Went to Myron's sisters house for dinner and met a lot of fun people. This is Myron's sister Juanita from upstate New York. She is from the Plattsburg area which we are scheduled to visit sometime in September.

Karen and Shelia pictured here to the left just finished taking care of the hungry bunch for dinner. They along with her husband Steve below prepared some killer pork chops of which I had two helpings. They have just moved to Valdosta from South Carolina where Steve retired from Michelin. Steve is from this area originally and is happy to be on the home stomping grounds again

 This is Steve. A man of a million stories. He is fun to listen to however I must admit a little hard for me to understand. He speaks very softly and with his Georgia drawl, well lets say I have to listen very close since I am almost deaf as a post. He kept us laughing all evening. We will be back at his home this Sunday for a barbeque. Will be a lot of fun I am sure.

This is Myron's nephew Chip. Really decent guy who I watched take care of his niece and nephew who are living with the grandparents. He seems to be a great help to his mom and dad.

Had took some time out today to go to Moody AFB to visit with Karen's great niece, her husband and their little girl. We had lunch in the food court at the base. He works as a crew chief on C-130J aircraft with the Para-rescue squadron here. He is new to the Air Force and is gaining his 5 level maintenance rating. He really seems to enjoy what he is doing. Brings back a lot of memories of when I was an aircraft mechanic starting out my Air Force career.

 We arrived unscathed to Grassy Pond just south of Valdosta Georgia. Thankfully the trip was uneventful.

The park is terrific  and has a lot of immenities with tons of room for the kiddos if that is what you are in to.

The deck overlooks the lake but they are having a water weed problem and have sprayed the weeds to try to get rid of them. They cannot launch boats or even get the boats out of their own marina because they are so thick.

 For whatever reason I can't seem to get rid of this duplicate picture. Swine technology!!!!!!!!!

This picture is quite a distance but it was hot and I didn't want to walk over to this. It is a kiddy pool and that white mushroom looking thing in the center is a water fall like umbrella. I am sure the kids are gonna like that.

Our pull through site is kinda shaded but Myron and Karen next to us are all shaded as you can see in the next picture.

Myron did a great job keeping up with me here this time. I threatened to give him a new nickname of Pokey Joe as I kept having to slow down to let him catch up. I told him that I could have drove here in reverse and beat him.

 Here you can see some of the cabins that are for rent. They come with 2 bedrooms a kitchenette and living room. There is a screened in porch as there are tons of biting critters in the air here.

This is part of the kitchen living area with the TV and below is the second bedroom with a set of bunk beds..

 The last picture is the master bedroom and the bath off the main room between the bedrooms. Karen and her sister in law Juanita are inspecting the kids rooms with Karen in trepidation over the bunk beds as her youngest grandchild Jason coming to visit is a climber.

There will be more pictures to follow as the Georgia stop generates them. We are going over to Myron's other sisters house for dinner and will have more visiting family pics.

 We stayed an extra day and went to the Blue Angel Recreation Area. This is also associated with the Naval Air Station. It used to be a float plane base during the second world war. It was converted into a 1500 acre park with tons of family friendly camping with everything from in the woods tent and RV camping to ultra modern RV slots with pull through wide paved slots. They also have trailers like mobile homes that can be rented.

 The gang hung out in a pavilion next to the beach. The breeze was great with a beautiful view of one of the bays off the gulf.

 As you can see the beach is nice, not white sands but none the less clean. The beach runs for at least a quarter mile in each direction. The park has a few different pavilions similar to those found on other bases which can be reserved for larger family venues. We hopefully will be leaving tomorrow for Georgia. Had to delay for a few days waiting for Dennis to get medically cleared.

Just a note from the publisher.  Every trip has its dark cloud. I wound up in the hospital for four days after developing a blood clot in my shoulder. We are not too sure how this came about but it was a harrowing few days. The clot is still present but I have been placed on blood thinning therapy, the only thing I can do is take it easy and wait it out. We are continuing our trip and leaving for Valdosta GA in the morning to see Myron's relatives. Hopefully the remainder of the trip will be uneventful at least from a bad health standpoint.

Myron and Karen found this Irish Pub called McGuires and we had a fantastic meal. A little pricey but all in all excellent with plenty of food for the price. Great job Brothers. Had an excellent Fathers day dinner.

A real awesome feature of this restaurant was the money hanging from the ceiling. The money is throughout the restaurant and they tell us that it totals over one million dollars in one dollar bills. The restaurant is huge and has many rooms and has the space. It is totally believable.

Ft Pickens

The gang in front of Ft Pickens. This fort was occupied by
Northern troops during the Civil War. The confederacy occupied Ft Barrancas on Pensacola. They traded fire for many days without injuring or killing anyone as both forts could not be penetrated by the others cannon fire. The only deaths in this fort was from a gun drill that resulted in a powder magazine catching fire and exploding killing a few soldiers. It did however throw bricks off the fort five miles away. Marion and I found some of these bricks in the waters off Pensacola NAS and returned them to rangers at Ft Barrancas during our last visit here.

I am sorry that there are not many pics but I am having trouble with the swine computer flipping them upside down and not allowing me to correct them. It is driving me nuts.



 

We are touring Ft Pickens which is an island fort built as a result of the war of 1812 and used during our Civil War. The fort is located on an island sand bar and is directly across from Fort Barrancas in Pensacola which now is in the confines of Pensacola Naval Air Station where we are now staying. Myron and Karen are standing in one of the gun magazines aimed at the waters between the island and the NAS.. 

 This Fort held a famous prisoner until he died.
Geronimo was held here after his capture, he roamed the fort freely and was never again seen on the mainland.

Just chillin watching the boob tube . The swine AC is dripping on the floor from condensation. Tried to fix it and made it worse. Now the fan screeches and still leaks. Will have to wait until we get to Pensacola to repair. Until then it is bucket time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are departing for Florida tomorrow with a stop over in Louisiana overnight.

We went to a Sam Houston memorial located on I 45 North.

The interesting fact about this man was that he was a Governor of Tennessee and Texas as well as President of another country. Texas was briefly a republic unto itself just as the U.S. is a republic today.

As you can see the statue is enormous.

Staying at Thousand Trails, Lake Conroe. The facilities are really well kept. Been trying to get Karen in the pool, but no luck yet. Guess I will have to get her gassed.

Arrived at Lake Conroe on 6, 5, 2014 without incident. Myron and Karen managed to kill some wildlife of the winged type and almost witnessed  a major accident. Happened behind us, so we didn't see a thing. There will be pictures to follow. We were all so tired when we got here that none of us felt like posing for pictures. Marion and Karen went shopping today. It amazes me that this is what they choose to do first. They could have done this in San Antonio. Oh well????

2014 Trip East

 

We are getting ready for our departure from Ft. Sam Houston, Texas for our caravan trip East with our friends in tow for a extended trip to the East Coast. The trailer is the new addition to our trip. Hopefully it will be a plus by giving us more room. The east may never be the same after this trip! You will notice that comment section will pop up and you may leave your comments if you like.