their size. The result is a larger abdominal region that

some describe as being bloated. The ponies come in

all the standard horse colors and markings. They are allowed

to run free though they are checked three times per year

by a veterinarian. The herd is limited to 150 of the

most healthy while the others are auctioned annually.

The original Assateague Lighthouse was less than one-half the

current height. It was enlarged shortly after the Civil War.

In 2013 it was refurbished with funds from a local group.

Yes, the lighthouse still serves a function. It is only open

on weekends and is operated by the U.S. Coast Guard.

While in this region of the USA we’re taking advantage of the opportunity to eat seafood. One of the more interesting places was The Crab Shack at Chincoteague. The food was delicious. The most interesting thing about it was that they had a dressing called Cajun Parmesan Ranch. At first sound, we thought it might be a “hot” dressing. They offered it for nearly everything on the menu. It was something their chef had developed several years ago. So, we gave it a try. We had it on everything we ate. Oddly, it wasn’t as expected as far as the Cajun name was concerned. As best as we can tell, it had a Ranch Dressing base with some parmesan flavoring and spices. It was quite unique and very good. Byron gave them a high review on Trip Advisor.

Our second trip found us traveling with Sherry and Russell to Nauticus, the museum in downtown Norfolk that features the USS Wisconsin. It is an interactive science and technology center that explores the naval, economic, and nautical power of the sea. A good bit of the museum deals more with the commercial aspect of shipping in and out of Norfolk rather than the military aspect in the exhibit area Mighty Seaport. Another area of the museum presents the history of the 1907 Jamestown Exhibit and historical information on the launching of the “steel navy.” It was in 1907 that President Theodore Roosevelt sent the Great White Fleet around the world as an affirmation of American naval strength. The museum also shows 3D movies throughout the day. There are some exhibits in the museum that feature battleship-related exhibits as well as the Hampton Roads Naval Museum. 

This is the figurehead from the prow of a ship called Excelcior.

Many years ago the tradition of having an ornately carved prow

was in vogue. Several maritime museums have examples

of these objects of art. So it is with Nauticus. This photo

is a composite spliced together to show the different

sides of the ornate work surely done for a vessel

of the US Navy. Note that on the left is “Lady Liberty”

and on the right is “Blind Justice.”

The model of the plane shown here is of a Curtiss pusher, the one used

in the first successful flight of an aircraft from a naval ship. 

Eugene Burton Ely was the pilot. The test flight took place

in the waters of the Hampton Roads area.

Models of the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor in scale show the difference

in size between the two, ironclad ships. While Virginia (aka Merrimack)

had more canons, Monitor was more maneuverable with a larger

canons mounted in a turret that could turn 360 degrees.

The canons were able to inflict more damage. That particular naval battle

changed the thinking on the use of armament on ships and saw

the demise of wooden ships in the Navy and the mounting of stationary artillery.

Martha stands next to a scale model of USS Wisconsin, the

retired battleship docked at the side of the museum, Nauticus.

The “anchor” exhibit is the USS Wisconsin which is reached via passage through the Naval Museum. In the previous blog, you can see a photo of Byron in front of USS Wisconsin. It looks huge, right? Well, step on board the first deck after walking the gangway and you see how really huge it is. Photos just don’t do it justice since 2D photos don’t give you a view in true perspective.

The main deck of Wisconsin (BB-64) from the prow of the ship. The chain links for the

anchor each weigh 110 pounds. The stern is 887 to the rear.

The main deck as shown from the stern with the heliport clearly

in view. There are three turrets on the ship; two are on the

forward deck and one on the rear. 90 sailors are required

to operate each turret with operations occurring

across multiple levels.

An aerial view gives a bit more perspective. BB 64 is the second

battleship named for the state of Wisconsin.

The Mariners’ Museum and Park. The museum, which calls itself America’s National Maritime Museum, comprises nearly 60,000 square feet of space and over 32,000 items. The Ship Model Gallery is amazing to see. The major holding is the USS Monitor, which was a relatively small ship in comparison to the Merrimack (CSS Virginia). The Monitor is undergoing careful restoration while a full-scale replica sits in a prominent location.

It was Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend that Byron learned about the death of his oldest brother, Danny. About a month earlier we were told of the formal diagnosis of vascular dementia but had no idea that things had progressed so quickly that it would take his life so soon. Hubert Daniel Songer, Jr. served for 20 years in the Air Force as an officer. The next twenty years of life saw him returning to something he did during college years at Southern Illinois University, serving as a broadcaster on radio. He anchored a morning show on KAHI in Auburn, California until retiring from that career and moving to Lone Oak, a small town just south of Paducah, Kentucky, in 1998.

We made the trip to Paducah for the memorial service. We split it in two stopping overnight at the home of Lewis and Marcia, an older brother of Byron. We continued on the next morning and arrived on Wednesday afternoon providing time to visit with family. The memorial service was held Thursday evening at Grace Episcopal Church with inurnment in the church’s yard.

An American flag marks the stone under which the crematory

remains of Danny Songer were placed the evening

of the 84th year marking his birth on May 31, 1934.

The inscription at the base of the statue reads

“I am the resurrection and the life.”

First Month in Virginia Beach - 04/09 to 05/07

Upon leaving the Louisville area, we traveled almost totally on I-64 eastward to Virginia Beach and the eastern terminus of the interstate highway. We did take a bit of a detour through a section of West Virginia; something we’ll not do again. We drove up and down, over and around, while often making hair-pin turns and nearly seeing our Honda Element coming at us. Since we were still experience late winter weather, we did encounter snow on the roadside in some of those upper elevations. Actually, we were trying to avoid a toll (paying for the motorhome axles and the car axles) and wound up putting that amount through the diesel engine while taking adding at least 30 minutes to our route. It was only three miles difference in length. Oh well, such is life with a GPS.

Our first night on the road (April 9) we stayed at the KOA near Ashland, Kentucky. It is relatively new but a well developed campground. Our second night was spent near Lexington, Virginia at a KOA that had just added new camping spaces in an area cleared last fall.

Before leaving the Lexington area in the morning we took the time to go to Natural Bridge State Park. (For those that have never gotten out of Kentucky, there is a natural bridge in Virginia as well as other states in the nation.) The park is on property that was survey by George Washington (initials are carved on the side of a rock) and later owned by Thomas Jefferson who purchased it from the King of England when Virginia was a Crown Colony. Jefferson wrote the following regarding his impression of the bridge: “So beautiful an arch, so elevated, so light, and springing as it were to heaven, the rapture of these to a spectator is really indescribable! It is the most sublime of Nature’s works.”

Byron at the entrance to the stairway down to the creek and the path to the bridge.

Martha at an observation theater built with a view of the natural bridge

and parallel to the creek that runs under the bridge.

Leaving around noon on Tuesday, April 10, we journeyed on to Williamsburg and another KOA where we stayed on our first trip to the area in 2008. We drove past the Colonial Williamsburg area late in the afternoon going past College of William and Mary before deciding to have dinner at The Jefferson, a nice restaurant that gave you the feel of eating in a rather but somewhat formal, large kitchen. There were nice paintings and photos of the area as well as several copper pots and utensils hung about the room amid the drapery on the windows. Of course, metal chargers were sitting on the linen tablecloth. We were served on china and have linen napkins available. We did drink from glass, rather than crystal, cups (a restaurant must cut expenses somewhere). Altogether, it was an enjoyable dinner and one we hadn’t planned for.

We arrived at our destination during the middle of the day on Thursday, April 12. We were escorted to our parking space for the summer season. We are situated among others in an “extended stay” are of this large campground that sits near the end of one runway for Oceana Naval Air Station.

On our first outing in the Virginia Beach area we drove 2.5 miles to the “boardwalk” which is really a wide, concrete sidewalk. Adjacent to the walkway is a cycling path. Hotels and restaurants are strung up and down the nearly two-mile stretch of beach. In fact, Virginia Beach is a part of one of the longer stretches of beach on the eastern seaboard. At the advice of friends who have relatives in the area, we at at Waterman’s where we celebrated Byron’s birthday by sharing a piece of key lime pay after a great lunch of seafood. Martha enjoyed the fried shrimp with it’s light and crispy batter. Byron said the crab cakes were the best he had ever eaten.

Byron enjoyed key lime pie for his 71st birthday. Martha got half of it, too.

From the boardwalk we journeyed on to Norfolk waterfront and saw the USS Wisconsin which is displayed as a the museum ship for Nauticus, the National Maritime Center. The Wisconsin served in the Pacific Theater of World War II and during the Korean War. She was reactivated in August of 1986. After a modernization program the Wisconsin participated in Operation Desert Storm in January and February of 1991. Wisconsin was last decommissioned in September 1991. It was removed from the Naval Vessel Register in 2006 and donated as a permanent museum. The City of Norfolk took ownership in 2010.

USS Wisconsin, an Iowa-class battleship, was built at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

and launched on December 7, 1943 (the second anniversary of the Pearl Harbor raid). 

By surprise we attended the Virginia International Tattoo, something we had never heard of so never planned to attend. Well, what a pleasant surprise. After reading the description of the event we decided it was a “must do” since we had the opportunity. We attended the second night of the event.
The festival was in its 22nd year at Scope Arena. It featured nearly 1,100 cast members from eight different countries, all celebrating the theme, “Above and beyond the call of duty” which honored the surviving Medal of Honor recipients. For the first time ever, there was also a demonstration of the changing of the guard outside of Arlington National Cemetery.

The 2018 festival featured the Royal Band of the Belgian Air Force,

the U.S. Marine Corps band, a bagpipe and drum corps band from Scotland,

three different, traditional units from South Korea, and his Majesty the King’s

guard band and drill team from Norway.

Since we have regular days off each Monday and Tuesday (except holidays), we are able to take one day each week to travel in the area with friends with whom we worked last year in Jackson, Wyoming. They arrived at Virginia Beach two weeks after us. Our first excursion together was to Kitty Hawk, less than 85 miles south of Virginia Beach. There we visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial.

Rising nearly 100 feet above the surrounding sandy area is Big Kill Devil Hill
where the stone monument to the Wright brothers stands. It was from
this hill that the brothers first test flew their gliders each summer
in 1900, 1901, and 1902.

The front side of the momument at the Memorial faces the south.

To the north, behind the monument, lies the flat area where the Orville
and Wilbur flew their self-propelled plane in December of 1903.
The test flight area is at the end of the walk. Next to the walkway
are replicas of two building used for housing the gliders
and plane. To the right is the Museum and, still further
to the right, is the Visitor Center operated by the
National Park Service.

The small hanger built by the Wrights in which the self-propelled
plane was stored during their visit of late 1913. At that time,
the first building was used for an office and residence.


Martha stands at the marker that designates the starting point
of the launch rail. The store marker is at the place where
the first flight ended. The brothers made four other
flights with the plane that day until it was damaged
upon landing after the furthest flight of the day.

South of Big Kill Devil Hill are life-size bronze statues of the
brothers and several life saving corpsmen who volunteered
to assist with the flights. The full-size model of the plane
is also in bronze. Not only did the brothers have to experiment
with lift and the effects of air over the wings and figure out
a way to control pitch and yaw, they also had to learn,
by experience, how to pilot their aircraft.

From Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers Memorial we traveled further south to the Bodie Island Light Station (formerly Body’s Island) at Nags Head, NC. We arrived too late to climb the lighthouse but still enjoyed looking around the grounds and walking to the adjacent marsh.

Bodie Island Light Station stands as a marker to ships

on the Atlantic coast as well as those on Roanoke Sound.
The water entrance to the sound is just south of the light station.

We plan to be in Virginia Beach until the end of September when the travel season winds down. Our first Sunday in the area we worshipped at First United Methodist Church, which is on Pacific Street just over two blocks from the boardwalk.

The corner entrance to First United Methodist Church
features a bronze statue of Jesus in a boat.

The photo shows an interior view of the sanctuary which houses
the three-manual pipe organ.

Winter to Spring 2018 - 1/1 - 4/08

2018 was ushered in by doing what we did a year ago; drove to the cast member parking area behind Magic Kingdom and watched the New Year’s Fireworks. Since Byron didn’s schedule availability for New Year’s Day, we were able to enjoy the special show together even through from a distance. By the way, we were not alone. Several other carloads of castmember view the display from there, too.

One of the perks Byron receives from Disney is complimentary admission to Walt Disney World (based on number of hours worked in a calendar year). Who better to use them on than family? We entertained our grandsons, Ben and Luc (Luciano) for a few days. Martha took them to Magic Kingdom one day and we all went to Disney Springs to enjoy the sights there on another day.

The Lego Store at Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney)

offered Ben and Luc the opportunity to gaze at all

that can be made if you have enough Legos.

The nightly fireworks show started a new production in May of 2017. This was after we left to go to Jackson, WY for the summer. We finally got to see them from the front side of Sleeping Beauty Castle when we went in February. We had Chapel and Ben with us to share in enjoying the nightly pirotechnic program. It is a production in a very real sense; complete with synchronized music, projected animation, and aerial as well and lower level fireworks. Since Byron occassionally picks up hours serving as an attendance control cast member for the show, “Happily Ever After,” he knew just where we needed to be and at what time to get a good viewing spot. (A hint to others wishing to see the show; be sure to arrive 30 minutes early to get a suitable place near the hub at the end of Main Street.)

The nightly fireworks presented in Magic Kindgom now feature animated

graphics designed for the unique shapes of the castle. Two projectors

facing the castle plus one from each side (four in all) provide

quite a display that always attracts thousands for

viewing each evening. The production is now Disney’s

nightly feature presentation since the Electric
Light Parade was retired two years ago.

Since we are official KOA Work Kampers and have spent three summers working a three, different locations, we were contacted with regard to answering some questions about our experiences. The result was the publication of our interview on the KOA Blog. The blog can be found at the following URL: https://koa.com/blog/whats-it-like-to-work-kamp/

This photo accompanied our interview in the KOA Blog. For those

of you that don’t know, KOA stands for Kampgrounds of

America. The reason “K” is uses is because the

term was disallowed for trademarking by using

a “C” for the company name.

We returned to the Kentuckiana region by leaving Kissimmee during the second week of March. We visited with Lewis and Marcia, Byron’s brother and sister-in-law, who live in Johnson City, Tennessee. While in Clarksville we experienced three or four different snowfalls and unusually chilly weather for that time of year. This was not Martha’s idea of an appropriate way of being welcomed. Byron, while not complaining much about the cold, did join Martha in complaining about the many days of rain and gray skies. One thing we did accomplish was to remove the carpet from the living area in our motorhome and install vinyl plank flooring.

The installation of luxury vinyl tile planks called for a good

team effort. We did get the job completed and have enjoyed

having a floor that’s easier to clean.

This view shows the floor as completed. Carpet remains on

floor of the slide (living area extension). Curving around

the tile of the kitchen was not difficult.

While in our “home” area we, of course, get to visit with some friends. This is always a special treat as we get to catch up with each other. This time it included dinner with the Bashams at their home and dinner with the Harmons at one of our favorite places, Mark’s Feed Store. Of course, we had a few times of sharing meals and good conversation with Jeremy and Jody.

Our Easter photo for 2018.

Before leaving Louisville we enjoyed Kentucky Hot Browns

in Jeremy and Jody’s home. The entreé followed Jeremy’s

own recipé though using the traditional one as developed at

the Brown Hotel as a guide.


In December we had to put Redford, our male English cocker,
at rest from the cancerous condition that had developed.
In March we had to make the decision again regarding
Julie, our female English cocker. They shared the
same father and returned to sharing time together
when we acquired them a year apart
from a breeder in Tennessee.

Journey through Kentuckiana to Kissimmee: 10/1 - 12/31

Our trip from Wyoming to our home port at Add-More Campground just north of Louisville in Clarksville, Indiana was not uneventful. Our first night out was spent at the KOA in Rawlins, Wyoming. Yes, it was cool and windy that first night. However, on Monday, October 1, 2017, we had to drive through lots of snow on I-80 until we got to Cheyenne. By “lots of snow” is meant several inches with wind blowing toward the west. However, once we turned south toward Denver, the snow cleared in a matter of miles and, in fact, revealed the grass on the ground.

Upon reaching Denver we turned eastward. Before the setting of sun that evening we encountered thunderstorms and tornado warnings. Imagine, going from heavy snow on one day to terrible storms and high winds 36 hours latter. We had never experienced such extremes before. For that night in WaKeeney, Kansas, we didn’t put our slides out because the wind was so strong. Be the next morning, however, it had calmed down a great deal and the sun showed itself.

Our next stop was in Oklahoma City to visit with members of the Shealy family there. While there we stayed at Twin Fountains RV Resort, a very nice place on the east side of Oklahoma City. From there we headed on through Missouri and stayed one night near Carthage. From there we went to Fairfield, Illinois, Byron’s hometown. On October 7 we arrived at our “interim” home in Clarksville, Indiana which is just across the river from Louisville.

After visits with friends and appointmens with physicians, we headed to Florida twenty-two days later. Yes, it was a brief visit in the Louisville area bet we wanted to get to Kissimmee before Halloween.

While in Louisville, Byron attended the annual Aviation Heritage

event at Bowman Field.

On our first night going south we stayed at Bear Creek in Ashville, North Carolina. It was there that we were parked next to another Newmar Dutch Star. It was a year older than ours but in the paint job of our coach which means it was finished just after the summer retooling break at Newmar’s facility in Nappanee, Indiana.

Sibling motorhomes parked next to each other. Ours has the

Honda Element, our tow vehicle, parked behind it.

From Asheville we traveled on to Franklin Spring, Georgia where we spent the night with Martha’s sister and brother-in-law. From there we traveled to Brunswick, Georgia and an opportunity to have some fresh shrimp. We left Coastal Georgia RV Resort the next day and arrived at Great Oak RV Resort in Kissimmee by 2 PM. This gave us time to clean our concrete pad and pull into place for our winter stay.

Byron, of course, continued with his position working at Walt Disney World in Magic Kingdom at his home locations, Casey’s Corner and Tomorrowland Terrace. Within weeks, he was back to teaching the Hugh Embry Sunday School Class at First United Methodist Church in Kissimmee. Martha was welcomed back by the owner, leaders, and crew at Chick-fil-A in Celebration.

For a Christmas celebration, the CFA employees and guests were

treated to a meal at Kobe Japanese Steak House.

Elvis and husband, Avelio, with Martha and Byron following the

dining experience at the Japanese steak house. The couple is

from Venezuela. While Avelio worked there for a time, Elvis

still does. Elvis helps Martha with Spanish and Martha

helps her with English.

For Christmas we took a few days off and traveled to Weston, Florida for time with Ashley and Michael and their family, Jada, Chapel, Ben, and Luc.

With family for Christmas. Yes, short sleeves are always worn at Christmas in South Florida.